Pennington Deck Spindle Assembly PICS

[keyser]

I recently was greasing my spindle assembly on my Pennington Deck and the grease popped the seal loose and I ended up pulling the spindle assembly apart. I've had trouble finding many Pennington pics recently so I thought I'd take some and post them up in case they can help someone else out. The pics are missing the other large split ring that fit in a groove in the body holding the bearing in place and is between the bearing and the seal. I honestly have no idea what the spacer beneath the top bearing is for, It actually prevented the seal from seating all the way so I will not be using the spacer upon reassembly. I also don't know what point the small split rings serve as they were both loose upon removal and I see no recess for them to sit in. Here they go:

 

[staninlowerAL]

Pennington Mower information was recently added to the pdf manuals courtesy of a forum member; check mower parts for manuals. Maybe this link will connect you: http://www.farmallcub.com/fcman/downloa ... -mower.pdf
I also have the original files if you need some info, PM with an email address as they are too large to post.

 

[Clip]

Thanks! I'm halfway through my first of three to rebuild, removed the upper seal and snap rings and working on the lower seal. Is there a trick to remove these seals? I spent some quality time with a small cold chisel and punches to get enough of a lip to grab onto with pliers.

 

[keyser]

Thanks for the link Stan. Clip sent you a pm.

 

[Clip]

I used the Pennington parts list to get several parts, and Stan was extremely helpful in sending information to source the bearings and seals. Here are the numbers I ended up getting to replace.

6205-ZZ metal shielded ball bearing, 25x52x15mm. These only need to be shielded on the opposite side of the zerk so grease can access them, and all descriptions I read indicated you can pull the shield off of one side of a ZZ bearing to make it a 6205-Z. When I called NAPA for a BCA 205, the cost was around $25. $25x6 for all spindles made me want to scrap the whole project. I shopped around and found a 10 pack on eBay for around $17. No doubt their quality isn't as good, but with four extra I can pick and choose and keep spares on hand.

25x52x7mm oil seal, double lip. I believe the thicker industrial seals (25x52x10mm) will fit as well. I called NAPA again, but the National 471619 or 453165 were both around $15 ea. I found these at a good price on eBay as well. Made an offer and got nine for $2 ea. Again, quality probably isn't on par with National but will serve the Pennington 600 well for my uses.

Also needed for three spindles are the following (so far):

Six 2" internal retaining rings
Six 1" external retaining rings
Three 1/8x1/2 Woodruff keys (to secure what looks like 'drive collar' in Pennington parts list)
Three 3/16x3/4 Woodruff keys to secure sheave to shaft - looks like parts list called for 3/16 sq key stock but mine had Woodruff keys. The pictures above show a slightly different keyway than mine.
Blades: Suggested to me were Rotary Corp's 6435, 19" blades, 1/2 round hole. Parts list called out 20" blades so I found some universal 20" Maxpower blades on Amazon. Will have to take care to adjust spindles back-forth to make sure the blades don't interfere.

 

[staninlowerAL]

Thanks for the link Stan. Clip sent you a pm.

Hey, you guys are more than welcome. I'm intreaged by these Pennington mowers, I happened to get one many years ago that someone had attempted (unsuccessfully) to make a 3pt model out of it. Last year a acquired another one with the original mule drive for parts and was able to make one complete mower from the two. Original belt guards and shields came from another forum member. I have a '57 IH LoBoy with FH to run it and recently, I got a '72 LoBoy 154 that can power it too. Which ever one I use, I think the combination will make an interesting exhibit for me and get some functional use as well. I'd love to see some mower pictures as there's not many around at least in my part of the world. Good Luck Stan

 

[staninlowerAL]

Here's a couple of pictures of the manufacturer's brochures that is interesting. The brochures show the mower was also marketed for mounting on Allis Chalmers B, D10 and D12. I also have a brochure of a Pennington 48 inch front mounted on a early Cub Cadet.

 

[keyser]

After some sanding i was able to get a part number off one of my blades. They were Woods 6950. I found three at a local Cub Cadet dealer, they were about $20 each.

 

[jbiersba]

Hey there, Can anyone give me an idea on the best way to dissemble one of these spindle hubs? I have a 63 cub loboy with what i believe is a Pennington 625 mower deck. I recently removed the blades to sharpen them.... upon re-installation I couldn't get one f the blades to tighten and realize the spindle shaft (blade side) is spinning independently of the rest of the shaft up through the pulley. The pulley spins with the top part of the shaft. Woodruf key is intact. It's hard to believe, but I think the spindle shaft is actually broken??

Anyhow, I have removed the blade and removed the pulley, and I'm trying to dissemble further. I've not been able to locate a snap ring on either end of the spindle. What I have located is a small round coiled spring that was sitting on what appears to be the top of the bearing on either end. This is not a part I see in the parts diagram for the mower deck?? I need adviceon what to be looking for and how to get the spindle shaft out of the spindle housing. I assume it's not as simple as knocking it out with a hammer and the bearings would come out with it??

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[staninlowerAL]

This thread is at least 11 years old. Can you get some pictures of what you are working with and start a new post? Does the spindle housing connect to a square plate that bolts to the mower deck? I have 2 Pennington mowers and some parts for comparison. Stan

 

[staninlowerAL]

If you are working on a Pennington mower here's the OEM schematic and parts list. Snap ring is #47, pic of spindles is from a parts mower. Hope this helps. Stan

 

[jbiersba]

pictures attached. appears to be a Pennington mower deck, and yes it's a square mount. There appears to be a rubber grease seal / grommet on the top and bottom of the spindle that i'm not sure how to remove. I assume those are covering up the snap rings. At the top and bottom of the spindle were one each of the round spring style o ring that I included a picture of. They do not appear to be holding anything in place though.

 

[Bob McCarty]

The "round spring style o-ring" looks like it's out of a grease seal.

 

[staninlowerAL]

You're probably going to have to dig the seals out and may destroy them in the process. As I recall, the snap ring is under the top grease seal as I recall. When you get the top seal out and remove the snap ring the shaft should slip out and leave the lower seal in place which will be easier to remove from the top side with a long punch or screwdriver. If you can pry it out with a large screwdriver and it reasonably intact, any parts seller can mike the size and match it with the currently available oil seal. And yes, I agree the spindle shaft that is spinning is likely broken. JMHO Stan

 

[Jim Becker]

And yes, I agree the spindle shaft that is spinning is likely broken. JMHO Stan

I'm not familiar with this particular spindle. But if the shaft is broken, shouldn't the bottom half fall/pry out without removing the top snap ring?

 

[staninlowerAL]

I'm not familiar with this particular spindle. But if the shaft is broken, shouldn't the bottom half fall/pry out without removing the top snap ring?

I would think so but who knows? I seem to remember a post from a while back that the lower part came out but don't remember the details. I've had one apart but it's been a good while ago. Stan

 

[jbiersba]

all of this info has been very helpful. Thank You!

I may not have been clear with my original post, but the spindle with the potentially broken shaft also has a blade attached to it, and I'm struggling to remove the blade (because everything now spins) to allow me to remove the spindle from the deck and further disassemble it. I'll figure that out.....

In the meantime I did disassemble one of the other spindles using the advice above to figure things out.

Yes, I did need to remove the grease seal, I destroyed one, and then got a little smarter with the other. I drilled a few holes in a large washer that was about the same outer diameter as the grease seal, and had an inner diameter that allowed the spindle to fit through it. I laid that washer over the spindle and on top of the grease seal. I then set a few screws through the holes I had drilled in the washer, and sunk them into the rubber of the grease seal. It was then pretty easy to use a gear puller to pull the washer up and it brought the grease seal out with it. The seal almost looks reusable if I needed to reuse it.

After that there were two C clips on each side of the spindle (4 total). A small one holding the spindle to the inside of the bearings, and a large one holding the bearing to the inside of the spindle housing. Once I removed both C clips on both sides I was able to knock the spindle shaft and bearings out. Phew! Fingers crossed I'm going to have no problem finding replacement bearings and grease seals as some of you have mentioned. After this process, I believe as others have mentioned that if I was able to remove 2 C clips (2 from either end of the spindle) I probably would have been able to knock the spindle shaft out from the opposite side of the assembly.

Now... Onto the spindle with the broken shaft. My plan is to use the washer / screw method to remove the grease seal from the top of the broken spindle and remove the two C clips from the top. At that point I still won't be able to knock the spindle shaft down towards the bottom of the spindle, but I think I will be able to use a puller to remove the top portion of the spindle and the top bearing from the housing (assuming the spindle shaft is in fact broken). Once I get that out. I will have to drill and tap the bottom half of the broken spindle shaft or find a way to otherwise stabilize it so I can get the mower blade nut and blade off the bottom. Once that is done it should be clear sailing and I will be on the hunt for a new spindle shaft.

It will be a few weeks before I get back to this. The mower deck with the broken spindle is at a different location from home and I won't be back there for a few weeks.

Thanks again for the advice so far.... it's been super helpful!

 

[Bob McCarty]

I would think you could wedge a piece of 2x4 against the blade to keep it from turning while you loosen the nut.