New guy with mower deck question

[JR Scout]

First season with a 185/3160 in SE Alabama after some paint and PTO work. Need help with a spindle problem- an outer spindle let go, shaft broke and the bottom half where the blade attaches fell off. New spindle is on the way, but when I tried to take the pulley off the real problem started. The piece on top of the pulley with three bolts started crumbling when I tried to back off the bolts, even after a good soaking of WD40. I now have the last half an inch or so of the collar all the way around the shaft. Can I pry this up and off with a screwdriver? I'm not sure how the shaft key fits in all of this. Any pointers are welcome.

[staninlowerAL]

Sounds like you have a taper bushing sheave with the bushing coming apart. The parts are replacable as a unit or individual pieces. You'll have to get one or the other. You need some penetrant solution like KROL or PB Blaster etc. WD40 won't do the job. Does it look like this? It's a PTO drive pulley but it comes apart the same way.

[Urbish]

That's no good. The 'piece on top of the pulley' is a tapered bushing that wedges the pulley onto the shaft. If the collar where the bolts attach through is falling apart, you will have a tremendously difficult time getting the pulley off the spindle. Despite the way it is marketed, WD40 is not very useful when working on rusty things. PB Blast or Kroil are true penetrating oils that work much better.

Edit: Stan beat me to it.

[JR Scout]

I think Urbish is describing my situation. I would attach a picture, but I can't get the size small enough to go through. Should I just pry the remnants of the bushing off the top of the shaft?

[staninlowerAL]

Removal of the top part of the bushing will still leave the "wedged" piece inside the sheave. If you want to salvage it then you've got to come up with a way to remove the bushing. Since the shaft is broken and being replaced I would try to release the clamping action of the bushing by either removing the bolts or cutting the head off of them then try driving out the bushing from the back side while supporting the sheave in some fashion. You've still got to get the bolts out and replace them along with a new bushing. It's probably going to be time consuming and maybe not successful, you may break the sheave also. You can google browning sheave & bushing and probably find one to replace the complete assembly. Usually McMaster Carr or Motion Industries or someone like that or Hamilton Bob's forum sponser might have one from parting out.

[Rick Spivey]

Normally you use the two smaller bolt holes to push the pulley portion off the hub. If that won't still work due to the crumbling issue, then you could try to drive the pulley down off the hub with delicate use of a hammer. In any event, the pulley needs to go "down" towards what used to be deck to make the hub loosen on the shaft. Once the pulley is off, then a gear puller could be used to pull the hub off the shaft. All of this assuming there is room under the pulley/hub to make it work.

[JR Scout]

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up just having to cut the shaft and replace both spindle and pulley. Ready to mow now as soon as it finishes raining,