Case J44 mower deck

[550Doug]

I've posted this on the Garden Tractor forum also.

The main drive pulley on this J44 mower deck is quite noisy. I've never seen this type of extension on a pulley. It is the top portion of this drive pulley thay is wobbly and hence noisy. All other pulleys are tight. My problem is I don't know how to separate that top pulley. The one picture shows the inside of the pulley is chewed up a bit but it still grabs enough to still power the whole deck. There is a flat spot on the shaft under that top pulley and it appears to take a 1-1/4 inch wrench but I don't want to wrench on it and mess up the inside further.
I cannot find any reference to this type of pulley extension in any Case material. Any ideas?
TIA

 

[stevob671]

It almost looks as if the pulley is welded to a threaded part that screws onto the spindle shaft roughly per my red markup...as near as I can tell in the picture.
Wonder if someone could true it up and re-weld it?

 

[Timmycornpicker]

The cast OEM pulley doesn't ride that high and a nut went on the threaded shaft to keep it on. It looks like this pulley is indeed threaded on where the nut would normally be to make the pulley higher. I can't fathom why somebody would have changed to this setup.

 

[DoubleO7]

(reply to post at 21:35:26 06/08/23)

That there is a farmerized modification.

On a normal setup there is not hardly room for a finger between bottom of pulley flange and that rusty rectangular sheet metal shield with the center slot in it.

 

[jon f mn]

Looks like you ate going to need at least
the correct pulley and likely a new
spindle. Barneveld imp. in Wisconsin will
be able to help you out. Great folks
there. I just got that spindle from them
myself. You can call them at 6089241662

 

[550Doug]

That there is a farmerized modification.

On a normal setup there is not hardly room for a finger between bottom of pulley flange and that rusty rectangular sheet metal shield with the center slot in it.

Farmerized, YES!
Upon closer inspection, in that last picture what we are seeing is a nut on a spindle and the nut has been spot welded to the inside of the pulley. Moreover, that pulley and spacer seem to be one single unit. It is the spot welds that have broken loose allowing that pulley to wobble and be noisy. The question now becomes how do I remove those pesky spot welds in order to fit a socket down there to remove the nut?

 

[DoubleO7]

(reply to post at 18:28:32 06/10/23)

Since the pulley wobbles, maybe it is 2 pound hammer time to knock it off and deconstruct in order to get to the bearing.