Fixing Sunstar front axle

Jack it up first, do it one side at a time. To check for wear in wheel bearings grab the wheel at 6 and 12 o'clock and rock it. If you can see the top spindle nut move, then the bushings, part #7, are bad. If just the wheel moves, the wheel bearings are bad. I suspect you'll find both are bad. If at all possible, jack under the spindle to eliminate the play from it to get a firm diagnosis on the wheel bearings. Rocking the wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock will tell you if your tie rod ends are bad as well. If you have to change them make sure you count the turns to remove them and turn the new ones in the same.

hippycy said:

Jack it up first, do it one side at a time. To check for wear in wheel bearings grab the wheel at 6 and 12 o'clock and rock it. If you can see the top spindle nut move, then the bushings, part #7, are bad. If just the wheel moves, the wheel bearings are bad. I suspect you'll find both are bad. If at all possible, jack under the spindle to eliminate the play from it to get a firm diagnosis on the wheel bearings. Rocking the wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock will tell you if your tie rod ends are bad as well. If you have to change them make sure you count the turns to remove them and turn the new ones in the same.

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Okie-dokey. . . I think that is my strategy. Muchos gracias!!

I realize this thread is about 3 weeks old but I went through this on my Sunstar with the early front end. I didn't have the funds to buy all new parts so I did it on a budget.

You can buy cheaper bearings by searching ebay for John Deere AM102605 wheel bearings. You can buy wheel axle shims through McMaster Car (1" is inner diameter size but I can't recall the thickness that I bought). I found that the biggest slop in the actual wheels was caused by a lack of shims. I searched high and low for a cheaper alternative to part #4 in the diagram. Unfortunately, I found that it is proprietary and expensive, but fortunately, all the wear is just on one side. You can rotate it 180 degrees from the original position to regain camber. Part #12 wears similarly to #4 so you can rotate them 180 as well. Doing just these things will provide a very noticeable improvement in camber.

I replaced bushings #7 with universal bronze bushings but I regret it. They were too tight and were a royal pain to install. I also found that they really didn't effect the camber that much. Buy OEM #7's if you are dead-set on replacing them.

BossMaverick said:

I realize this thread is about 3 weeks old but I went through this on my Sunstar with the early front end. I didn't have the funds to buy all new parts so I did it on a budget.

You can buy cheaper bearings by searching ebay for John Deere AM102605 wheel bearings. You can buy wheel axle shims through McMaster Car (1" is inner diameter size but I can't recall the thickness that I bought). I found that the biggest slop in the actual wheels was caused by a lack of shims. I searched high and low for a cheaper alternative to part #4 in the diagram. Unfortunately, I found that it is proprietary and expensive, but fortunately, all the wear is just on one side. You can rotate it 180 degrees from the original position to regain camber. Part #12 wears similarly to #4 so you can rotate them 180 as well. Doing just these things will provide a very noticeable improvement in camber.

I replaced bushings #7 with universal bronze bushings but I regret it. They were too tight and were a royal pain to install. I also found that they really didn't effect the camber that much. Buy OEM #7's if you are dead-set on replacing them.

Click to expand...

Awesome info...thank you for sharing! :thThumbsU

A problem that I have also found on mine, is the upper pins #4 were never really greased the way they should have been. These are steel pins in cast iron. They have some wear on them, but the cast iron axles have worn and the holes are pretty egged out. I work in a machine shop, so what I'm going to do is wire EDM the holes out and make them round again, and either use steel spacer bushings, or press in some bronze bushings to make up the difference. Also, the bronze bushings #7 are worn so bad they are almost down to the cast iron. The spindles do have some wear as well. I plan on replacing these bushings with ones just a little longer, so they will contact a fresh area on the spindles, considering new spindles are so expensive. My agco has bad camber mostly on one side, and this grease fitting wont take grease, so I am assuming this is the main issue. I have already flipped the pins 180 and it didn't make hardly any difference. I plan on replacing the cheezy tie rod ends with heim joints as well. I run a hydraulic front blade that was widened to 54" and it strains the front end pretty good. The camber is mainly just an eye sore, but I know I am losing some front end articulation and it doesn't want to steer straight. It makes it hard to get those nice straight lawns stripes too. Once I finish this project I will make a new post with pictures for you all.