GC60-24B Kubota part 1

Dec 3, 2019 rebuild

My GC60-24B looked like Frankenstien’s monster, and desperately needed a rebuild.

There is also the GC54-24B model that’s about the same, according to the parts diagram.
I don’t know what they were cutting with this thing, but the impeller blade was worn down to nothing and there was an old street sign cut up and retro-fitted to the body of the bagger drive.

There were several holes in the bagger body and the blades looked like steak knives when I pulled them off. Here are the “patches” somebody made for this thing:

At the least, I need a new housing, impeller blade and belt.

If you don’t read anything else, read this: The bolt holding the fan is backwards threaded.
It needs to be turned clockwise while holding the fan to get it out.

Also - It is a bitch to get out, so use an impact wrench. I also used some penetrating oil and was still a pain.

At least it didn’t break…

Anyway, here’s how to get it apart:

Blower Drive Removal

1. Remove 3 x 5/8" bolts that hold the belt cover on (I had to hammer mine back to get to the third bolt, you can see in the pictures my cover was folded back and exposing the pulley).

   

2. Loosen the bolt that holds the spring that keeps tension on the idler pulley. 2 9/16" wrenches will do it

   

3. Once it is loose, push the idler pulley toward the outside of the housing to release the belt tension. Then remove the belt

   

4. You can see my belt needs to be replaced. That’s part #1 to order

   

5. Next, remove the 4 bolts where the Universal joint joins the body. This will allow you to remove the assembly that contains (1) the U-Joint that hooks to the mower deck, (2) the small idler pulley and spring, and (3) the large pulley that is connected to the U-Joint. The next 2 pictures show the bolts removed and then the detached part with the bolts loosely inserted into their respective holes:

   

   

6. With the drive shaft and pulleys removed, now we’ll remove the other side of that bracket. This is side that attaches to the mower deck discharge chute. This will come off in 2 pieces. Start by removing the 2 bolts next to the manifold:

   

7. Then remove the support bar:

   

8. Next remove the rest of the bolts in the chute holder and pull it off. This will also be the bungee cord that the chute attaches to.

   

9. Remove all the other bolts to remove the external plates, and you’re left with 2 plates inside with the impeller fan and the shaft that you took the pulley off of on the outside.

Blower Fan Removal

Now we are going to remove the blower fan. Here is the diagram:

1. Bolt 004 turned out to be a real bitch to get out. It is worth noting again that it’s a backwards threaded bolt, so you need to turn it to the right to get it off. I needed a new housing, so I cut a section out of the old one so I could get my impact wrench directly on it (instead of using a wobble-head bit).

   That bastard had been on there for 30 years or so and it was tough to get off.

   

2. Finally, I got it off and the fan blade out:

   

Finally…

Here are some pictures of all the parts that came off, including the “after market” ones.

Part 2

Head over to part 2 to see it go back together - it’s here