Another week gone by...

[KE4AVB]

Well another week has gone by and more problems with aftermarket parts. This time is 918-3129 spindles aftermarket replacements. First time I ordered I got 3 out of Georgia and 1 out of Charlotte. The 3 from Georgia warehouse were fine so I put the fourth up as a spare. Well went to used the spare Tuesday and it had 1/32" in the bearings when tighten to 100 ft lbs and the blade was riding 7/32" high. Call the supplier Wednesday and they ship out a replacement plus I order 3 more. Well this afternoon I got all 4 in. Guess what the replacement had the seals falling out and still had the other issues too. As I planned I went ahead and checked the other three and they are just as bad with one worst on the end play since they all were out the Charlotte warehouse. Returning all 5 spindles for a full refund and order an OEM spindle through Amazon. The only thing is now it will take a week to get here and the mower was to be out Saturday.

Boy Sunbelt has screwing up a lot lately. Until now it been belts being the wrong size.

[bgsengine]

Well another week has gone by and more problems with aftermarket parts. This time is 918-3129 spindles aftermarket replacements. First time I ordered I got 3 out of Georgia and 1 out of Charlotte. The 3 from Georgia warehouse were fine so I put the fourth up as a spare. Well went to used the spare Tuesday and it had 1/32" in the bearings when tighten to 100 ft lbs and the blade was riding 7/32" high. Call the supplier Wednesday and they ship out a replacement plus I order 3 more. Well this afternoon I got all 4 in. Guess what the replacement had the seals falling out and still had the other issues too. As I planned I went ahead and checked the other three and they are just as bad with one worst on the end play since they all were out the Charlotte warehouse. Returning all 5 spindles for a full refund and order an OEM spindle through Amazon. The only thing is now it will take a week to get here and the mower was to be out Saturday.

Boy Sunbelt has screwing up a lot lately. Until now it been belts being the wrong size.

Have you perhaps considered Stens? they tend to be pretty good and they do back up their warranty.. easy enough to set up an account with them also (judging by all the folks on ebay and amazon that have absolutely no clue about OPE parts or what they fit or how they go together and just copy/paste stens description)

[KE4AVB]

Just irritated and venting a little. At least I didn't blow a hole in the shop ceiling yesterday but probably raised a few shingles, I was outdoors ; even with me suspecting that the replacement were going to be just as bad since they were coming the same warehouse. What I did not expect was that it would be falling apart in the box.

No problem with Stens problems other than the problem I had with the Tru-Blue fuel line hype. And not having any problems with getting things replaced under warranty by Sunbelt. It just that I am losing trust in a trusted supplier as someone or someones are not doing their job lately on product acquisitions. They are getting burned themselves because of this.

Apparently no one is actually checking out things before they buy them. As many of the items Sunbelt sells of these they shouldn't be switching suppliers just because a product cheaper from another source without checking out the quality. Maybe I just expect too much by insisting on a quality product that I am going to stock so I don't have a machine sitting here for one to two weeks while I wait on a commonly used item.

As for these Cub/Mtd spindles I am now sourcing the seals and bearings. Already got the seals on the way and just making my mind up on either ordering LM or the slightly better M spec bearings. Probably will go with the commonly used bearings. This way I can just rebuild the spindles. I even purchase a drill press for drill out those broken screws; just to add a vise of the press for positioning and holding them in place as I drill them out squarely. Normally I won't be removing the spindle housings once I get the rebuild parts on hand. I just haven't been getting these spindle in as are just now beginning to show up here in the shop. No way I can justify buying the rebuild parts from MTD when I can get the LM11949/10 bearing for as little as $2 / bearing and set cone where MTD wants to sell them separately for more than the spindle assembly. Actually the rebuild I am looking at it will cost less $10-$15 per spindle if I only need bearing sets and seals plus the grease. I am seeing the lower spacer being damage and it will also need replacing since is not part of the replacement spindles so that is a separate cost anyways. Of course my time that be involve isn't figured in but it not that hard to change the cups out. At least I would be dealing a known product with quality control in house and not wasting my time on installing a new spindle assembly just to find out they are not right then having reorder a replacement.

Now I could fix the problem the spindle they sent me but the problem is that I would still need to change out all three out just to blade height all the same and not 1/4" off on one. That is in itself is a lot difference.

As suggested I will check out Stens to see what kinda ship times I would have from them direct. From current vendor of most my aftermarket parts it is 2 days.

[KE4AVB]

Well this week I got the 6 spindles sent back. I ended up rebuilding the two original spindle hubs. Cost not bad per spindle. Bearing sets were $12 per pair. I even had a blind hole puller to remove the cup/race or what you call them while the hub were still attached to the deck and I had a 33 mm socket to press install the new ones. Fairly easy to do when you got the right tools.

Now I can get the bearing sets for considerable less; of course, I got to mark-up the parts but I still competitive to the local auto part house especially since they can't get the seals.

Way less than what MTD wants for the same parts. It was nearly 40.00 from them which is why I was ordering the after market hubs.

Here it is October and I am still backed up with work. Good as for last year it was nearly dead around here. Strange though that I haven't seen many chainsaws so far this year.