Craftsman contractor saw arbor housing shaft kerfluffle

Jim Moore

Member
Messages
28
I have an old Craftsman contractor saw from the 80's (113.298151).

The blade height has been getting harder to change over time - and finally froze this weekend. I took the saw apart and managed to separated the arbor housing and the cradle.

Unfortunately the shaft that connects the two stayed in the arbor housing instead of the cradle (opposite the way the parts diagram shows: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/model-number/11/3298151/0247/0744600.html)

The shaft is stuck in the arbor housing and was not able to push it out using a gear puller (decided to stop and see if perhaps it belonged there - which I don't think it does).

I've run across post from other owners who have had this shaft get stuck and were able to pull it out and get the saw working again. I've not run across anyone else who had the wrong end of the shaft come out.

Does anyone have recommendations or hints other that soak the stuck shaft in Kroil and try the standard heat/pound/push to get the shaft out of the arbor housing?

Thanks,

Jim
 
I am in the process of rebuilding one of those saws. My neighbor set it out for the trash and I asked him if I could take it off his hands. When I took it apart I had the same issue your having. I soaked it down good with WD-40 was able to push the shaft out with a combination of gear puller and hammer and drift pin. I used the hammer and drift pin to loosen it up then was able to finish the job with heavy puller. After I got it out I ran a reamer through the hole and cleaned up the shaft with some 100 grit emory cloth. I lubed it good with white lithium grease and it works pretty smooth now.
 
Thanks! I was able to use an old socket to pound it out. This deformed the socket but not the shaft.

I've not used a reamer. What size and why did you use it?
 
Also - lube both sides or just the arbor housing side? I suspect that only the arbor housing side should move in the hole and the cradle side should be pressed in to be fixed.
 
Like Bart showed on the how to for the reamer. You can probably get by just cleaning up the hole with some emory cloth or fine sandpaper. I don't remember off the top of my head what the size of that shaft is but since I had the right size reamer I used it to clean up any burrs or pits there might be. The shaft should be tight on the cradle side and movable on the trunnion or arbor housing so that is where I lubed it.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the help!

I've got the arbor housing mounted on the cradle again. Had to file off some mushrooming at one end.

I've still got a very slight gap between the bearing surfaces on the two parts near the gears. Not sure how close these need to be - would assume touching to act as support for the blade so there isn't any deflection of the arbor housing by the blade. I'll have to check to make sure the shaft bearing surfaces are mated together.

However - I did a through cleaning job on all the bearing surfaces and trunions and used a PTFE (no silicone) spray on them for lubrication. The thing moves nicely again - probably better than since before I found it on the sidewalk at a neighbor's house (he wanted new saw).



Jim
 
Top