In this video I go through the process to rebuild the spindles on a John Deere 757 Ztrak 54" mower deck. This was one of the steps I was doing while rebuilding the entire deck including replacing the idler pulleys and rebuilding the mule pulley. Rebuilding the spindles is very cost effective and relatively easy process. Cost for my bearings and seals per spindle was approx $50 each. When compared to the price of a new spindle being in excess of $200+ I think it is well worth it. I can list the parts I used if viewers would like but I would highly recommend looking your machine up as there are many variations. The 757 had options of a 60" deck as well as the 54" and the 54" has a serial number break at 50001 where parts may be different.
I mentioned in the video that I didn't have the torque spec for the spindle nut. Looking online I found everything from 75-85ft-lbs to 100-120ft-lbs. My feeling is that 100-120ft-lbs sounds about right.
I mention the mule pulley in this video. I will have a video on rebuilding that as well. There are no seals just 2 bearings. John Deere no longer sells the bearings and will only sell the complete mule pulley assembly which costs about $260 or so at this time. My buddy just replaced his on his 737 and he told me about it. The bearings for the mule pulley cost me about $30 so I figured it was worth the chance.