# 536-909800



## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

I'm trying to replace the 53266ma bearing cup assembly from my 536-909800 Craftsman 8/26 snowthrower. The bearing is between the auger housing and the auger belt/pulley. How do I get to it?

I've removed the inspection plate from the bottom. Then I removed the two pulley bolts that connect to the rod leading to the gear box. I can't seem to budge the pulley. Now the pulley is bent. See picture
Am I going at it all wrong?

Please help.

Thank you


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## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

Here's the same conversation with no result.
http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=172263


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I would say your first step should be unbolting the drive train from the blower housing. That will give you more room to work.

You will need some kind of puller, or maybe a ball joint / tie rod pickle fork to get that off most likely. You may be able to tap it on further to break it loose.

Plenty of penetrating oil in the holes the screws were in and puddle it up on the top of the pulley. If it is real stubborn you might need to heat it.

You may also be able to get a big pry bar with a bend in it and hook it on the collar close to the shaft. Good luck.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I would say your first step should be unbolting the drive train from the blower housing. That will give you more room to work.

You will need some kind of puller, or maybe a ball joint / tie rod pickle fork to get that off most likely. You may be able to tap it on further to break it loose.

Plenty of penetrating oil in the holes the screws were in and puddle it up on the top of the pulley. If it is real stubborn you might need to heat it.

You may also be able to get a big pry bar with a bend in it and hook it on the collar close to the shaft. Good luck.


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

first put a large screwdriver back in the pulley and bend it back.

rotate the pulley, there will be a small set screw on the collar of the pulley all the way in where the auger shaft goes into the pulley. take it out.

you will have to split the front half of the snow blower off. look on the outside of the machine for a couple of bolts on the side. i am not familiar with that machine but the two bolts that are holding the belt guards (the two gray wire pieces) look to be two bolts that need to come out, as well as the two bolts that are sticking through from the auger housing(you can just see one red tipped bolt on the left side of your picture. 

looks to me like these 4 bolts hold the 2 halves of your machine together.

once you get them apart, the pulley most likely is only held on by that set screw as the pulley is held from spinning by a small keyway on the auger shaft. penetrating oil between the pulley and shaft . maybe some heat if it is really stuck.

then it looks as if the bearing will unbolt and come right off after the pulley is off.

that bearing has probably been there awhile. may need some convincing as well.

good luck and we will check back.

if unsure how something comes apart take more pics , after pulley is off, outside of the blower to see if and more mounting bolts to get halves aparts etc..


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Bearing swapout*

JEngele's is a closer match but I think a 536.90515 will be close enough for now. As you take things apart, bag and tag them to help when it comes time to reassemble.








You're not too likely to get the pulley off without some disassembly, so here goes (best I can remember having done it a couple of months ago)
Pull the belt cover, remove the auger belt from the engine pulley
Remove the spring from the auger belt tensioner, remove the auger belt and unbolt the auger tensioner arm from the auger housing. Removing the chute makes it easier to work around it.
Remove the auger chute, auger crank & the piece of sheet tin that covers the corner of the tractor unit behind the auger.
If the gas tank is full, drain some out. Tip the machine up on it's nose and remove the skid plate.
Remove the 2 bottom auger housing to tractor unit nuts along with the belt keepers (9/16" wrench)








Carefully lower the machine to normal position. Support the handlebars and unbolt the two upper auger housing to tractor unit nuts, along with the keeper on the chute side. The following picture is not of this unit but just to show an example








Slip the auger assembly forward about an inch, raise the auger assembly over the top of the front of the tractor unit.
Tip the auger housing so the pulley is up. Loosen the keeper bolts on the pulley, spray penetrant on the end of the impeller shaft between it and the pulley. If the impeller shaft has a clip, remove it. Support the unit by the bottom of the pulley hub, tap the impeller shaft lightly and hopefully it will come apart without too much banging. Lightly tap the pulley hub near the shaft to help loosen it, take it easy because you don't want to mushroom the end of the shaft. Once that's off, remove the pulley key and clean up the shaft with emery paper, unbolt the bearing housing and work it off (couple of screwdrivers work well). At this point, either get a new impeller bearing assembly (bearing along with the mount), or a new bearing and have the old one pressed out and new one in.

Now just reverse the process and reassemble it. I like to use plenty of grease on various shafts etc to help prevent rusting. I also use anti-seize on various nuts and bolts to keep them free in the future.

Hope that helps.


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## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

td5771 said:


> first put a large screwdriver back in the pulley and bend it back.
> 
> rotate the pulley, there will be a small set screw on the collar of the pulley all the way in where the auger shaft goes into the pulley. take it out.
> 
> ...


I hope the four bolts do the trick. Then I may take it to a friend that has a heating torch. 
On the pulley collar there were two small set screws. I removed them both.

Thanks a bunch! I'll return with the results.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Splitting the unit*

Gravydude

IIRC you will also have to remove the auger belt tensioner in addition to the 4 bolts between the auger housing and the tractor unit. It's easy, just remove the spring between the handle and the actual tensioner, then IIRC it's takes a 3/4" wrench to unbolt it then slide the auger housing forward and up and it's free. IIRC the tensioner actually bolted through a hole in the front of the tractor unit into a nut welded into the auger housing.


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## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

I removed the two halves from each other. I ended up taking the unit to a friend that had a torch. We heated, pried and beat the pulley for 15 minutes before the pulley came off of the shaft. 

I can now relax and put it all back together once I replace the bent up pulley. hehe.

Thank you so much!!!


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

they can be stubborn.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Stubborn parts*



gravydude said:


> I removed the two halves from each other. I ended up taking the unit to a friend that had a torch. We heated, pried and beat the pulley for 15 minutes before the pulley came off of the shaft.
> 
> I can now relax and put it all back together once I replace the bent up pulley. hehe.
> 
> Thank you so much!!!


Good to hear you got it off. Check the end of the shaft, in case it got mushroomed by hammering. You can clean that up with a hand file, takes time but well worth the effort.

Sounds like one wheel I had to get off a while back. In my case, after several days of fighting it, I the majority of it off with an angle grinder. Once that was off, I carefully split the hub on the axel. Once I got down to where it was just about touching the axel, a big hammer and metal chisel split the hub enough to get off. 

A suggestion is clean the shaft up with emery cloth or equivelent, use alot of grease or antiseize on the shaft to reduce the chance of them sticking in the future. I also like to use antiseize on the set bolts on the pulley so they don't fuse together in the future either.

Being you have the pulley off, here's something you can check now with little effort. Check the front-to-back motion on the impeller shaft when you rotate it clockwise from the pulley end. I usually just wrap a piece of tape around the shaft then turn it (with the bearing in) and see how much the shaft moves. Here's one I did right at the gearbox being it had to come out anyway.








This one had too much play, it allowed the impeller to move back against the inside of the housing.
If possible, best course of action is rebuild the auger gearbox and put in a new bushing and seal. Best course isn't always possible, in the short-term, if you put a spacer slightly less than the distance between the back side of the impeller when it's forward and the bearing, it can work for quite a period of time till it can be fixed right (assuming the bushing needs replacement)
Here's what a new bushing (different model gearbox) looks like when it's worn badly and what a new bushing looks like, which explains the front to back movement









If not addressed, this is what can happen:
















This isn't too bad, but it could have been


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## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

I did notice the you could pull up and down on the shaft (yellow and black arrow in picture). If you spin the shaft from left to right and left, it doesn't have any play. Tearing apart the gear box kinda scares me. Should I dig into it?


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## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

Note, about a quarter inch play up/down.**



gravydude said:


> I did notice the you could pull up and down on the shaft (yellow and black arrow in picture). If you spin the shaft from left to right and left, it doesn't have any play. Tearing apart the gear box kinda scares me. Should I dig into it?


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Play*



gravydude said:


> Note, about a quarter inch play up/down.**


Where is the play at - at the pulley bearing or at the bushing on the gearbox? If by the pulley then changing out the bearing should take care of that. If it's at the bushing on the impeller shaft side of the gearbox, that's iffy. I suspect you're finding that by the pulley end of the shaft. If it's at the gearbox, I'd think the worm gear would be jumping teeth all over the place. Not really much you can do if it's at the gearbox except rebuild it.

Assuming it's the pulley bearing, check out the thread on alternate parts I started a while back. It's alot less $$ to get the correct bearing and put it into the bearing assembly than to buy the combination (something like $5 vs $40)


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## jengele (Nov 1, 2011)

I have the same model blower. I just started tearing my transmission apart and have been documenting my huge learning curve on another thread. I don't have it back together yet but hope to this weekend. I also have a 30 page manual for this model. I intend to scan it and send it to Paul so he can add it to his collection in hopes of helping people such as yourself. I hope to scan it later this week, if you're interested I'll send a copy your way as well.


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## jengele (Nov 1, 2011)

" 53266ma bearing cup assembly " I don't see this in the schematics anywhere.

If it's the pulley bearing, this is part #40616 Bearing, Rotor
Next to it is part #25177 flatwasher, 3/4"id (standard hardware store item)
Next to this is part #47337 Spacer
next to this is the pulley
I assumed you meant that you removed the two set screws from the pulley.

If, as HCBPH suggested, it's in the gear box, you'll definitely want the parts diagram. I see several different types of bearings, thrust, needle, roller, spring washers, regular washers, etc. all on the shaft in question. If one of them has disintegrated, there could be play, but, perhaps the worm gear teeth would be jumping around if that were the case.


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## gravydude (Nov 16, 2011)

It is the 40616 bearing. Sears called it a 53266ma assembly that I bought for $35 before I found this site. oops....

The slack is between the shaft and the gear box.

Last year I had the manual, but I just recently lost it. I've looked just about every where. Who knows if I threw it out with the old newspapers?




jengele said:


> " 53266ma bearing cup assembly " I don't see this in the schematics anywhere.
> 
> If it's the pulley bearing, this is part #40616 Bearing, Rotor
> Next to it is part #25177 flatwasher, 3/4"id (standard hardware store item)
> ...


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