Throwout Bearing Info for EPCO Power King, Jim Dandy, Economy Steel Body Tractors

So you need a throwout bearing for your Power King, Economy, Jim Dandy, Country Squire, or Red-E EPCO tractor? Here’s what you need to know.

There are actually two parts to this throwout bearing: The carrier and the bearing itself.

It’s not readily apparent that you have a two-piece assembly because they are pressed together, but you should separate the two parts if you need to give your bearing a thorough cleaning and lubrication.

Here’s one I pulled out of a tractor and added to my parts stash. For disassembly, you can use a bearing puller to grip the bearing under that lip near the top.

For a quick and dirty separation for this article, I just gripped the bearing — lightly! — in a bench vise.

Then I lightly tapped on the inside portion of the carrier, which is that middle ring my hammer is touching in this picture. This allowed me to drive the carrier out of the bearing.

This exposed gunk I couldn’t have cleaned out without taking it apart.

I like to keep using anything that’s still usable, and I hate to waste anything. For this reason, I will soak these parts in kerosene/diesel fuel to dissolve all the old crud, thoroughly rinse with same, then lubricate the bearing with bearing grease by forcing it into the bearing.

This is assuming the carrier is not overly worn where the clutch fork rides against it, and the bearing is in good shape mechanically & spins freely under pressure when it’s clean.

To reassemble, press the two parts together carefully, making sure they are square with one another. A bench vise makes a reasonable “press” for doing this.

If you wish to replace instead of reusing or if your bearing is beyond repair, you can buy a new one. The part number is Federal-Mogul C-1697-C, and this gets you the bearing and carrier. Just be careful while shopping; some throwout bearings listed under this number are quite different. Make sure it looks like those pictured here.

Here’s a link to the best price I could find: Buy a Power King tractor throwout bearing

Good luck and thanks for reading.

— Russ