Conquest repairs

The 'Shoulder' is worn off of the spindle right below the 'Hex'.
They do wear down, usually from a loose blade.
He will need to replace the blade spindle shaft. They are a common wear item, along with the spindle bearings.
They are not expensive for the parts to rebuild the spindle. Most times you can get the entire spindle assembly. They are a little bit more expensive, but then everything is new, shaft, bearings, housings.
They are the wrong blades on it now. The center hole is way to big. Simplicity uses a much smaller center hole on that model deck.
Usually you have to get the blades from a Simplicity dealer. Some decks use 2 different size blades on the same deck. Some decks use 'Low Lift' mulching blades, some use 'High Lift' bagging blades, some use General Purpose blades. They did make optional blades for most of their mower decks besides the standard blades.

charles g said:

your second photo shows a stepped washer, does that step fit inside the blade?

Click to expand...

That is actually 2 washers together. The 'Hex' washer and the 'Spring' or 'Cupped' washer without the 'Cup' in it anymore.
The 'Hex' goes on the blade, then the 'Spring' or 'cupped' goes on next, then the bolt.
He should replace the 'Spring' washer because it is flattened out and won't lock the bolt anymore.
The 'Shoulder' on the spindle shaft is just a very little bit larger than the 'Hex' on the spindle shaft.

Your spindle is being ruined with the excess play, you may want to consider replacing the spindles and fastening hardware. If they were engineered with the option of this much play, they were poorly engineered IMO. If you do not want to replace the spindle and hardware, I would look for adding a spacer, bushing to fill the void, it would need to be 5/8" ID, 3/4" OD or .675 and .750. A piece of 3/4" OD tubing would probably work with an 1/8" wall thickness, cutting this on a stationary metal band saw should be doable or use a metal lathe would work. I don't think a Ridgid Pipe Cutter would work with so little material to work with.

CCMoe

CCMoe said:

Your spindle is being ruined with the excess play, you may want to consider replacing the spindles and fastening hardware. If they were engineered with the option of this much play, they were poorly engineered IMO. If you do not want to replace the spindle and hardware, I would look for adding a spacer, bushing to fill the void, it would need to be 5/8" ID, 3/4" OD or .675 and .750. A piece of 3/4" OD tubing would probably work with an 1/8" wall thickness, cutting this on a stationary metal band saw should be doable or use a metal lathe would work. I don't think a Ridgid Pipe Cutter would work with so little material to work with.

CCMoe

Click to expand...

The mystery is solved. The joint shield under the blade should have a shoulder on it to center the blade. The shoulder was completely worn off, so much so that it was not obvious that it was ever there. In the first picture below the old shield is on the left and the new part is on the right. the next is with the shield on the arbor, and the third with the blade sitting on the assembly. Now it is centered.
Thanks for all the interest and comments.

Allen

dave_r said:

Thanks for coming back and posting what the problem turned out to be.

Click to expand...

Second that.

CCMoe

I was trying to get that picture you posted above opened in something I could draw on it with.
You can see part of where the shoulder used to be in your picture.

I have a gas cut off saw that uses 14" blades.
Common hole size in 14" diamond blades, .75" or 1"
They make a bushing that is thinner than the blade that bushes that 1" hole down to .75" to fit on the saw so you can use either blade.
Bad thing, those bushings are small, so if you take them off you have to have a special place for them, and you have to put them in the correct place when you remove them or you never find them again.

A close look at the last pictures you have posted it appears the hex washer was not installed properly and left the blade loose. It has been a while and the forgetter is working too good but I would suggest you replace the spindles AND the dust guard 1713196SM on top of the blade. If memory is right I think that has a center lip on it that centers the blade. You may also want to replace the bottom washer as if it looses tension the blade can also slip.1656916SM Be sure the hex holed washer fits the spindle, don't need to replace unless they are worn excessively.
If is not hard to replace the spindles, just be sure all the bolts are tightened tight Pay attention to how the housings fit on the deck. I have repaired some where the customer put the housings on opposite sides of the deck shell.
Arbor shaft long 1 each 1713612SM
Arbor shaft short 2 each 1713195SM
Poly Foam Gasket 3 each 1707335SM

Dave55 said:

I was trying to get that picture you posted above opened in something I could draw on it with.
You can see part of where the shoulder used to be in your picture.

I have a gas cut off saw that uses 14" blades.
Common hole size in 14" diamond blades, .75" or 1"
They make a bushing that is thinner than the blade that bushes that 1" hole down to .75" to fit on the saw so you can use either blade.
Bad thing, those bushings are small, so if you take them off you have to have a special place for them, and you have to put them in the correct place when you remove them or you never find them again.

Click to expand...

Dave55,

12" miter saws also use an arbor insert, reducing from 1" to 5/8", always have to have a spare and an extendable magnet to fish it out of the sawdust.

CCMoe