I added thrust bearing to my LA145, 12 years ago when it was 8 hrs old and regrease them yearly when I do my yearly maintenance, and there still perfect. This little yard mower is constantly turning because of the shape of yard and intrusiveness. It's a lot cheaper to install these upgrades rather than having to replace your spindles. Like I said I added the bearings when it was 8 hrs old and I was shocked at the amount of wear already started at that time. I also added wheel bearings and threw away the bushings that came from the factory. Some of these relatively cheap preventative wear upgrades are life changers for these little tractors. Truth be said is my 12 year old mower is better that it was brand new. Anything that can rear has been corrected including between the belt tighteners, just by adding a thin plastic shim/gasket between the two surfaces as a wear plate with grease. A 4 liter milk jug plastic works perfectly for that. Also a grease needle is a cheap investment...
Steve check this mod out I just completed.......ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Kc2-259SgQ8.html Bruce grinds some of the top thrust washer away to allow grease in from the zerks.
I'll be truthful with you I did that little mod last summer to my JD, L-120. But didn't really see an improvement in the steering at all but I didn't have a problem in the first place with my steering. I was just replacing my two front "wore-out" tires.
Steve, I wonder if you would've been able to install the same on the top of the steering knuckle also, maybe that would've helped even more? I'm not sure if you would've had the room to get another thrust bearing and washers on there and still have gotten your c-clip back on, but just a thought. I have a Cub Cadet that has a bolt in the top of the knuckle holding it on instead of a c-clip, I think I'm going to try and do the thrust bearing setup in the top and bottom.
@@SteveStoltz Yeah I was thinking about that. Probably wouldn't have as much effect as the bottom, like you said that's where the weight is. I have an older Cub Cadet with a 46" snow blower mounted on it, and the blower's really heavy! I don't believe I'd have the room to put a thrust bearing on the top anyway, it has a bolt not a clip. I'm sure just doing the bottom will make a huge difference in steering. I'm also adding thrust bearings on the steering gearbox, so with both modifications it should definitely steer easier. I saw another video where the gentleman notched the top thrust washer so that when you grease the steering knuckle the grease will work into the bearing. I thought that was a pretty good idea, he used a Dremel to notch the i.d. at opposite ends of the washer.
Got it done, but only did the bottom. Seems to work very well, I also installed a thrust bearing setup on my steering gearbox too, very smooth now. By the way Steve, great video.
I put some on both sides of the casters on one of my zero turns. IMHO don't waste the money on the top. They are out in the open and I don't even see them turn with the nut on top. Only reason I put them on there is because I "acquired" the bearings free from work.
After installing the flat bearings, how much improvement in the steering mechanism did you notice versus the old setup? Is it 3 times better, 5 times better or . . . ?
