If the spindle housing is in good condition, consider repairing by replacing the spindle shaft assy. The part number is 192872. The Sears price is $24.60.

To accomplish this repair, remove the deck to provide access. Do not remove the spindle housing. Remove the top nut that secures the belt pulley. Drive the old shaft out. After cleaning and inspecting the housing, install the new shaft which already has a new lower bearing. I don't know if the top bearing is included.

Ask you local mower shop if they have access to OEM parts for Sears riders. Unless the local shop is jacking up prices, they can generally acquire the part for less than the Sears price.

A warning: Those Craftsman mandrell housing bolts and legs sometimes will snap off where they bolt thru the deck, to attach. Thats why the poster above warns not to remove the maandrell. If you can get it apart and save the old mandrell--good luck. I always just replace the whole thing- Ya get all new parts, and saves trips to the mower shop for something ya didn't get the first time.

Thanks for these repsonses. I have already removed the mandrel. This time one bolt did snap and since the mandrel assembly I mentioned above is the same price as the shaft assembly from sears, Id rather replace the whole thing at this point. Had I known the above information that would not have been necessary this time. First time I did this job with sears parts the housing as stuffed. Just wondering about the compatibility of these parts advertised on Amazon.

I guess I am old fashioned, in thinking one trip to buy a part, or conglomeration of parts all assembled, and sold as a unit--is cheaper than 6 or so trips to the parts place, to exchange parts that were the wrong ones! Also, trying to savce a dollar or so by buying after-market parts, sometimes comes back to bite ye where ya sit.
Also, tieing up a machine to save a buck or so, isn't the way to go, as grass doesn't stop growing while yer machine is tied up waiting for parts.
As things are here, i must drive 5-6 miles each way to get to my parts place. They usually have everything i'll need, although special parts aren't always in stock. I consider the gasoline i use to go there is part of the cost of doing business. Some folks have described me as being "tight" but the correct name for it is "Frugal".
A lot of times, i'll fix something for free, or give away a push mower, snow blower, or chipper that runs, because i haven't the room or time for them. Guess I'll be called "stupid" for that. (Ask Josie about the snow blower.)
Any way-have a nice day. Rusty J.

If your question is if the 2 numbers you had listed are interchangeable, the answer is yes. 187292 has a grease zirc and the other does not. The pulley is a different question. The 173436 fits the old 3 leg spindle design, not yours. Don't forget the bolts! Hint, they are all really Husqvarna parts. In this case a Husqvarna # will be 532187292. SO if you are somewhere and they only have Husqvarna belts, just read the last 6 #s that match to yours.

Google AYP + the Sears Part# and you'll see there's a lot of interchange.

Sears 917.xxxxxx tractors are made by the same maker as Husqvarna, Poulan, Weedeater...

Thanks for the responses. I ordered the assembly and it was the original part with Husqvarna tag on it. Went on beautiful. The pulley has a new inventory number 195495 but the part still has the original part number stamped on it 197473.
The bolts worked find the only difference being missing the small unthreaded pilot section on the end.
Now my only question is if i should have gotten the mandrels with the grease zerks in the ends instead of the ones identical to those that came with the tractor which don't have zerks? Seems like being able to grease the mandrels is going to make them last. They do look identical and even are listed with the same Husqvarna part number except mine have the note "no zerk" on the tag.

In truth, very few of these spindles have bearing failures. The tops never, and a handful of lowers do a year in my world. Knowing now that you can remove the spindle shaft w/o removing the spindle from the deck- you could pop the plastic seal from the lower bearing and roll some lube in if you want. For that matter, one could drill the body of the spindle and install a zirc. It sounds like you may have an extra shaft w/ a good bearing should you need one in the future.

Thing is the new shafts have a hole where the zerk should go. Could I add a zerk there if i wanted to? (This is just like the one I previously got from sears as a replacement) From looking at the original old shafts i cant see how the grease would get to the bearings if i did.
Replacing the mandrel was pretty easy except for undoing the pulley nut. The ones with the zerks are about 8 bucks cheaper by the way.
I've replaced both mandrels in 125 hours and three years now. This one was because of a rock strike. First one was a lower bearing failure. No more spraying water under the deck to clean it.

Hmmm, I never noticed that. I don't know what ones I have, but could look next week. I thought they were just dimples on the top. You'll have to see if the hole goes through on yours. If not, it would be easier to add it on the housing's side. The bearings have plastic sides that will pop off and allow grease in. If you are having difficulty holding the shaft for the pulley nut, leave the blade bolted down and use to hold the shaft.

***Thing is the new shafts have a hole where the zerk should go. Could I add a zerk there if i wanted to? From looking at the original old shafts i cant see how the grease would get to the bearings if i did."***

I hope this illustration explains the way grease gets to where the bearings situate when the zerk is fitted to the shaft.
This provision for greasing shaft bearings/bushings is actually used in many applications world wide and down through the ages and is a popular alternative to having a zerk in the bearing housing. It IS NOT used in applications where the design engineer deems the holes would reduce the overall load bearing capacity of the shaft.

What you must CONFIRM about the shaft you have (with a hole in the end of shaft)........is that there MUST also be an intersecting drilled "cross hole passage" somewhere on the shaft that would situate between the bearings or bushings (as the case may be). If no cross hole is featured on the shaft, greasing is not possible.
A cross hole could possibly be added by the end user if the center hole actually goes deep enough to reach the location between the bearings.

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