DU bearings for Walker Mowers

[ericg]

Does anyone know where to get replacement DU bearings, Walker part number 7201-3, for the idler pulley pivots on top of the jackshaft on a Walker mower. The dealer wants $12.00 each and you need four to replace all of the bearings. They are 19mm od and 17mm id. The dealer said that the older style bushings were cheaper as the new style has teflon inside the bearing. I cannot seem to find anyone on the web who can supply them. I hate to spend top dollar for something that someone else makes for Walker and the dealer just marks up.

[khouse]

I typed in "nylon bushings" on Google and a ton of stuff came up. Or if you have a large town close by look in the yellow pages under bearings. Then take you part to them. I have a nice bearing company close to me. IBT Bearing company. Just slap it on the counter and they give me a new one. There are also belting companies that when all else fails they will have it. -Belts I mean...

[ericg]

Thanks Khouse. I have a General Bearing Company near by. I will try them tomorrow.

[khouse]

Good deal! Let us know if you get something that works.

[ericg]

Khouse, no good. I went to General Bearing and they have 16mm and 18mm id bearings but no listing for a 17mm id bearing. Someone has to make these for Walker as they are not set up to manufacure them. It would not be bad except for the fact that there are six machines involved here so it adds up to be a great deal of money.

[Bill Kapaun]

Here's a thought-
19MM is .748". MIGHTLY close to 3/4"!
Drill out with a 17MM drill?

[ericg]

Bill, your suggestion is a good one but the DU bearing is a bronze based unit with a teflon or ptfe coating. If I drill it out, I may compromise the bearing. I guess the word bearing is really not the right term although that is the Walker designation. It is really an oilless bushing so there is not much wall thickness. This is a common wear point on the Walkers and I have called the factory inquiring why they don't go to a needle bearing and the bottom line is cost.

[Breezmister]

Just a thought , but have you tried Fedral Mogul, link is below

http://www.federalmogul.com/en/ProductSelector

Back in the day, when I worked on Lockes, they went from a brass bushing to a nylon bushing on the reel pivot arm retainer, needless to say, the nylon would crush and be useless. Some one came up with the idea of taking aluminum tubing and cutting it to the right width. It fit over the stud and in the retainer arm, we just added a large washer to the bolt to keep it in place.

[khouse]

I made a couple of inqurires on that size to a couple of companies. You can look too. Google "metric bronze bushings" There are a lot of hits.

[ericg]

Thanks Breezmister and Khouse. I will follow up tomorrow and let you know how I make out.

[Bill Kapaun]

Bill, your suggestion is a good one but the DU bearing is a bronze based unit with a teflon or ptfe coating. If I drill it out, I may compromise the bearing. I guess the word bearing is really not the right term although that is the Walker designation. It is really an oilless bushing so there is not much wall thickness. This is a common wear point on the Walkers and I have called the factory inquiring why they don't go to a needle bearing and the bottom line is cost.

After doing a little searching, I realized what drilling it out would do.

[tomo]

hello ,
try duphor bearings .[brand/type]
Any decent bearing reseller will have a listing ,but as i found out not all .

The reason the factory does not use needle roller bearings is they wear out quicker than the alloy sleeve type bearing . There is more surface area on the sleeve type to support the load etc .
Another major reason is the pulsating type load applied to the tensioners wears the needle type brg out very quickly . As the needle type wears out it creates a wear pattern on the inner shaft . This results in the tensioner operation being very notchy in operation .The end product is the tensioner does not work properly and belt slip on the driven item results .

Walker fitted DU bearings as an upgrade to the pivot points some years ago .

NB Do not beleive every thing u hear from the factorys as unless u r speaking to an established source u will be kept in the dark

tomo:waving:

[ericg]

Thanks tomo, your explaination clears everything up as to why a needle bearing was not utilized. I will try your bearing mfg. The fellow that I spoke to at Walker has only been working there for a little over a year so I guess he was unaware of the design change.

[ericg]

I found the bearings for $1.25 each with a minimum quantity of 32 plus shipping at Motion Industries. They have stores all over the US. The normally do not stock the bearing but had no problem ordering it. In fact, he told me that the bearing is made by GGB bearing company. They also stock/can get all of the parts for the gearboxes for the Walker mowers.