How to install grease fittings on riding mower bearings
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- Most mowers these days do not come with grease fittings on the mower blade bearing mandrels. I show and easy way to add to the life of those bearings by installing a greasezerk fitting on the mandrel.
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I've done this to every one of my lawnmowers also. You're correct in saying that once this is done, it is a commitment and must be done at least twice a mowing season. I also repack the idler pulley bearings once a year. The seals pop off and easily go back into place with a little effort. Doing this and regularly changing the engine oil will make your mower last many years.
I will do this for my spindles and for my front wheels as well. And I absolutely agree with your statement on changing the oil regularly. I had to buy an new engine at a cost of many thousands of dollars for failing to keep that oil changed. I also take the engine cover off from time to time to clean off chaff build up. Oh! Thanks for the tip on the idler pulley.
Just want you to know that a few months ago I ran across your video here and loved the idea. I hit something a couple days ago and broke one the mandrel's and decided to go ahead and get all 3 new and do exactly what you have done. Thank you for this! Brilliant! :) And now I own a grease gun and I finally had a good use for the tap and die set I got 30 years ago.
I have done this to every riding mower I ever owned. It works great. It usually takes about 50 pumps from a grease gun to fill these up. Synthetic grease lasts longer and pumps easier, especially in cold weather. Pump SLOWLY and watch for grease to come out so as not to blow the top and bottom seals out of the bearing. Also, you can buy zerk fittings that you simply drill a 3/16 hole for and drive them in place with a small socket. Socket must fit on the lip of the zerk and not the tip. This really adds a lot of life to the belts and the engine. Good luck.
i put a couple of pumps into mine whenever i change the oil. that is a few times a year. i mow 5 acres of grass in my yard alone and i mow my next door neighbors who is 80 years old. the manufacturers DEFINITELY did not intend for people to fix the weak points in these things. those weak points are,in my opinion,designed into these things. people are far more likely to just buy a new one, in this throw away,instant gratification world we now live in.I like stickin it to the man!!!!!
Wow. You are a top drawer teacher. No wasting words. And getting right to the meat of the matter. Thank you. The humble Farmer
the housing is cast aluminum and break verry easy. great advice, i nave seen a few people put the grease fittings in but not take the face off the bearing
I did the same trick to my Springer Harley and have never had to replace the steering bearings since then. Great trick to save some bearings! Nice work.
Should be a 1/4” x 28 TPI tap for most zerks. You should also drill and tap another hole in the spindle to put a weep hole that you can plug with a bolt. This will keep you from forcing the outer seal off of the bearings.
Thanks for the help. I got both of mine done today :-) All was good until I went to install new blades and I noticed one of the stars were worn down almost flush. I wish I could have caught onto that before I did all of that work. Other than this doing this project is very very easy, but a without a vise I probably couldn't have done it .
Thanks again.
we have loctite but ive never used it on grease fittings. they break more often than they come unscrewed so being able to remove it for replacement is easier when its not loctited in there.
Thanks ! I will remove the mandrel and give that a try ! Thank you vary much for the help .
Pretty sweet hack there. I was thinking of doing this to my Old school edger ( KS 19 STD) trim all. the pulley/ blade arm bearings burned out and I was looking at how oddly it was put together. It lasted from 61 or so till now but I think it will last another 100 years with this new set up and a grease fitting. LOL
I like that you mentioned the Mowers these days are designs to fail, I have told people that over and over ( any new car is the exact way but it gets more technical when you go into automotive scams )
But On the Lawn Mowers there is another big deal. It's in the wheels! most people don't think about the wheels, they work fine in the store after all, pushes great for a year or two, then all the sudden ya get the wobbley wheel thing going on. used to be that the wheels ( I am talking far back ) had bearings or at the very least a metal sleeve. closely fit to the axle, Installing a bearing or , what I have been doing, us a new axle bolt fitted to dual ( inside and outside) steel Bushings. tightens then up, gets rid of the wobble and it;s amazing the difference it can make to an old mower that should not be on it;s last leg. I didn't fit them with grease fittings, LOL probably get a little messy. it is an idea though.
You never have to replace them again.... until you run over a concrete patio block and break a tab off like I did! lol
I agree, most people would just get a new one, I got my mower well used (100$), the guy who had it before me knew nothing about general matainace, it had a rod knock, the bearings in the deck where completly out, as in gone,( luckly I have a lathe and bored out my old spindels installed bigger bearings), it was a basket case, after many hours of "enginering/fixing/painting, I can honestly say I have the coolest mower in the "town". I try to stick the man every chance I get.
you have to remove both bearings because you have to remove the plastic grease seal on one side of the bearing. this side will beplaced back where the bearing rides so that the now open face of the bearing is facing inside. this is so the grease can actually get in the bearings. when you grease it after it is back on the deck and bolted down with pulley and blade on it,keep greasing until it squeezes out the top or bottom.
Great Idea.
I know! the nice thing about this particular tap wrench is, in a pinch,it could be used as a pair of pliers! neat huh???
yep! them patio blocks are rough on a mower. so are bottle jacks that you forgot you used and the grass grew up around it and you didnt see it till it came through the top of your mower deck. I hate it when that happens.
I just talked to a small engine repairman who does warranty work for different mower companies. He told me that if you remove one side of the bearings in order to get grease to them, you take a "chance" of dust/dirt getting into the bearings if you mow really dusty fields or lawns. If that happens, then the bearings will start to wear out. So, you have a choice. Don't grease them and they "will" eventually wear out or grease them and take the "chance" of them wearing out due to dust/dirt getting into them. I will be greasing mine by adding a Zerk/grease fitting.
I did the same thing on my mower about 10 years ago, once the cavity is full of grease you should be fine, unless it leaks out, I grease mine once a year, just a couple of pumps when I change the mower oil/filter, also I put zerks on my front wheels, my mower has the cheapO no bearing front tires, they don't make stuff to last anymore thats for sure.
REMOVE THE MANDREL FROM THE DECK. REMOVE THE CENTER PIECE THAT HAS THE PULLEY ON ONE END AND BLADE ON THE OTHER. PUT A ROD OR PUNCH DOWN THE HOLE ON ONE END AND KNOCH THE BEARING OUT BEING CAREFUL TO TAP IT OUT THE SAME DISTANCE ALL THE WAY AROUND OR IT WILL GET JAMMED.
yeah ,its amazing how far past the mfgr,s intended service life you can extend something,just by recognizing the weak links and addressing them. thanks for watching!
2 things: 1- you need to use Loctite on the threads, so they don't back out during mowing, 2- you have to remove the inner seals on your bearings or the grease will actually lubricate the bearings.
"or" should be "so" To clarify, you should only remove the side of the bearing that faces toward the inside or middle of the spindle. The removed side of each bearing will be facing each other.
Adding a Zerk fitting to a closed spindle is fine; however, you should always drill a vent on the opposite side. This will allow the pressure in the spindle to be reduced and also indicate when the cavity is full of grease. I always drill the Zerk fitting closer (downward) to the blade and drill the vent higher. I use a small sheet metal screw as a vent plug ti keep the dirt/dust out of the spindle cavity. Also, when tapping always oil the tap every rotation or so. Any oil is fine. I also blow out the metal shavings with compressed air.
Great! Another keyboard expert, here to tell me how I should have done something his way, because his way is best! Thanks for dropping in and blessing us with your expertise. Ha! And you thumbed up your own comment!! Douchebag alert!!
I have had my mover for 17yrs have not greased the spindles yet. It seams like they are working fine. Hope its not to late 😮.
That’s some good maintenance right there.
Thank you for telling them to take off the inner seals.
The ones that come from the factory with grease fittings are useless unless the grease can actually get to the bearing.
I'm hoping this can be done for my Milwaukee super sawzaw.ty for the info.
the mandrel housing didnt need to be replaced. it cost nothing to drill and tap. the bearing dust cover is very easy to remove. when bearings go bad,rarely does the mandrel go bad. i cant see buying a new mandrel with grease fitting when its so simple just to install a grease zerk.i hate to replace parts that aint broke.
you can buy the whole assembly cheaper online than the housing ..just a thought. lack of greas aint what breaks them they are made to break.i was changing about 3 a season ...i made me a metal plate to renforce them from underneath the deck. ps ive got 75 or more of the smaller bearing brand new ....how many you need. i believe they are 2203 bearing
When you remove the seal, you can see there is no grease in the bearing, the reason it fails so often. I just filled my bearings with a quality grease and do not want to deal with installing a grease fitting because its easy to blow the seal out.
Great! Thanks for watching!
I have seen the same thing as well as new sealed bearings that were only lubricated with Vaseline instead of actual grease that were bearings for idler wheels on a snowmobile bearing so always pull the seal off & check them .
i have given it alot of thought. im subbed to an awesome guy that has just put a video up of his build. ill pm you a link to his vid. tell i sent ya!
Great idea buddy.
What a smashing idea :-)
I could see the tapped hole was not exactly spot on, basic tapps never seem to be perfect.
I was told 3 tapps were normally used, starter/mid/plug, and the die's were adjustable via 3 screws, Ive not seen any tapp kits with 3 tapps per size, i think they must be all mid's.
mandrel bolts or blade? if its mandrel,then i would sugest using a breaker bar and if you have to,snap them off ,then put it in a vise and drill them out.if its theblade that you are having a hard time with,you may need to remove the deck and turn it over so you can get a 1/2 inch breaker bar on it and some extra muscle like a cheater pipe. let me know how you make out. if you send a couple quick clips,i could probably help you more.
good luck and sorry for the caps. i didnt know i gad the caps locked on.
My (humble) thoughts: If the bottom seal is removed from the UPPER bearing then surely, the law of gravity means that any grease will eventually sink into the mandrel casing (especially when hot) causing the possibility of a dry bearing.
Also, I once asked a (knowledgeable) engineer about the use of sealed bearings. He told me that there's no significant difference in wear, otherwise, vehicle recalls would be through the roof.
So that’s the reason you’re watching videos contrary to what you believe? Karen.
Thanks for the video. this is a great idea. Do you have any video/details on removing the seals that you mentioned. Or is it obvious when you buy the bearings?
It will be obvious. I use a pick to get under the edge of the seal to pry it up and pop it off.
Great Video. I wondering how to do this. Thanks.
you eve think about making a litle achoul stove out of a monster can or budlight alunium bottle ?
I got one side apart, drilled and tapped . The only issue I can see in doing this is .. How can you tell if it's full of grease ? Usually with grease zerts you can see it gush out when it's full . With these type of bearings I'm not sure that will happen . ?
Awesome
Just wondering , Like on my mower I know the spindles are going bad. When the blades are engaged it rattles and makes a hell of a lot of noise. Why not just replace the bearings ? Seems the bearing would be fairly cheap as opposed to the whole spindle. OR am I missing something ? Then while you doing that put the grease fitting in. I was also wondering IF there were a more H/D bearing you could use ?
Good idea, but the video title is quite misleading. The description is perfect. Maybe match the title to the description.
Great video!
Hi,RUclips family I got this Enduro XT 1 46"cut.only use it five time.about these grease fitting you need them.to day I take mine down and you want believe it the only grease you fine you has to whip your fingers to fine grease.my John deer lt155 17years old and never
Had a problem with it .every three cut I grease.never use water on my deck ,air clean only.put the grease fitting on it east.
giving that greese is thick, how can you ensure that the top bearing is being lubricated? Even when removing the inner bearing seal, there is no splash against gravity to feed the top bearing, your thoughts, as I see that most of the grease will sink to the bottom bearing
If that were true, then they wouldn’t put grease fittings on higher end models. You are very obviously, someone that doesn’t fix,repair, or use tools, or else you would understand how silly you are.
@@bctruck yes mate, my wheelchair and feeder thinks I am as well, just sucking air to survive, cheers
Would you recommend waiting till your originals go bad and doing this to a new set I just got a new lawn mower and has 10 hours so far would it be worth taking out the originals and rebuilding them with the new grease fitting?
To me it would.
grease able spindles would make them last forever. they want you buying mowers every few years. ive bought mowers from people that got tired of replacing the same thing over and over. i would put grease fittings on the spindles and never have problems again. another example is the cheap idler pulleys. you can replace them with pulleys that ahave real bearings instead of nylon sleeves and never have to replace them again.
How do you remove the bearing ? Is t passable to remove the upper bearing and then the lower one will pop out ?
i need to show this to my son he thinks that them taps or grease zerks have to be twisted off in the hole before ya even get started along with all the lug nuts when he changes a tire or the head bolts when i was rebuilding the ole 350 chevy
you should have yer friend make sure his jack shafts are all still straight or in a few hours he will be leaking grease faster than his wife can run along side pumping it in
You do remember to lube the tap with alcohol when tapping in aluminium
well done
Thanks!
my wife hangs her head when i tell i could make something of hers work better or faster or do more than the mfgr intended. i have a lot of failures she occasionally reminds me of. but when i have a success,i toot my horn good and loud so she will remember it.
just got back from the googlarium,or the oracle, as i call it. turns out i accidently spelled mandrel correctly.
Excellent Tutorial
Thank you Thank you
What about venting on the housings when you grease them
Do you think this is airtight? Do you think wheel hubs have “vent holes”? Stay away from tools skippy. 😊
@@bctruck excuse me!
@@georgedistel1203 no harm, but if you can’t think about these types of things with a more logical mind, you’ll end up hurting yourself or someone else, or damaging equipment.
@bctruck unfortunately when I went thru a mechanical industrial apprenticeship program and retired from such I was told by bearing manufacturers that too much grease was as bad as not enough and that not having any way to vent when grease gets hot can and does cause damage to bearings causing premature failure . Maybe things are different from mowers to industrial equipment but I was just asking not being a smart ass.
@@georgedistel1203 I can’t tell you how many educated stupid people I e encountered in my life. Surely you understand that the thing that causes premature bearing failure in these mandrel is the ingress of dirt, moisture, grass clippings. You can’t possibly believe you would need to “vent” the mandrel. Now go trip over your degree somewhere else sally.
uhhhhh excuse me mr. mannnnnnnn...... wheres my knuckle bump? is there some sort of knuckle bump shortage im not aware of? do my knuckles offend you? love the creepy ken doll at the end of your videos that says knuckle bump. it gives me nightmares.
nice tap wrench. LOL
Ahhhh you drill a whole facing towards side of deck so its above the deck an below pulley
I don’t know if I would take any advice from someone who doesn’t know the difference between “whole” and hole.
@@bctruck It doesn’t take much to find a idiot autocorrector in the audience . Its amazing how many suckers like you pop up .
RED THREAD LOCK!!!!!
oh hell,im gonna have to go and look up the proper spelling of mandrel/mandrill/ manndrile? spell check did i not save me this time.
unfortunately,his wife doesnt like to be dirty,,errrrr,,,, i mean get dirty. so ill tell to be sure they are straight before he re-assembles everything. yeah you gotta be gentle when tapping and threading. slow and steady wins the race!
Sometimes............ you luck out...
i come from a long line of fart smellers. i think its genetic. even my sons are pretty fart smellers.
any relation to Barbara Mandrel? She's far prettier....