Sears Craftsman Front Wheel Bushing Issues

[@danburland7190]

My 6 year old Craftsman Pro lawn tractor has nylon bushings----I was going to replace them with bearings and when I took of the wheel I was surprised that after 450 hours of use the bushings and axel showed zero wear. I could not believe it. Whatever lawn tractor I buy after this one dies will have their front wheel bushings replaced with nylon bushings.

[@dannyc7839]

Nice video and explained well. What are the bushings that the wheel attaches to called and can they be replaced? Thanks

[@geoffhorvath3261]

Is your inner race smaller than the outer? Mine is.

[@ttommytom]

I have this in a 6 speed. 24 years old/900 hours. I didn't know to grease the front tires. I've bent the tire rod back into staight-ish position before but I got a new one for free and my tires were not straight. So. up on the hydraulic jack and it's wobble city. The rider jack uses the front tires to lift it, so I never noticed and I thought it was just the tire rod. Anyway, thanks for taking the time. -------------------- PS: I don't believe that this is 16.5HP. The model CV-16S S (I think the S is for Sears) comes back as 426CC which is 15HP, 15.5 and 16 all using the exact same Carb. Most are 15HP. My guess is people taking liberties with HP is why we got the CC version of everything but people still need a HP conversion because it was drilled into us. Technically it could come in Calories, Jules, Watts etc. Tell you wife she needs to cut down on the HP. If she took physics or electricity, duck...

[@MrHiball1234]

Good video, I use thick grease on mine & have no wear, I didn't know about the grease Zerk. I grease my kingpins often but one side fell apart, A buddy has another complete axle I will change the whole thing unless i find a bushing kit

[@aaronshane37]

I have a Craftsman model 917.255430 that was my wife’s grandmother’s lawnmower that she bought new in 1993, lol. I’m about to start maintaining it much better with greasing and so forth. When trying to mow if I slightly turn the steering to the left the left wheel kicks all the way out to the left and I have to stop and back up in order to straighten the steering back out. It’s getting worse over time. What do you think is causing this? If I need to replace some could you give me the part number, please? I really appreciate it!

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Hi Aaron, it sounds like you may need at minimum front wheel bearings. Take your model number and go to sears parts direct. This is where I get all part numbers I need for craftsman machines. Then you can google the part numbers to try and find them local or just purchase through the sears parts direct website. Here is the link. www.searspartsdirect.com/?sid=ps:GOOGLE:Search_Brand_Alpha-Sears:sears%2520parts%2520direct:sears%2520parts%2520direct&gclid=CP-rgNye5cgCFU8WHwodxBkPrw

[@aaronshane37]

@@JohnsonsSmallEngines Thank you so much for the fast reply on a Sunday! I’ll check it out! 😃

[@thurm101]

I grease mine once a year. Just a few pumps of all purpose grease. Nothing real fancy. It just feels better when I turn. Much smoother.

[@michaelwoods6754]

What part would it be called to replace the j arm that the wheel goes on? Had the wheel come completely off and destroyed the inside cap that retains the wheel and bushing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

It's called a welded/spindle. If you own a Craftsman? you need to go to Sears Parts.com and put the model number from behind your seat and go to the parts breakdown on the website to get thew correct part. Here is the link to the website.www.searspartsdirect.com/

[@michaelwoods6754]

@@JohnsonsSmallEngines thank you very much. That will help greatly. Appreciate the response and all the help!

[@jayrobertson1689]

Nice,to the point and very helpful,thanks,I'll be checking on that today

[@ezequielmaldonado5547]

Do you happen to have a part number for the bushings on my craftsman riding mower.. thanks

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

You will need to take your model number off of the sticker under the seat and go to sears parts direct to look up the part number then you can purchase the bearings at your local shop. Here is the link to sears parts direct. www.searspartsdirect.com/

[@garrykrause2375]

YES MINE ARE THAT BAD ALSO--WANT TO TRY BIGGER WASHER FOR A TIGHTER FIT--AND ALSO NEED TO GET MORE GREASE--GOOD VIDEO.

[@judynewton9784]

Please HELP! Where can you purchase these wheel bushings for my Craftsman 90th Edition lawn tractor? Thank you.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Sears parts direct.

[@ColinWatters]

I've had several ball bearings fail/break up on my ride on. Was wondering if these bushes might actually last longer or at least fail slowly rather than suddenly? What say you?

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

I agree, the bearings normally do not give you signs before that fail (so check them often). If you have wheels with bushings, you will notice the wheels start to wobble before they fail.

[@benbrewer5853]

Seems like that are tractor one wheel sticks out further than the other it's not straight is that a spindle problem

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Most likely the spindle is bent if the tires are facing outward while moving forward.

[@KWKloeber]

Hey great info... Thank you Question -- I got the wheel bearing (4) upgrade kit for my AYP/Electrolux-Poulan 270451 tractor that I bought used last year. This is the first real repair that it's needed. The front axle broke on one side (the poor weld problem and I got a new one (redesigned w/2 welds instead of one.) The question is -- is there an upgrade for the two small plastic upper/lower 3366R bushings on the spindles??? Those seem CRAZY -- what isn't there at LEAST a full-length oiled bronze bushing on those??? I can't believe that they expect those two plastic bushings to take all the turning wear.. CRAZY.just crazy.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

I agree they should have made those cheap plastic bushings better but I do not know if there is a upgraded bushing. Keep researching and you may find that someone has come across a upgraded bushing.

[@walterlouck6096]

I did the same bearing don't last better use the original and use outer dust covers grease bushing regular won't have any prolem

[@dandumont9438]

Hey bud, I've got this exact issue on this exact mower. I'll have to just get new ones. I do have a seperate issue/question. I recently had to replace the mower blade belt and while doing so decided that the blades were pretty bad. I purchased the blades from Sears and installed myself. The next time I mowed, one of the new blades bent (past 45 degrees) after hitting a hidden tree stump. I replaced the brand new one with another. I go to ginish thr job and the other side struck a ..maybe 1/2 thick branch and also bent! I have hit all sorts of things with the older blades with no bending issues. Are the Sears blades just lacking in quality now? I know I should be careful where I mow, but both blades on the first time of use is a bit rediculous. Your thoughts?

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

I do know you can purchase blades that are thinner than other blades. You may want to look into a little thicker blade but the hard part is finding out where they will tell you the thickness of the blade. Normally they will say heavy duty. Remember cheaper is not better when it comes to buying blades. On the other hand, the stump you hit will bend all blades. You need to stay away from all objects. I always take a walk around yard before cutting :)

[@jaxturner7288]

Dan Dumont at last three thicknesses and 3 blade widths are available for most decks from 48” and up. Obviously the length will not be optional. Look in aftermarket blades for about 5 minutes online and you could see if they are offered some for your lil mower. Any of them will cost less than what you paid at sears.

[@jaxturner7288]

Johnson's Small Engines xht and gator 5s and up all show length, width and the obvious. The tricky decision is how much blade weight do you want spinning vs how long you want deck belts and pto clutches to last. The lightest ones I got make an unbelievable noise spinning up to full rpm. Which happens In probably 1/3 the time it does to get the heaviest .275 super thick boys all spun up. Interesting fact if the heaviest ones are at full revs and I disengage the pto without bringing the revs down, the pto clutch smokes a bit from the heavy blades momentum trying to back feed up the stoped clutch. Definitely showed me how to make the clutches last, engaged and disengage at low to moderate rpm. Avoid full rev disengagement at all cost no matter what blades ya got is definitely best practices.

[@MikSrf723]

Get gators.

[@danburland7190]

Good advice!@@JohnsonsSmallEngines

[@Idahoborn66]

If you don't mind, what is the part number for the Craftsman wheel bearing?

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

If you can give me the entire model number that is under your seat (if you have a craftsman lawn mower) it should start with a 917. I can look it up for you.

[@galennordlund1859]

Additional Info. I just ordered these flange bearings directly from Sears and I explicitly asked if I needed two per wheel (as I've seen in multiple Tube vids. Sears guy checked again and said one per wheel. Be ready to educate the supplier if needed. *current total price for 2 bushings was $33.00. Hope this helps.

[@popwarhomie]

Had mine for 10 years now and never greased it. One finally went out on me today.

[@popwarhomie]

Michael Bland I bought the bearing kit from amazon and replaced both sides when my one bushing went out.

[@popwarhomie]

Michael Bland This is the kit that worked on mine. www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Sears-AYP-Husqvarna-Switch/dp/B073YFRCXD

[@TheChiefJudgeDredd]

I find that very hard to believe. You probably mowed once a year lol

[@popwarhomie]

@@TheChiefJudgeDredd I live in Florida. I mow weekly and once a month in the winter. Thing was a trooper lol

[@joeboleman5501]

Hey so I have the same issue not quite as bad. Cud u get back with me plz as this issue has been plagued me for too long.. Thank you

[@BEAZY_5150]

I have the same tractor, and I'm trying to figure out why one wheel has a little bit of toe outward. Tge crossmember connecting both wheels is straight as an arrow. The other wheel is dead straight. When I lift the tractor up and spin the wheel that's toed outward has quite the wobble.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

You most likely have a bent spindle. The spindle is the parts that the wheel slides over. It may not look bent but it is. That is from hitting things through time. I would really need to see it to make an accurate diagnoses.

[@BEAZY_5150]

@@JohnsonsSmallEngines thanks for the reply! Yes it looks slightly bent. It was a used mower, I had to buy some steering parts for it already, just to iron out the kinks so I could have a solid mower. Also has a surging idle issue. Was mowing yesterday, and I thought it sounded like it was running out of fuel, so I topped it off and it didn't need any.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

What model and who makes the engine? Most of the time “Surging” in the engine is from a blockage in the carburetor normally but sometimes a clogged fuel cap vent will give the same surge but the machine will shut off eventually. Popping or missing in the engine is normally due to a bad spark plug or valve issues. You most likely have a carburetor that needs to be rebuilt or replaced. I would install a new spark plug just to be on the safe side but you may need to rebuild the carburetor to get the surge out.

[@TopCat2021]

If I had bushings that size on my front wheels 😤 I would switch to bearings, my MTD uses very small plastic ones that I'm not sure if I could even find bronze replacements for.

[@Eric-Goodstuff]

i have same issue with my white outdoor mower. Wish i could figure out how to use ball bearings instead of the plastic bushings?

[@rizzlelizzle89]

I had someone repair the turning gear ib my craftsman.. It worked for about 5 mins then kept skipping gears and wouldn't turn again.. He's tryign to say it's because of my bushings.. The gear is used.. WOuld bad bushings cause the turning gear to not work?

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Hi Ryan, Flat tires would put a lot of stress on the steering turning left and right but I haven't personally come across bad steering gears due to bad wheel bushings.

[@jaxturner7288]

Ryan Flash sounds like a worn out replacement part was used, the wheel bushings worn or not won’t matter if the tractor isn’t even rolling the bushings could be solid weld, still steering wheel would turn fine because the wheel bushings let the tires rotate with reduced drag, but they can’t affect steering resistance turning left to right. Tell him to shim the steering gear plates closer together, if you care enough look down in there while turning the steering wheel, see the slop between the two? Add shims on the main shaft to push them closer till its not sloppy. Maybe they all were even omitted during reassembly.

[@ezequielmaldonado5547]

Where I buy my front wheel bushings for my craftsman ii riding mower

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Take the model number off of the sticker on the back under the seat and go to Sears Parts Direct to look up the parts. Here is the link. www.searspartsdirect.com/. After you get the part number you can purchase it from sears parts direct or search that number and find it online.

[@excavatoree]

Hello, sorry for a late question, but I've got that same mower and a wheel bearing problem. I'm guilty of not lubricating my wheels, I understand that. However, I can't explain what I'm seeing. My bushings(bearings) aren't as worn as those in the mower you show, but the inside bushing of the left side wheel has ground down the flange of the bushing so that the wheel "tube" is being worn. About .03 to .05 inch (approximately 1 mm) has been worn from just the flange of the inside bearing. The wheel doesn't wobble like that one, but there's a lot of end play (wheel moves in and out.) Is the wear too excessive to simply replace the bushing? (I'd have to add another washer or simply live with the small amount of additional end play.) IAlso, both are lubricated the same, but only the left wheel has the problem. Could it be that my clockwise mowing (mostly right turns) has resulted in the greatly uneven wear? The right side bushings are good.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

After coming across the wheel bearing issues you had, Unless you want to replace all worn parts? Install the new bushings in both wheels and grease. It should be so much better than it was! It is up to you on how many parts you want to replace to get suspension up to %100. Keep the wheel bearings greased and tire pressure in front around 14psi to keep stress off of the suspension. It will help!

[@joesphbaumgardner4579]

@Johnson's Small Engine I need the part number original and replacement one please. Tire and rims are facory. My wheels are not that bad, but a tad wobble is in two front ones. Enough to where you can tell tire is not straight on view. Sorta kicked inward some. My mower is a Craftsman- 917-270821.............. Oddly though by what I see my wheels do not have a grease fitting inside rim. Only the one below round black cap bracket etc. Now so far as back wheels, they do not wobble so replace the bushings there or leave alone? And thats twoper wheel correct? Which you made a vid on remove and install of them.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Go to sears parts.direct online for parts lookup that will give you part number for your bearings.

[@joesphbaumgardner4579]

@@JohnsonsSmallEngines It will give me part number to factory bushing and replace number. What about the bearing? It won't give me that as these came with bushings. I'm gonna go ahead and do the bearing upgrade.

[@JeffreyStrader]

Husqvarna puts bushings in their front wheels as well. I have converted mine over to actual Wheel Bearings.

[@jaxturner7288]

Michael Fresh should of ordered 3/4”id, not the 5/8”ones then

[@jaxturner7288]

Jeffrey Sasquatch must of bought it from a big box store, lemme guess, Lowe’s? or a few years back. All but the one or two cheapest smallest models purchased through a dealer have caged needle bearing in the front wheels. There are a handful of random differences between a unit purchased through a dealer and what will be listed as the same model at Lowe’s. Not enough to justify the decision compared to the cost but existing none the less.

[@walterlouck6096]

B sure you have the plastic caps on. The out side get dirt in the inside will cause them go.keep greased also thats all u have to do.

[@JohnsonsSmallEngines]

Good point! Yes, the outer plastic dust covers are important to always be on.

[@walterlouck6096]

I use hose clamp on dust covers to keep them on .they get stretched won't stay on.

[@michaelkay3565]

No zerk fittings on mine uts a 2017