Craftsman Lawn Mower Deck Spindle Assemblies (2-Pack), Metal, Silver or Gray

I got an old Craftsman riding mower with a 42-in deck making noise for free I decided to restore the old cutting Towers as they were wobbly along with the belt and two pulleys. After watching a few YouTube videos Terrell fixes all to name a few I restored my mowing deck with these parts tractor is running great and cutting perfectly. Product is good high quality and worth the price they asked when I purchased

The parts I ordered and received were sold by Mowtownusa and Fulfilled by Amazon. I ordered them on the night of the 20th and got them today (Saturday the 24th) using regular shipping (USPS). The product seemed excellent quality, came with all holes pre-tapped / threaded, and came with all the bolts, nuts, and washers. I installed them and proceeded to mow my tail off. I had no problems and mowed some really rough grass and saplings. I'll have to resharpen my blades now.The instructions call for using the included washer ONLY with the left-hand (non-discharge side for my mower) spindle along with the original washer. These go under the pulley: first the original, then the included washer, then the pulley on top of that. There isn't much room at all for the pulley to slip on--just enough in fact. In as far as I can tell, this is to adjust the height of the pulley to line up properly. That makes these spindles/mandrels universal and less costly to produce/procure. You will have to remove the deck to replace these but that's not too hard. It's a good time to sharpen or replace your blades and replace the belts too. I wish I'd have gotten new pulleys because mine, especially the left one, looked to be warped. I also used anti-seize on all the bolts to make any future removal easier.

Worked like a charm

Edit: 7/25/19 - Seems my previous edit never made it into this review . . . Hmmmm . . .First off, for those of you wondering if these mandrels will fit your deck go out and measure your old mandrels or the bolt holes. Yesterday I went out and measured as close as I could get (and see) and the center-ish to center-ish of the mandrel bolts is about 5 inches or 125-ish mm. My 42" Craftsman deck is circa 2000 - 2005 and I highly doubt there is any minor variations in deck mount holes in Craftsman decks of similar size.The belt listed below only lasted 3 years of once every 7-10 day mowings of less then an hour from late may into October. OK, I guess. Go with Kevlar. I've got a blue Huskee on there now (80 inches if I remember) to see how that lasts. I've got Kevlar on my snow thrower and they still look good after two seasons. And that's a lot more stress.Buy at least one extra pulley wheel ! If you have any issues/resistance on the blades or mandrels those splines on the pulley wheels WILL strip out. Or if you jam on the belt engagement. Eaaaaase it on ! I took one of my newly replaced pulley wheels off after about 1 hour of mowing and the splines are partially stripped out. Still usable but convenient to have a back up. The right pulley wheel can be removed by removing the discharge guard which is easier than removing that entire deck.Is your tractor stalling out under load ? Here was my problem: The pulley wheel brake was engaging ! Seems that when I put the deck back on two weeks ago I got more range in deck height. Lowering the deck all the way engaged the pulley wheel brake somehow ! The belt engagement lever has something to do with it. (That was a couple hours of research and fiddling around . . .) Finally, use non-ethanol gas ! There are websites that list stations near you that sell non-ethanol gas. (Ethanol breaks down rubber and some plastic components which is not good for engines.) It is about a buck more a gallon near me. I added some blue stuff called Startron to stabilize the gas and clean things out. I had planned to do a carb cleaning this year but I stored the tractor WITH NON-ETHANOL GAS STILL IN IT and the Startron and this spring it started right up and ran great ! Like one of those racing tractors ! No surging and overheating like it did without the Startron. was it simply the non-ethanol gas ? I can't say. (I like "enzymes" though . . .) You can get a quart of extry concentrated Startron that will last for 500+ gallons of gas for about 30 bucks. Look around on Amazon. No more draining/running out the tractor, mower, chainsaws, trimmers, leaf blower or snow thrower dry at the end of every season ! Startron:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014419UQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1Original review:A year ago my decades old, used Craftsman 42” mower deck decided not to work anymore which led me on an adventure . . . I ended up rebuilding the entire deck. I got 5 of the 6 bolts holding the mandrels on. After cracking not one but two ¾” sockets trying to get the last of the ancient mounting bolt off I used a grinder to cut off the remaining limb of the old mandrel. A prime example of what I call “The 4 Bolt (or nut or screw) Rule”- and all tinkerers/handipeople have experienced this – three of the bolts you need to remove come out easily and the fourth one takes an hour and often involves one or more of the following: a torch, a drill, a sawzall, a sledge hammer. I wire brushed and spot sanded the deck and treated the rust with Corroseal (great stuff but DON’T LET IT FREEZE !) The mandrels fit perfectly, the spindle wheels fit perfectly but the springs that tension the belt were more than a challenge. There must be an art to putting those back on. My buddy and I were lucky to have not lost a finger or two. We did have safety glasses on.Once assembled the cut was great (and even . . .) and the deck was smoother than I’d ever felt it . . . for a while . . . CHECK THE MANDREL/SPINDLE MOUNTING BOLTS FREQUENTLY until you know they are on tight will not loosen. Halfway through the second mow (2 acres, uneven) I felt some vibration. Turns out two of one of the mandrel mounting bolts had come out which displaced the mandrel and hence the blade. Easily remedied. No problem . . . or so I thought. This year when I went to put on my newly refurbished deck for finally what I expected to be a hassle free mowing season after sharpening the blades and spinning them I noticed a wobble in one of the pulleys. After a few select foreign phrases and thinking the spindle needed replacing again I removed the pulley wheel and noticed it was stripped but was held in place by the nut. There are more than a few comments about these pulleys being light and prone to stripping. Noted. However the other pulley is doing fine. Had it not been for my oversight of checking the mount bolts this one would have been as well. Now I await the arrival of the replacement pulley but due to a typical wet, dank, cool NH “spring” there is no rush.One last thought. While you have your mower deck off buy another drive belt as well. Mine looked fine but after the pain in the butt that is putting that deck back on it was revealed that the old belt was really stretched out and only barely able to partially engage the blades. So off came the deck again and on went the computer.Below are the parts I ordered and were proven through a season of mowing (May into October).Craftsman Sears Craftsman Husqvana Deck Spindle, they fit and work great.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B61C8JS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1Maxpower 561713X Commercial Style Mulching Blade for 42-Inch Poulan Rider, Replaces 134149, Set of 2. Solid, heavy, come sharp and take a nice edge.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AN89R9O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1Craftsman 153535, 173436, 129861, 177865, Spindle Pulley wheels. They work . . .https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TMIOQO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1These pulley wheels are EXACTLY the same as above down to the logo and part number imprinted on them.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZ0QPWW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1On the belt go Kevlar ! This one only lasted three short seasons of light mowing !OEM Duplicate Belt Replaces 144200, 532144200 Craftsman Poulan Husqvarna seems to be fine.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UNZ15V0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I received these a couple of days ago. I purchased two when the left mandrel (that's what sears tractor manual calls themas opposed to spindle) sheared off at each of the three bolt locations on my lawn tractor.This was a direct fit for my 42" 19.5hp Sears lawn tractor, (Model No 917.270911). The threads for the mounting posts are tapped when the unit comes, there are no self tapping bolts to deal with. It took all of 5 minutes to assemble and I was back in business. The price here was less than 1/2 of the cost at the sears site ($31 as opposed to to $66). I've owned the tractor for 15 years and I beat the living heck out of it each season and have never broken a mandrel until now. This looked to me more like fatigue as I didn't strike anything at the time that it failed. I recommend buying two if you've got dual blades; if one has failed due to fatigue the 2nd is not likely long for this world.

When I received my product USPS had maked the package with damage tape. The box didn't look that bad, but upon opening the package only contained 1 of the spindle assemblies instead of the 2 that were clearly described in the product description. I contacted the seller who asked me if the package came damanged in any way. I shared a picture of the damaged package and within days received a spindle to replace the one that I assume was lost by USPS.The spindles were ordered for an old (green) style Craftsman 42" lawnmower. They fit great and the old mower is back working once again. Great value.

Product was easy installed. Could have grease fittings put in them. Ordered a pair for troy-built mower. grease fittings installed. Craftsman spindles get a 5. Have to wait and see how durable they are.

Worked perfectly for our craftsman

Das Set ist schnell angekommen und die Produkte sind passgenau und von guter Qualität. Leider ist das Set nicht für gegenläufige Messer ausgelegt und ich musste eine der alten Achsen umbauen und verwenden.

Came quickly and well packaged. Came with new bolts... A must considering lawnmower bolts rust and seize. Took 10 minutes to replace and work perfectly.

well priced for total replacement as the bolts break off on the old units requiring a drill out.

Perfect fit for my Ryder ( Craftsman 1000 ) super quite cut now compared to before. Easy installation came with the hardware to mount to the deck and to attach the pulley.