While refinishing the deck (covered in a previous post) I noticed the mandrels where ruined at the blade attachment. The star shaped key was rounded off beyond repair so I had no choice but to replace the mandrel completely which I had no problem with. These are the parts that hold on your blades and keep them away from you, I would hate for one to break loose and who knows what kind of damage it could cause. Another nice benefit of the new mandrels is brand new bearing which will keep the blades spinning with minimal resistance. I received another misc. goodies package from Sears in the mail and I bought a package of E-Clip retainers to replace all of the old rusted / missing clips. I bought the new clips at Harbor Freight for a fraction of the price sears wanted.
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- New E-Clips
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- Installing New E-Clips
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- New Mandrels 1
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- New Mandrels 2
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- Mandrels Installed Bottom
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- Mandrels Installed Top
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- Misc Parts
The mandrel on my LT4000 has a busted baring and for the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to figure how to remove the mandrel to fix the baring with no luck I’ve turned to the internet finding your page. I was wondering if you could explain how to remove the mandrel from the deck it would be greatly appreciated.
In the photos you can see there is a big nut on one side, the side opposite the blades. Remove that nut and use a big hammer to hammer the mandrel out through the side where the blades mount. You will need to replace the entire shaft and bearings if you use this method because it will damage the mandrels but you should replace them anyway. I bought my mandrels from Sears online and I believe I posted the Craftsman manual with part numbers on my site, just look in the Craftsman section.
The strange thing is i tried that before hitting the top of the shaft with a hammer but after reading your recent post i put the assembly back in the vise, hit it with a hammer and out it came. i guess it needed a bit more convincing, thanks for your help.
I’m glad I could be of help, It lets me know that building this site was a good idea after all because the reason I built it was in hopes of helping someone through the same projects that I have taken on.