# New Holland 463 disc mower



## kklivestock (Jun 11, 2009)

Hello i am new here and i could really use some help. I have a New Holland 463 disc mower and the bearing went out in the first drum ( closest to the tractor). Does any one know how to get the top bearing out without taking the bar apart? Thanks


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## frankmako (Jun 9, 2009)

Got the same problem with a NH 462 dics mower. You should be able to pull the drum off from the bar. There is a plastic cap, remove it and you can see the nut that holds the drum and other parts on to the bar. Well that how it looks on the 462. I got to work on it this following week. It might not be the bearing, it might be the bearing holder that is bad. It is an $160.00 dollar part. Look at the New Holland web site and go to the parts section to see how things go togeather.


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## fxrupr (Jun 30, 2009)

I have just torn my NH 462 down to the snap rings and yes the 2 halves of the cutter bar must be separated in order to unbolt the bearing holder, which holds the spindle bearings. After separating the gearbox and cutter bar from the 3-point hitch frame, unbolt the gearbox and canvas cover holder frame from the bar. Once you have stripped all the discs and shields off you can see the bar. I had to use a cutting torch on more than half the bolts that fastened the 2 halves together. You then need a 14 mm hex Allen wrench or in my case a hexagonal cat's-paw handle tweaked on the grinder. I put a big adjustable wrench and a 3 foot cheater on the hex of the cats paw and started backing the hex bolts out. The book says 3 turns each starting at the ends. What those bolts do is fasten the 2 halves together right through the center of each of the idler gears and bearings. On reassembly they spec 260 ft / lbs torque on those. Anyway after you have loosened the Allen hex bolts about 6 turns each they start to pop out of the threaded weldments in the bottom of the bar. At that point the 2 halves can be separated. I would recommend flipping the bar over bottom up before taking the bottom case half off or gears and bearings might drop on the floor. There is a 3-4 mm thick O-ring which runs the entire perimeter of the gear case as a seal. Mine also had about 5 lbs of silicone on it as well. Doug Long in Rochester NY who I got a lot of information from said use silicone sparingly because any foreign particles including cured silicone floating around in there while it's running will cause bearing failure which is bad. 
Set the inverted top section of the cutter bar up on a stack of 2x4's so there is room underneath to let the bearing housings drop out.

Hopefully you will find a virgin environment with no evidence of previous intrusions or repairs. I did not. 
Mine had been opened up and fixed (I use the term loosely) at least once. There had been serious bearing failure previously in mine and although everything was still turning freely when I got it was full of metal chips and most of the bearings were past salvage. Whoever fixed it before had to have replaced all internals with used parts because none of the bearings had the same numbers, but all the gears looked OK.

The spindle bearing holders bolt to the underside of the upper case half with 4 bolts. There are 4 small o-rings at the 4 bolt holes to seal them under the holder. There is one big o-ring which seals around the lower bearing of the spindle. I found that by tapping the end of the spindle with a small hammer the spindle and lower bearing drop out the bottom of the case. Then you will be holding the bearing holder that contains the remains of the upper bearing and an oil seal and a spacer and an o-ring.

Now for the rest of the story. Can anybody tell me the after market bearing number of the double angular contact thrust bearings on the idler gears used by New Holland or Kuhn or whoever built this thing? My bearing guy and I searched all his books and couldn't match it to anything but an $800 high speed machine tool spindle bearing. New Holland price is $111 each plus tax etc. There are 12 of them. 1 is salvageable. 
I hope that all you need to change is one upper spindle bearing, because it gets pricey very quick replacing bearings on these things. The bearing I'm talking about on the idler is a 45mm ID x 75mmOD x 22mm thick angular contact double race job with a plastic bearing spacer. Any ideas?


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## cajun (Jul 2, 2009)

I am just putting my 442 back together after a bearing change. I also had to change the idler gear bearing because I had to use a torch to heat one of the 14mm plugs and melted to plastic bearing spacer. I got mine from messicks for $85, really helpful folks that sell genuine parts.


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## fxrupr (Jun 30, 2009)

I'd like to give a plug for Messicks to. I ordered a slew of parts from them and they had good customer service, far better I'm afraid than my local NH dealers. Time I paid freight they were still cheaper overall than buying local.


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## RANDY8700 (Oct 28, 2011)

What is cats paw you are talking about


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## RANDY8700 (Oct 28, 2011)

Does 462 come apart the same as 463


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## RANDY8700 (Oct 28, 2011)

Its the one rite on the end next to the tractor i know the one on top is bad and that shaft the bearing goes on feels pretty loose so i think the one down under that gear is probably bad too.i just got this thing the other day and dont know much about it i checked the oil in the gear box that the pulley goes on but i didnt know that bar had grease too so i dont know if i ran it without or not.thanks for getting back too me ALSO MINE IS A 462 NOT A 463 IF THAT MATTERS


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