Aluminum Spindle Housings

[Eric ELM]

Does anybody know why some Mfgs have gone to Aluminum Spindle Housings?
This is not a quiz. :)
This is a question I have never heard the answer to.

[joshua]

i think i have it. why do some contractors sell people the cheaper brown mulch that lasts 1 year instaed of the black died mulch? answer so they have to mulch it more often and make more money. if the mfgs put all the best stuff that wouldn't break on our machines we wouldn't have to replace it.

[awm]

i ask this on another post that mentioned aluminum spindles. is this w cast or steel sleeve.
my lazer is 5 yrs old with original spindles,if they can get aluminum to do that. cant be aluminum im familar with.
i know a fella that changes all spindles, i think he said every yr.mabe thats why.
ill be interested in reading other input on this .later

[75]

With the trend these days towards making everything lighter, I'm inclined to think aluminum spindle housings are a way to save weight - in the same way that by using lighter gauge metal and more plastic, a 1/2-ton pickup from '85 weighs less than the comparable '75 model.
(And a LOT less than a '65!)

Just a thought.

[awm]

i was picturing an auminum bearing but you said housi
so that dont sound that bad. the bearing its self is steel i guess.

[Eric ELM]

AWM, as I mentioned in my reply to you on that thread, it has to be aluminum spindle housings, not aluminum spindle shafts. In the above question of mine I did say aluminum HOUSINGS. I think Exmark went to this just a few years ago, yours are probably steel housings. The aluminum housings I know of are all the sealed bearing type spindles.

[thelawnguy]

My tuf tracer is 5 years old w/ aluminum spindles the center has been replaced but outboard are original.

What is the concern, if they can make engines from aluminum (the one in your mower probably is) I dont see where a spindle would be a problem.

[ChadsLawn]

my spindles on my Kees ZTR 52" are aluminum housing sealed.They will last along time if you keephem away from sand and not hit any hiddin objects.My mower is 3yrs old and i have replaced all 3,4 times.Thank GOD for warranty.
I personally think they made them aluminum so they will wear out faster.This last set has lasted me well over a year,but i dont mow 50 yards a week either.1200 hours on a 3 yr old mower is pretty good right???

[linky]

The bearing and race are the only wear parts of a spindle. So maybe they use aluminum for weight and heat reduction. Just a guess but steel sounds better to me.

[Grateful11]

Aluminum well dissipate heat faster than steel or cast iron. That may be one reason but I'm sure it's cheaper to cast aluminum than cast iron.

OT: The only spindle failure I've had was when my wife hit a 1/2" rod 5ft long and bent the center spindle on my old Sears before I started mowing for others. I took it to work, disassembled it, made a new shaft out of 4150 preheat-treated steel and bored the housing deeper to accept a double row bottom bearing. The bent shaft wallowed out the end of the housing and we had to do something. So we put Loctite Quickmetal in the gap around the wallowed out area and seated the wider bearing into the newly bored area. That was many years ago and it's still going strong. I use it like a bush hog in rough stuff. At that time a new center shaft was $85.00 from Sears.

[eslawns]

I know it is much easier to machine aluminum than steel, stainless, or cast iron. The problem is that the alum. housings need to be made thicker to resist the vibrations, and all the ones I've seen so far are not. The weight differences don't matter on a lawn mower.

The best materials for this?

A heavy grade of steel because it easier to machine, but it will cost more...

...or cast iron. It's harder to machine, but cheaper to make.

Both are more rigid. This helps keep the bearings from vibrating apart.

The housings on a DC are made like a tank.

[Edited by eslawns on 05-04-2001 at 10:23 PM]

[Eric ELM]

My DC dealer also sells a brand that uses the aluminum housings for the spindles. He said the problem with them is if you hit something solid, it stretches the housing and then the bearings have play in them.

I know my old cast iron housings have held up great. :)

[TLS]

Eric,

I'm just too tired to run out to the garage to measure, but on my Lazer the actual housing is a larger diameter than my Dixies steel housing. The Aluminum Lazer is held down by 5 bolts and is heavily ribbed underneath (pain to scrape grass off underneath) and the spindle shaft itself is 1.19" while the Dixie is only 1" with 4 bolts. Plus I only grease fittings on the Lazer every Monday whereas the Dixie was an every morning affair with the spindles anyway. I only have about 100 hrs on it now, but as time goes on, I'll let you know. Plus they have a 3yr warranty, so who cares! When I sold my Dixie with 1200hrs, the center spindle was a little loose and would lift up and down about 1/8"?

[awm]

number 1 i dont prefer sealed bearings ,just my preference so im glad i got the steel w zerts.
2 this magnificent brain of mine continues to amaze me.
but i somehow get by inspite of it.lol

[eslawns]

on my Lazer the actual housing is a larger diameter than my Dixies steel housing

They should be. Actually, the walls need to be about 3 times thicker than steel, and more than that for cast iron. Ever look at how thick an aluminum car rim is compared to a steel rim? Big difference.