Woods RM 59-2 Finish Mower Pulley Removal

attachment repair refurbish

I’ve got an old Woods finish mower that is all rusted but not to the point that it needs a bunch of stuff replaced. I decided to take it apart, have it sandblasted and painted to spruce it up.

Taper Lock Pulley

I’m leaving the rest of this fiasco here but I found out that this type of pulley is called a taper lock, and to remove it you simply:

  1. Remove the bolts that hold the bushing and pulley together (the holes in the pulley are threaded so when you tighten them they pull the bushing and pulley together)

    If you look at the diagram below there are 2 holes (with bolts #28) in the bushing for the 2 bolts. These are not threaded. The drawing is missing the 2 threaded holes in the bushing that are used during removal to push the pulley and the bushing apart.

  2. Screw them into the empty holes, which you might have to clean up or even run a tap through (the bushing is threaded, and when you screw them in there’s no hole in the pulley, so it pushes the pulley down and pops it off)

  3. Use a puller on the bushing to pull it off the shaft and the pulley comes right off.

There is a slit in the bushing that the pulley squeezes together when it goes over the bushing and that’s why it’s so tight.

They are really easy to get off if you do it this way. If you want to see the hard way read on.

How not to remove a taper lock pulley

Little did I know - the pulleys on the deck are very tough to get off, and this thing is probably 20-25 years old so it’s rusty and everything is stuck.

Here’s the diagram of the pulley from the parts list:

pulley collar diagram

Here is a picture of one before attempting to take it off, note that the 2 small bolts are backed almost all the way out of the bushing:

pulley from above

So - I got my handy harbor freight bearing separator and set it up like this after putting some 3-in-1 oil around the shaft to help loosen the pulley

puller mounted

Now, I used the following routine to try to get this thing off:

  1. Tighten the bolt
  2. Hammer the hell out of the sides of the puller and the top of the bushing
  3. Tighten
  4. Hammer
  5. Swear, put some more penetrating oil out
  6. Hammer
  7. Tighten
  8. Tighten
  9. Hammer
  10. Tighten

Suddenly…

pulley broken bushing.jpg

Well, that’s not good, but the pulley did separate from the bushing after I put a pry par between the bushing and pulley to try to pry up the bushing.

hmmm…. that’s not good. I guess it’s good the bushing is only $40…

Now what?

Now I got out the torch and heated this thing up, and wedged a pry bar under the pully and hit the long end with a hammer. Over and over and over.

Then, I got a bigger hammer and the bushing moved bit by bit. After beating on it for awhile, I got tired of it and really whacked it.

That did the trick, but it did put a hell of a dent in the ceiling.

Looking at the picture below, you can see the slot in the bushing that (I guess) is designed to “pinch” when the pulley goes on the outside of it to sort of “clamp” everything together, and there is also a slot for a key (see the diagram for the key that keeps the pulley/bushing from spinning on the shaft)

pulley off!

Now - two more to go.

Lessons learned:

  1. Heat the thing up and whack it with a hammer a few times before putting on the puller. I need to use better penetrating oil and hit it with a hammer more and heat more. If I use too much force I will break it.
  2. Use lots of penetrating oil, I’m going to try 90/10 vegetable oil and acetone on the next batch (see here https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/how-to-make-penetrating-oil/)
  3. Don’t crank as hard on the puller, there’s no sense in breaking these things.