1991 King Kutter 6' Spindle Bearing replacement

[onetotaltoolman]

I'm pretty good at sourcing parts, but this time i'm stumped. Bought a 91' king kutter finish mower in great shape. One spindle is making noise, so decided to order a rebuild kit for it. While waiting for the parts, i took out the spindle and disssasembled. Parts get here. Surprise! The new bearings are flat. The originals in the 91' are cone shapped setting in a race. Called king Kutter corp, and the parts guy says he has no idea, and that they have used the same spindle for 20 years. (mine are older, obviously). Bearing has "720 SE" printed on the side of it, and the seal has "5253" printed on it. I hate to buy a new spindle, because at that point i may have to just replace all three. Anyone been through this and have successfully found the correct bearing numbers and seal numbers on these old units? The numbers on the bearing/seal don't show up in the parts books, so they must be missing some numbers. Thanks.!

 

[J Hamilton]

The spindle may have been replaced with a different style or for a different machine, but would fit. I have replaced the "cone style" taper roller bearings with the ball bearing type many times on mower spindles with no problems.

 

[onetotaltoolman]

No, these are actually orginal. Talked to a guy at brooks ag that was familiar with them. Said the spindles changed sometime toward 2020.
I thought of the same thing you mentioned above. I had the rebuild bearings, so wondered if i could just take out the races and use the bearings in their place. The diameter of the bearing is the same, but unfortunately the inner bearing hole is off just a little. So, i cleaned and repacked the current bearing, and i'll run them untill it fails and then , i guess, just replace all three spindles. Can't believe i have the numbers printed on the bearing and can't replace them. bummer.

 

[Indiana Ken]

I'm pretty good at sourcing parts, but this time i'm stumped. Bought a 91' king kutter finish mower in great shape. One spindle is making noise, so decided to order a rebuild kit for it. While waiting for the parts, i took out the spindle and disssasembled. Parts get here. Surprise! The new bearings are flat. The originals in the 91' are cone shapped setting in a race. Called king Kutter corp, and the parts guy says he has no idea, and that they have used the same spindle for 20 years. (mine are older, obviously). Bearing has "720 SE" printed on the side of it, and the seal has "5253" printed on it. I hate to buy a new spindle, because at that point i may have to just replace all three. Anyone been through this and have successfully found the correct bearing numbers and seal numbers on these old units? The numbers on the bearing/seal don't show up in the parts books, so they must be missing some numbers. Thanks.!

I have used Bearing Headquarters in South Bend Indiana. They have multiple sites around the US. They work with the numbers on the bearing. Google: www.bearingheadquarters.com. Good Luck.

 

[wore out]

I'm pretty good at sourcing parts, but this time i'm stumped. Bought a 91' king kutter finish mower in great shape. One spindle is making noise, so decided to order a rebuild kit for it. While waiting for the parts, i took out the spindle and disssasembled. Parts get here. Surprise! The new bearings are flat. The originals in the 91' are cone shapped setting in a race. Called king Kutter corp, and the parts guy says he has no idea, and that they have used the same spindle for 20 years. (mine are older, obviously). Bearing has "720 SE" printed on the side of it, and the seal has "5253" printed on it. I hate to buy a new spindle, because at that point i may have to just replace all three. Anyone been through this and have successfully found the correct bearing numbers and seal numbers on these old units? The numbers on the bearing/seal don't show up in the parts books, so they must be missing some numbers. Thanks.!

If they are tapered roller bearings there should be a number on the cup and the cone. Got a photo of the bearings?