# Tearing down a 46" deck



## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

I have replaced the spindle bearings in my 46" deck, and re-painted the underside of the deck.

I now am working on the top half of the deck, and I need to replace the JD9489 bearing under the dual-sheave idler arm (?) to eliminate some deck rumble.

I have closely examined the breakaway drawings online (_Catalog: 2056 | Grid : G23 | Section: 85 | Page: 14 _ and _Catalog: 2056 | Grid : H4 | Section: 85 | Page: 20_) and I am a bit confused.

Page 14 shows a cap inserted into the center of the top sheave, while page 20 shows a cap screw and washer. Is this to say that the cap is actually covering the top of the cap screw? That would appear to be the case with my deck, as I have seen no obvious method of removing those sheaves.

If that is indeed the case, how do I remove the cap to get to the head of the cap screw?


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

OK, now I am in a place where I can actually attach some illustrations to show what I addressed in the previous post. 

Maybe this will enable someone to see what I am seeing.

Pic 1 shows the "cap" I was referring to.

Pic 2 (next post) shows screw and washer in what appears to be the same part.

I have highlighted the sections to which I am referring.

Steve


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

Hmm... never preview with an attachment... they disappear. Here's Pic 1


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

And here's Pic 2


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## Andy Eder (Jul 14, 2004)

What material is the cap made of do you think? Plastic, metal? How thick is the head of the cap?


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

Haven't updated this thread lately. I figured out the secret. There was no cap, and there is no bearing. The breakaway drawings are sometimes tough to interpret.

It is simply a steel rod on the deck, with two "arms" protected by nylon bushings that slide onto it.

"Slide" is a subjective term here. I tried to use a gear puller to get them off, but the teeth on the puller were too fat to get under the lower arm. I wound up driving a cold chisel under the arm, then putting a flat metal piece on top of the deck and repeating the cold chisel until I got enough space for the gear puller.

WOW! that thing was on tight.

BTW, these are the two arms that have the spring tensioners on them, and they are actually supposed to move left and right easily enough to keep tension. Needless to say, they weren't moving at all when I got to this deck.

Anyway, I got the whole deck repainted along with the safety plate and the straps. Ran out of paint before I got to the gage wheel posts, but I'll be finishing those up tonight.


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## treed (Sep 16, 2003)

Is this deck for your 116? Have you replaced the 17 hp with the 16 hp from your donor tractor yet?


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

It's hard to follow. 

The donor 116 had a 46" deck. My 116 has a 38" deck. The 180 I was given had no deck (well, a rusted out 38" that's scrap-worthy).

I put the good 38" under the 180 so we could mow while I rebuilt the 46".

When I'm done with the 46" rebuild, it goes under the 180, just because it's the larger tractor.

I hope to swap the donor 116's motor into my 116 this weekend, if my brother can help. Then the 38" deck goes back under it and we should have our two working tractors. After that, I will re-paint the 116.

I'm kind of anxious to get that done, because I want to start parting out the donor's body. The wife is tired of not having her carport, and I would like to see how much $$$ I can get from it. 

I know where there's a 317 for sale for $400 (haven't seen it). Sure would like to make most of that on parts sales in time to buy it. <dreaming>

Anyway, must take photos of the two of them when I get them finished.


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## Chipmaker (Sep 16, 2003)

Steve, some of those decks came with a plastic cap over the stub of the spindle to keep dirt and water out of the pivot bushings. I replaced the plastic (nylon) bushing on my JD180's deck with an oil lite bushing, exact fit, and it lasted many many years, much longer than the plastic one did, and that was without a dust cap in place. IIRC the bushing was less than a buck at Dixie Bearings.

I had a 317 prior to my getting the 180 and it was a super machine and a real work horse. Had quite a few thousand hours on it as it was used as a commercxial mower when I bought it used, and I put a heap of hours on that machine. Motor eventually wore out to the point everyhthing in it internally was worn to the max limits, but it would still run and had power but used a lot of oil. Back then I suffered a severe case of price tag shock when I went to get parts to rebuild that Kohler engine, and a new engine from deere back then was close to 3 grand........so I sold the thing. A few years later is when they came out with the replacement engines for it at a reasonable price. Never had a lick of problems with that tractor and it was used extremely hard. Had all the tires filled with calcium chloride and also wheel weights. HAd a three point cat 00 hitch on it, and a power PTO on the rear I made for it. Ag tires on rear and it just did not know it was not supposed to be doing what I did with it, as it sure did what I asked of it to do......In a way I still wish I had it..

My dad bought one brand new and it has been nothing but trouble for the last couple of years and he takes extremely good care of his......only ever used to cut his lawn, nothing else....I used to haul huge logs out of the woods, pull a scraper and box blade, disk, etc.........and a dual axle trailer loaded with logs that really should have broke the axles in the process.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

*Rassin' frassin' rubin' stubin' <mumble>*

It's been one of THOSE days!

I came home last night with a sinus headache so I didn't get to work on the tractors at all. This morning, I got up and managed to get to work on the 46" deck.

The lovely shaft that is the home to those nylon (idler arm) bushings had so much rust/gunk buildup on it that I had to take a Dremel tool STONE to it to get back down to the bare metal. Fortunately, there was no pitting. I greased the shaft well, greased the idler arms and nylon bushings well, and finally got it back together. Restrung the deck belt, got the springs on, and put the safety cover back on. Pulled out my breakaways and saw the picture of the arms that connect the front of the deck to the front of the tractor. Guess what? I've never seen those before (remember, this deck was out from under the 116H when I got it). 

Called and he said he thought he had brought me everything, but he would look. He called back and said he had found them and a couple of other pieces that were JD yellow that he thought went with it, so he's sending those over to me tomorrow.

My brother came over about 1PM and we started the 116 motor swap. Got all the bolts, hoses, etc loose, and then set to work on the pulleys. The 116H B&S (JD original) let go of the whole hydrostatic clutch and pulley with a little gentle coaxing of the gear puller.

Then we started on the other (manual trans) B&S. We pulled and pushed and stood on our heads and busted our knuckles and everything we could think of to no avail. The darn thing would not come off. My brother even took apart the clutch and tried to get at it then, and it was frozen solid. His take is that it's just rusted on there. Doesn't make sense, because this motor has only been in this tractor for about 16 months, which means that the pulleys had to have been off at that time.

We finally gave up and put it all back together. Better a 116 that runs and can pull a trailer than two that don't run at all.

So it looks like I'm stuck with this motor for the time being. It wouldn't tick me off so bad, but I can't seem to get it idling right. It's always RRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrrr the whole time it's running. The butterfly on the carb is working with the throttle easily.

Oh, and the 116 has sat still for a month and it now shifts like it has gum in the transmission and won't drop into reverse. I guess it's time to learn how to service the transmission.


Grrr. I hate when this happens.:tellyou:


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## treed (Sep 16, 2003)

Steve,
There's a guy on weekendfreedommahcines.org who is looking for a 16 hp engine from a 116. If you are not going to use that engine he might want to buy it from you. Let me know and I can hook you two up.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

I'll have to decide if I want to get rid of the 16HP. What I'd rather do is take the mower back to the yahoo that installed that 18HP B&S and make him take it off.

He sold it to my dad as a working solution, and the fact that we are playing belt mix-n-match to keep it running is a sure sign that it's NOT a solution.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

Well, the 46" deck is under the 180 now. That was the most difficult deck install I've ever been through.

The manual recommends installing in this order:

1) rear draft arms
2) straps
3) front draft arms.

I think the process we went through was more like
1
2
undo 1
3
undo 2
1
undo 3
2
3
1

Anyway, I got it on and took it for a spin in the dark. The deck is still loud. :-(

On the plus side, I checked out the swath I mowed this morning... nearly perfectly level!

I think I'm going to buy a set of hearing protectors and use it this way. I may replace the bearing in the deck drive pulley to see if that's the culprit, but with the battle involved in installing the deck, I don't know.

Of course with the 116 still not operating at par, I'm kind of stuck.

All in all, this has been an humbling weekend. :twoonone:


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

OK, so I think I used the wrong straps. The deck was riding much lower than the 2.5" I had it set on. There's another set of straps in my pile that are just a tad shorter. I'm going to have to check and see if those are the right ones. I'll also have to check the other tractor and see if I put the short ones on it by mistake.

Anyway, while I had the 180 in the carport looking at it, my wife suggested I take some pictures with my brother's camera.

Here's the 180 in mid repair.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

And here are the aforementioned 116s.

The one with the seat off is the donor tractor. I pulled the seat off and am trying to get rid of all the rust on the usually hidden metal (rusted due to split vinyl). The underside of the seat's in fine shape. I'm going to buy the replacement cushion on eBay and have myself a new seat.

Steve


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## treed (Sep 16, 2003)

There's a chain of hardware stores here that sell replacements seats for about all the different brands of LT's. The JD seat, complete with the JD label on the back is $29.99. Though it wouldn't be OEM, it's still a very good looking seat. The original style seat from JD is about $61.

Steve,
Both of those 116's looked to be in decent shape. Too bad you can't get the 18 hp engine to work in the one and find a reasonable tranny for the other. I have saw a few on ebay and I think, I know of where one is that's on a JD165.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

There are a couple of ebay sellers who run the embossed replacement cushions between 15 and 25 dollars "buy it now" from week to week. I hope to get one of those, or maybe two.

---

Both 116's are structurally in good shape. My 116 has some minor dents in the seat and fender deck, and the moron who put the 18hp motor in cut the black metal below the front of the hood to accommodate the exhaust pipe.

The 116H, aside from the bad tranny, has some minor cracking on the hood front (right below the black "headlamp" cover) and one hairline crack near the brake pedal that I already repaired with super glue. 

All the rims are in good shape, just need sanding and painting. The frames are good too.

I'd love to fix them both. I'm sure I could sell one restored for $500+ but we are a single income home and I just don't see how I can afford to buy all the parts I need. 

I'm still very inexperienced mechanically, and I don't know how to replace a transmission. My brother can help sometimes, but I feel guilty asking too often. frown


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

> _Originally posted by treed _
> *I have saw a few on ebay and I think, I know of where one is that's on a JD165. *


Yeah, according to JDParts, this particular hyrdostatic transmission was used in the 116H, 165, 175, and early 185s.

Nothing on eBay today. 

I'd kind of like to have a hydrostatic. It would be a nice change of pace.


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## treed (Sep 16, 2003)

Steve,
You might want to hang on to that 116H. It's not costing you anything now and you might run across a good tranny for it in time that won't break the bank. You can periodically start it up from time to time. Look around the local lawn mower repair shops and you might get lucky. Or maybe the dealers boneyards for a possible transmission donor. Since you have the 180 you have time to be patient and a tranny for the 116H may turned up. According to Murphy's Law, as soon as you part with the 116H, a reasonable priced transmission will turn up.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

*UPDATE!!!*

UPDATE!!!

After a whole batch of rainy evenings where I couldn't mow, I got to use the 180 today.

I played golf this morning (7AM tee-time UGH) and then took a 30 minute nap before checking out the deck for adjustment and checking the tractor out.

Once I started up the tractor and got going, I took off.

I cut the entire mowable 2 acres (in spite of the 18" tall weeds in the back) at 2.5" cut in less than 2 hours in 3rd gear.

I firmly believe if the grass was normal "time-to-mow" length I could have done the whole thing in 4th gear and gotten finished in 1.25 hours. The yard has not looked this nice in the five years we've owned the place. It's almost fairway quality (albeit a little tall for that).

I'm pleased as punch. If I can borrow my brother's camera, I'll post a picture or two of the finished job.

Steve


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## Chipmaker (Sep 16, 2003)

While it may not be an original seat or a seat style even close, I found on my 180 that adding a high back seat made for all the difference in the world in confort. That low backed original seat was murder on the lower back especially if the ground was not smooth, so I installed a high back for my own needs. 

Have you had the opportunity to change out your drive belt on the 180 yet? Not a 5 minute task by any means...........but the belt should last a long time anyhow. 

Have you been able to keep your brakes adjusted? I always had problems with mine. Get them adjusted and within a very short time frame they would stop holding. I replaced the friction pads and linkages numerous times and eventually used it without brakes 99% of the time without a problem.

You'll also find that the weld area on the front wheels where the hub/ bearings is welded to the wheel is prone to cracking or breaking especially if you do any amount of sideways mowing on a hill or berm. I used to have to replace mine every two or so years when I used to cut the right of way in front of my property. It seems the wheels are not designed sufficiently to take much sideways stress and they flex at the welded portion and crack and then break, so keep an eye on this area.


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## steventhomas42 (Jul 8, 2004)

I've thought about the high back seats for both the 180 and the 116, but the price tag is enough to make me rethink.

I have noticed that the 180's brakes are less than stellar. I haven't tried to repair them yet, and my property is mostly level, so I don't know how passionate I am about it.

The right-of-way on one side of my driveway is a real hill, and there's no mowing it with a rider. I need your tractor with the powered side cutter.

As it is, we cut it with the weed-wacker (also JD).

The other side is a gentle slope, though.


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## 19tlj (Sep 4, 2011)

Steve,Can you anyone tell me how to remove and reinstall the pulley bearing #26 in picture 1.I have replaced every bearing in the deck except for this one.It looks like its gonna be tough and i am afraid that i will damage that high dollar pulley.The bearing alone is $47.It is definitely the culprit for you loud and rough sounding deck.Any info you can give me will be much appreciated.Bob


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