Without reading all 300 comments to see if this was already mentioned, I hate to tell you the grease DOES get to the bearings, sealed or not. Try it. The grease pushes straight through the edge of the seal. I didn't believe it would either, till our maintenance manager insisted I try and see for myself. To fill an entire spindle takes about 50-70 pumps. You'll want to use a powered grease gun for that.
When the OEM bearings go bad the first time, I remove the inner seals on the replacement upper and lower bearing so they can get grease from the zerk. My last bearings lasted 20 years after I did that.
I did the same thing on my Gravely. I installed new (Fafnir) bearings that had a seal only on one side.. I've been running the spindles with the modified bearings (I had to add zerk fittings to the spindle housings) for about seven years. That's two years longer than the originals ran. So far, so good. BTW: The Fafnir bearings have a rubber seal that is held between an inner and outer steel ring. I haven't blown any seals out yet...
convert those 2rc bearings to 1rc-yep, did that on my cub cadet LT 1045. Also, drilled the slugs out of the slugged together belt pulleys, and replaced those bearings as well-
@@leoashrae4199 I question whether this is a good technique since when the grease gets hot it will migrate downward, keeping the lower bearing lubed, but can starve the top bearing of grease. I'd rather keep them sealed. These sealed bearings will last longer since many homeowners will never grease anything on their riding mower. Most homeowners are not handy men. They jump on the mower, mow the grass and put the mower back in the garage. And, if John Deere didn't think it was a good idea to have this grease fitting, they'd not do it and just pocket the savings.
@@robj2704 When I pump grease into the spindle housing it goes up, down, and sideways. In short, the entire housing is packed with grease. It doesn't (actually, it can't) "migrate". That's the premise for "packing" the entire inner volume of the assembly with grease. Everything is lubricated all the time, if you remember to do your maintenance. That's the reason the zerk fittings were put there... by the "Toll Manufacturer" who made those spindle assemblies for John Deere. And no, "John Deere" didn't make some magnanimous decision to install those zerk fittings because they thought it was going to help any contemptible "consumers". It's there because the actual "part" manufacturer assembles these things to MTD's (the people who actually built the tractor) specifications (i.e. inferior quality sealed bearings, spindle shaft is not heat treated, etc.). Any other part parameters that are not specified in the part order are simply left as "standard", which in this case includes a zerk fitting. The fact of the matter is that today most "consumer" lawn tractors are made by the same people. In the case of John Deere, they're made by MTD (right next to the Craftsman's and YardPros and Cub Cadets). All of these machines are built by the same company BUT, to a different spec sheet. They can't "market" their way around the facts; the better your parts, the better the machine, the more it will cost. So all these "brands" shoot for their own demographic. In the case of my Gravely, I took some bad advice from a fellow mechanic who I thought knew better. He told me that Gravely, wholly owned by the Arians Company, was still being made in in the same plant by the same people. That was crap. I now know that all Gravely mowers are made in Brillion Wisconsin by the same people making Ariens. So, my overpriced Gravely zero-turn has the exact same JTARD (Chinese-made) mower deck spindles as Areins, John Deere , Cub Cadet, and most of the other consumer crap out there. So, when my Chinese-built Briggs & Scrap-Iron engine (or the Shydro-Gear pump) goes bad, I'll be getting a Kubota.
I actually discovered this years ago on my JD lawn tractor.......BUT..........never thought of popping out the bearing seal, greasing the bearing then re-installing the plastic seal! Great tip Dony!
@@Watchyn_Yarwood what kind of cub do you have? I'm pretty sure my my newer one has the same sealed bearings. My 1860 cub doesn't have the sealed so you can grease the normal way
Now what is interesting is that the spindle assembly you have in your hands actually has sealed bearings while the OEM John Deere lawn and garden tractor spindles that I have torn down and replaced bearings in recently, while working at a JD dealer, have ALL had metal shielded bearings which the external grease does enter when the temperature is elevated enough to cause the grease to go fluid.
I managed to keep track of the life of the last set of spindles on my 2013 Craftsman YT-3000/Husqvarna one had a zerk fitting and the other did not, but I never greased them and they were 3 years/300 hours old needing to be replaced at the beginning of this season as they had a bit of resistance to turn them, and I noticed that the outside seat area of the bearings were actually loose and spinning around inside the spindle itself. This season I installed 2 new spindles with zerk fittings and replaced the generic grease in them from the start with Lucas Red-N-Tacky grease, removed both bearing inner seals, and filled the inner chamber between them up too (about 65 pumps). I am now re-greasing the zerk fittings after every 25-30 hours so I hope that this new scheduled maintenance/procedure will drastically increase the time/hours duration and life of the new spindles, we'll see.
To all those people in the comments saying to remove the bearing and remove the inner cap, I say why bother? First of all bearings are cheap, and sealed ones do last a long time. If a person is going to remove the bearings to do this, why not get some higher quality bearings and install those with the caps removed instead? Reinstalling old bearings could cause issues to the spindle. The best option in my mind, is to wait until new bearings are required. I still have the original bearings on a 2014 X304 with plenty of hours, and the spindles are still working perfectly smoothly. I’m likely to do this once they are due to be replaced, but I see no indication this is needed any time soon. Donny’s suggestion to grease without removal makes sense for older bearings like mine, so might do that to extend their life.
I only got 130 hrs on the first 2 spindles on my John Deere X300. There’s a RUclips video where someone tested the grease fitting with a different colour and it actually got into a sealed bearing.
You have to remove the bearings to do that and in many cases you damage the bearing so it's only applicable to bearing replacement; in which case you can find bearings with only one side sealed. If you do find the right size bearing for your application that only has one side sealed you'll probably realize why the manufacturer went with both sides sealed bearings.
As always, great quality on the video, and I appreciate your dialog - concise, to the point, no wasted words, no dumb puns, no kids or dogs or noisy neighbors. Keep up the great work.
Well done, I've been doing this for 20 years, I have a 1995 craftsman garden tractor with original spindles (3) I repack the sealed bearings at the end of every season.
I posted this on facebook last year it is a built in money maker for John Deere. I saw a video like this before i posted it. Thanks for informing those who don't know about this
I work at a John Deere dealer and that question comes up all the time. The main reason they use grease fittings on spindles is for heat dissipation. To keep the spindles cooler. They will run hotter with out the grease. Love your videos!
@@donyboy73 That is correct. The dealer is supposed to grease the spindles as part of the prep and delivery. I'm sure not every dealer does however. Really enjoy your videos and have learned alot from you over the years. Thank you.
I have a Ferris zero turn, one 'feature' was greaseless spindles, they lasted one season, I'd not a commercial user, they were shot and I was kinda po'd that this expensive machine had this weak link. I went to the dealer (Ferris dealers change every couple of years) and the new model featured 'greasable spindles' I checked and found they would fit my machine and I replaced them all (three), since the machine wasn't designed for greasing spindles I have to take it apart to get at them but I do this several times a season, it's been at least ten years. I don't know if greasing help but I'm gonna keep doing it. the spindles on my big (72") pto operated tow behind mower are also fitted with grease fittings and I hit that about one a month during the season. Never had any problems there.
The belt tension lever on this Ferris has a fitting for grease but it never took any. I had it off for some reason and I looked at it carefully, there was a bushing pressed into the arm that it swings on and that wasn't drilled to let grease through, it is now. It takes grease. this wasn't a ball bearing but a sleeve bearing so it really needs to be greased somehow. Having a little excess grease showing on fittings doesn't bother me, what does is seeing dry fittings on machinery. There is a lot of poorly engineered, poorly assembled krap out there.
I replaced both bearings on a spindle on my L110 JD and I ordered OEM bearings. The top bearing was sealed on both sides but the bottom one was open to the inside. So my thinking was the top bearing stays cooler and will last a long time, where as the bottom one gets warmer and needs the grease from the fitting.
Once I saw a video showing me what was inside of the spindles on my S100 John Deere, I figured it was useless greasing the assembly via the fitting provided. You just confirmed what I though. It is such an easy job to change bearings on the S100, which I just purchased last week, I am just going to plan on changing the bearings at a given time frame and just move on. I got 12 years out of the spindle bearings on my old Craftsman lawn tractor so in 10 years I'll change bearings. Thanks for the interesting video. Barry
I agree. I did the thing removing the inner rubber seals, pumped about a half tube in, and I think it causes more problems. Take a good look at your belt idlers (the pulleys/guides/tensioners that do not have blades attached). If you look closely, the same sealed bearing is sandwiched between the two halves and they NEVER get grease. I know for a fact because I drilled out the welds on one, replaced the 6203rs or 6204rs bearing, and tack-welded it back together. Yeah..its a $15.00 part but I enjoy the challenge. Like you say. It makes people feel better.
I have replaced those bearings when they wear out with the best quality bearings I can find and there is a difference, they last longer and only cost 6$ Canadian. Great video keep it up.
Bill Lovett, I haven't looked but I'd say Don has good videos on it, if not, Taryl Fixes All has many different mower videos on drive belt changing. I don't think Don will mind me telling you that here, he and Taryl know each other.
Got to disagree with you on this one ... I have found that grease under pressure will take the path of least resistance, which is around and through the “seals” on these bearings. Rubber seals are meant to keep out dust & dirt ... they won’t stop a fluid under pressure.
Your right I just did it to my z375r it took like 60 pumps for each of them but the grease goes under the seal i use the marina grease. It’s waterproof and good for very high temperature.
When you rebuild them take the seal out on one side. Press the non seal on the inside for both ends. Then the grease fitting will work. I did that for a few of the ones I owned and I never has to replace them.
You are supposed to fill the void with grease to prevent water from accumulating in that space, which will eventually find its way into the bearing races, not to grease the sealed bearings. Some higher end units, other than big box store lawn tractors, do have plain non-sealed bearings, but they have shaft seals on the outboard sides of the bearings, so greasing them does push fresh grease through the bearings.
Can you please show me in one manual where it says grease is just to keep water out of a mower deck? Lol, stop washing your deck if water is in your bearings. Geez. That’s absolutely ridiculous information. Did you just make that up? 😂
In any instance you can pop the bearings out and remove the inner seals and then reassemble it. Thatd make it super easy to grease,but youd better keep it well greased. If you let it go for a while the too nearing may het somewhat starved as the warm grease would tend to flow towards the bottom of the spindle.
The spindles on our old John Deere LX280 don’t have sealed bearings. They have separate lip seals - one on top, the other on the bottom. As such, the grease fitting does allow injected grease to get to the bearings (from the inside). These spindles are a pain to rebuild.
Man, I never thought about the bearings possibly being sealed! I know people who remove their new spindles and drill & tap them to install a grease fitting if they don't already have one! Thanks for sharing this. I've seen the bearing packing video. It is also a good one to watch.
What about taking the 2 inner seals off and fill the spindle with oil as the shaft turns it will throw the oil into the top bearing.If you put sealant on the shaft and the outside of the bearings it will not leak oil.I used to work on Landrovers everything is lubricated by oil you may pack the wheel bearings with grease but after a short time the grease is washed out by the oil in the diffs.
murray mowers have the grease fitting as well i found a design flaw (planned obsolescence?) on the 1001709 Jackshaft Housing, these are sold as a complete assembly and the 2 bearings don't have the spacer tube between them, and less than 1mm "shoulder" for the bearing to sit on. i had a machinist turn up some steel water pipe and fit it onto the new jackshafts which i pulled apart and found the same fault. i stripped them down last year after 6 years (i did two mowers so 4 jackshafts) and ALL the bearings are still good, i just had to panel beat and weld up the decks that were showing their age (2006 built mowers).
Having a grease fitting on the spindle (also called a mandrel assembly) is it doesn't require disassembly to put anti-seize or a grease on the shaft. Grease will help prevent the shaft from rusting to the bearings and the spacer. True, it has nothing to do with greasing the bearings since they are sealed but it might prevent the shaft (which is raw steel) from rusting and making driving the shaft out of the housing for bearing replacement more difficult. On the other hand, these spindle assemblies are about $75 for a set of three (Amazon). If I have one starting to give problems (excessive noise when you turn the blade) or pulley, I just replace all three. Be careful when spinning the blade that it doesn't make contact with your hand. It's not that much more expensive than finding bearings and going thru all the labor of replacing them since it can sometimes be a real hassle. It's amazing how the water from wet grass will invade every nook and cranny even around the perimeter of a bearing pressed into a spindle housing. There's a lot of upward pressure above the blades that drives that water upward. That housing, full of grease, helps keep the water from getting inside the housing.
Based on my manufacturing experience the fitting us there because either the casing is also used on a spindle that you do grease or they kept it for replacement on older style spindles. Since that one had no grease inside it from the factory it probably is not used.
That is nice to know since I have been putting grease in my spindle on my Craftsman lawn tractor until it went down. I now have zero turn mowers which I use to mow my lawn with and I assume the same thing is the same for them also. Thanks so much for this tip and I wish you and your family a great weekend and new week.
I am here in Kuwait.,what I see here is humidity condensation settling on the lower bearing and damage soon. So I feel greasing will help. We are the dealer for Husqvarna. Husqvarna doesn't provide the grease nipple, but fix either on shaft or Mandel housing.
Thanks, great video, when the spindle gets noisy, what are your suggestions, I am at that stage where I am about to pull my John Deer 110 apart to have a look at them, cheers
That grease fitting on the spindle housing (also called a mandrel assy.) is there for putting grease into the housing to prevent rusting of the shaft and spacer so the shaft can be pulled out without seizing from rust. The reason rust forms inside the spindle housing is from cutting wet grass. The moisture will go everywhere because the blades sling it everywhere. It will even migrate around the bearings and the shaft and into the spindle housing. If there's enough grease in there it will help keep the moisture out. The grease really serves no other purpose. Personally, I wouldn't remove the seals from the bearings. The seals keep the grease around the bearing. If the top bearing has no seal to hold the grease, it will migrate down and starve the top bearing, which will cause it to fail. Grease stays in a sealed bearing pretty much for the life of the bearing.
I agree and also want to add that the grease is there for ‘cooling’ purposes. Keeps it cool and cools down the metal parts that the grease touches. Acts as a ‘coolant’ for the shaft and housing so the bearings don’t heat up as much as they would if that spindle housing was completely dry of grease. My 2 cents. Update. I should have stated that I do not pump grease into a fitting. I just glob it in there before I install last bearing. That’s it. Just a big glob of grease in housing
lol how would you know when to stop pumping grease to fill the cavity and not push it into the berrings , one pump too many and thats it , NOW ya got grease in yer berrings lol they are meant to get grease pushed threw them they are not seals just loose fitting dust covers , ya can pick em out with your fingernail and a grease gun puts out 10,000 psi every pump , you would never feel resistance of them "seals " holding the grease back , it goes threw like they not even there
Great Tip but there is a way around it I have a G1 10 John Deere tractor with a 54 inch deck and I purchased new spindles for it I took them all apart like you were showing in your video I took the plastic cover off the bearing and I left them off and I put the bearings back in The opposite way where the center shaft is now when you pump grease into the spindles a grease is the bearings I just wanted to share that with you awesome video
Thanks for sharing that. I have a D130 and the grease fitting on the front axle pivot point is critical yet is partially blocked by a bracket. This makes it impossible to securely attach the hose of a grease gun. I’ve actually taken the fitting out and packed grease into it by hand. Not a good setup; it’s like they designed it without thinking about ease of servicing.
@@donyboy73 I remember watching that video a long time ago. Do you have any recommendations for a better way to grease it? I wanted to pick up a right angle fitting, but since it is smaller than the types used on automotive ball joints, I'm not sure if a right angle in that size is available.
I could see a possible moisture problem as the bearing heats a little while in use then cools down and condenses. This could be a strong enough suction to pull in moisture. In this situation the bottom bearing would bear the brunt of it when the droplets would fall on it. Having a little bit of grease may help keep them apart, especially if you use a marine type wheel bearing grease. But after that little bit, I agree it's not of any use. Thanks for the look inside the spindle. :)
Good Morning DB73, another great video made by you. I probably would grease fittings if I see them. A little dab ell do yah !! LOL. Thanks Bud for putting out these videos. You rock.
Thanks Dony! I wondered about that, it’s interesting to see what’s actually inside the spindle. I have a John Deere 135, bought it in 2006 still runs great but I want to replace the drive belt (not the deck belt) myself instead of having a shop do it. I’m sure you’ve done that many times in your shop but it’s a little tricky when you’re trying it at home. Any tips for your followers on how to do it successfully? Thanks for the video, great as always! Stay safe.
My Husqvarna has the top bearing sealed on both sides but the bottom bearing is open on top. I can pump in some grease for the bottom bearing and take the pulley off to grease the top bearing. I think that’s ideal and if I ever have to take a spindle with two sealed bearings apart I’ll put it back together that way.
It's not a sealed bearing. It's a shielded bearing. Big difference. And if you removed the inside shield on both bearings and greased them regularly with the zerk you will never need to replace these bearings again. Your deck will rust away before the bearings go bad.
My E170 spindles took 25 pumps of grease before pushing water out the top. If I have sealed bearings I have no idea how I was able to push the water out? I have photos showing the water.
"some people do it just for psychosomatic reasons......if people think it's helping then it makes them feel better" *EXACTLY!! lol* The JD green paint used to have the same effect on me, but nowadays it's just like those grease fittings.
I popped the inner seals off my bearings so the grease can get inside the bearings, I did it when my tractor was new and have never needed to replace my spindle bearings, 7 years ago.
Makes me glad I have a Walker. The deck spindles share an oil reservoir with the gearbox from the PTO. As long as those oil seals are good, you're cooking! The funny thing is, they actually make bearings that are sealed on only one side for specifically this purpose. You think JD is just being lazy?
Hey Dony..you can take the inner seal out of the bearings with them facing inside then you can grease it and will last ..the city workers told me that's what they do..the were replacing bearings every 3 weeks same set up on the spindle he said they will last way longer..Cheers 🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
You can take the bearings out and remove the inner seal to make them actually greasable. I do this when I replace bearings in spindles that can be replaced. Can also drill and tap a hole in the ones without grease fittings and put a zerk on them.
what if you take the seal off the back side facing the empty space the grease fitting where the grease fitting would then put grease on the open bearings? Take the seal off the back of the bottom bearing and the seal off the top of the bottom bearing and then the grease fitting would allow the grease to enter the bearings
Commercial mower spindles have open bearings and separate sealing against dirt form outside. In these grease fittings are doing their job as its meant to be. So... -This "don't bother to grease" statement applies only to certain mowers in customer market.
@@Peter-976 Yes he did. But even those grease nipples can be made functional just by removing internal seal from the bearing. So I would not judge every spindle by its cover but I also admit that it is really stupid from those machine manufacturers to leave grease nipple in the design if bearings inside do not comply...
it actually does help, at least on the bottom bearing, those are dust seals oil will leak through them if you pump the spindle full of grease the oil will separate from the soap and keep the bottom bearing in fantastic shape.
hi, the only thing to do if you want your bearings to get greasy is to remove the inner seal on both bearings, this way you can use the grease fitting, it's that simple
I see things differently. I disassemble the spindles and remove the interior weather seals to allow grease from the zerk fitting to fill the bearings with a fresh charge of grease when serviced.
Good video but I don't agree... those are rubber seals and they give way to allow grease to enter the bearing...the trick is to provide enough grease thru the zerk fitting to force it into the bearings....usually around 70 pumps for a dry spindle.
I know right ,people think a rubber “cover” not a seal that you can pick out with your fingernail can stop 13000 psi from a grease gun lol , they use grease guns to provide hydraulic pressure to tighten tracks on excavators lol it goes around them “seals “ like they not even there
I was spraying WD-40 on top of my riding mower's deck to wipe some rust off but I sprayed A LOT where the spindle is because of the rust there. Then I thought of the greased sealed bearings... Can the WD-40 dissolve the grease under the seal?
Somewhere I read that John Deere does not recommend greasing their spindles. Said that was a factory one time grease when building. Don't wash the deck and your bearings will last longer.
I worked for the Fafnir Bearing Company, and if a bearing is factory sealed (rubber seal) the bearing should never have grease added to them. they are factory greased, with the correct amount of, and the right type of grease. The grease is designed to outlast the metal components. They are greased for life! If you do add grease, it will probably over-lube them, and cause the bearing to run hot, thereby shortening the life. it only takes the thinnest film of lube for the balls to roll without friction. if you pack the ball bearing with lube, the lube actually becomes an obstacle that the balls now have to fight thru, this causes friction, and friction causes heat, hence, Dead bearing. Note,, if the bearing has a metal shield, and not the rubber seal, you can lube them . there is a tiny fraction of opening between the shield and the inner race that will allow lube to enter. this is not the case with a rubber seal. There is positive contact with the rubber seal and the inner race. no grease will get in or out.
Some people will remove the seals facing the inside of the spindle. You need to know that bearings made to be greased have an outer seal that won’t pop out when you grease them with a pneumatic or electric grease gun. If you take the inner seals out of sealed bearings, there’s a good chance the outer seal will be pushed out if you grease the spindle with a pneumatic or electric grease gun.
I saw another video. The maintenance man remove the inside seal on top and bottom bearings so they both can get grease. His needed packing before he reinstalled though. Pretty dried out!
In that situation I can see why greasing the spindle is useless I suppose. I would have to look at mine but that is to much work for me. Thanks for the information.
I discovered this many years ago. Make mention to you viewers not to get that kind of grease on the threads. Have you ever contacted John Deere and asked why the grease fitting? Could it be the shaft should be lubed? Could is be it allows an option in bearing replacement? Is it that the hub is universal ?
hey donny ,, i like your channel,,for me i like to remover the seal in the inside of top and lower bearing ,,then grease does get to bearings ,,thru ,,the fitting ,,i as i wrote this i noticed eos joe ,,does the same ,. please keep your vids ,,coming ,,i like watching ,,have a great day
I take the seals on the inside out, fill the inside with grease, and when i do grease the fittings It'll push out the outside seals out enough to get the grease in the bearings.
If you take these bearings out and remove the internal seals (facing inward) would that allow grease entered from the zerk to get into the bearing? Thanks for sharing such good info over the years.
I have a 2006 JD145 with 1100 plus hours on the tractor. I mow a 1 1/2 acre lot. I grease the spindles whenever I change the blades, which is 3 times a season. I have never replaced a spindle on the deck, as of this writing.
Without reading all 300 comments to see if this was already mentioned, I hate to tell you the grease DOES get to the bearings, sealed or not. Try it. The grease pushes straight through the edge of the seal. I didn't believe it would either, till our maintenance manager insisted I try and see for myself. To fill an entire spindle takes about 50-70 pumps. You'll want to use a powered grease gun for that.
When the OEM bearings go bad the first time, I remove the inner seals on the replacement upper and lower bearing so they can get grease from the zerk. My last bearings lasted 20 years after I did that.
I did the same thing on my Gravely. I installed new (Fafnir) bearings that had a seal only on one side.. I've been running the spindles with the modified bearings (I had to add zerk fittings to the spindle housings) for about seven years. That's two years longer than the originals ran. So far, so good. BTW: The Fafnir bearings have a rubber seal that is held between an inner and outer steel ring. I haven't blown any seals out yet...
Yep. Me too.
convert those 2rc bearings to 1rc-yep, did that on my cub cadet LT 1045. Also, drilled the slugs out of the slugged together belt pulleys, and replaced those bearings as well-
@@leoashrae4199 I question whether this is a good technique since when the grease gets hot it will migrate downward, keeping the lower bearing lubed, but can starve the top bearing of grease. I'd rather keep them sealed. These sealed bearings will last longer since many homeowners will never grease anything on their riding mower. Most homeowners are not handy men. They jump on the mower, mow the grass and put the mower back in the garage.
And, if John Deere didn't think it was a good idea to have this grease fitting, they'd not do it and just pocket the savings.
@@robj2704 When I pump grease into the spindle housing it goes up, down, and sideways. In short, the entire housing is packed with grease. It doesn't (actually, it can't) "migrate". That's the premise for "packing" the entire inner volume of the assembly with grease. Everything is lubricated all the time, if you remember to do your maintenance. That's the reason the zerk fittings were put there... by the "Toll Manufacturer" who made those spindle assemblies for John Deere. And no, "John Deere" didn't make some magnanimous decision to install those zerk fittings because they thought it was going to help any contemptible "consumers". It's there because the actual "part" manufacturer assembles these things to MTD's (the people who actually built the tractor) specifications (i.e. inferior quality sealed bearings, spindle shaft is not heat treated, etc.). Any other part parameters that are not specified in the part order are simply left as "standard", which in this case includes a zerk fitting.
The fact of the matter is that today most "consumer" lawn tractors are made by the same people. In the case of John Deere, they're made by MTD (right next to the Craftsman's and YardPros and Cub Cadets). All of these machines are built by the same company BUT, to a different spec sheet. They can't "market" their way around the facts; the better your parts, the better the machine, the more it will cost. So all these "brands" shoot for their own demographic. In the case of my Gravely, I took some bad advice from a fellow mechanic who I thought knew better. He told me that Gravely, wholly owned by the Arians Company, was still being made in in the same plant by the same people. That was crap. I now know that all Gravely mowers are made in Brillion Wisconsin by the same people making Ariens. So, my overpriced Gravely zero-turn has the exact same JTARD (Chinese-made) mower deck spindles as Areins, John Deere , Cub Cadet, and most of the other consumer crap out there. So, when my Chinese-built Briggs & Scrap-Iron engine (or the Shydro-Gear pump) goes bad, I'll be getting a Kubota.
I actually discovered this years ago on my JD lawn tractor.......BUT..........never thought of popping out the bearing seal, greasing the bearing then re-installing the plastic seal! Great tip Dony!
Can be done but, ir you mar the plastic lid, grease will ooz out and you just opened another money pit. Keep trucking anyway.
@@Watchyn_Yarwood But we're talking about John Deere not Cub Cadet or any other manufacturer...
@@Watchyn_Yarwood what kind of cub do you have? I'm pretty sure my my newer one has the same sealed bearings. My 1860 cub doesn't have the sealed so you can grease the normal way
Now what is interesting is that the spindle assembly you have in your hands actually has sealed bearings while the OEM John Deere lawn and garden tractor spindles that I have torn down and replaced bearings in recently, while working at a JD dealer, have ALL had metal shielded bearings which the external grease does enter when the temperature is elevated enough to cause the grease to go fluid.
I managed to keep track of the life of the last set of spindles on my 2013 Craftsman YT-3000/Husqvarna one had a zerk fitting and the other did not, but I never greased them and they were 3 years/300 hours old needing to be replaced at the beginning of this season as they had a bit of resistance to turn them, and I noticed that the outside seat area of the bearings were actually loose and spinning around inside the spindle itself. This season I installed 2 new spindles with zerk fittings and replaced the generic grease in them from the start with Lucas Red-N-Tacky grease, removed both bearing inner seals, and filled the inner chamber between them up too (about 65 pumps). I am now re-greasing the zerk fittings after every 25-30 hours so I hope that this new scheduled maintenance/procedure will drastically increase the time/hours duration and life of the new spindles, we'll see.
To all those people in the comments saying to remove the bearing and remove the inner cap, I say why bother? First of all bearings are cheap, and sealed ones do last a long time. If a person is going to remove the bearings to do this, why not get some higher quality bearings and install those with the caps removed instead? Reinstalling old bearings could cause issues to the spindle. The best option in my mind, is to wait until new bearings are required. I still have the original bearings on a 2014 X304 with plenty of hours, and the spindles are still working perfectly smoothly. I’m likely to do this once they are due to be replaced, but I see no indication this is needed any time soon. Donny’s suggestion to grease without removal makes sense for older bearings like mine, so might do that to extend their life.
I only got 130 hrs on the first 2 spindles on my John Deere X300. There’s a RUclips video where someone tested the grease fitting with a different colour and it actually got into a sealed bearing.
You could pick the inner seals out of the spindle bearings so then filling them with grease will get into the bearings
You have to remove the bearings to do that and in many cases you damage the bearing so it's only applicable to bearing replacement; in which case you can find bearings with only one side sealed. If you do find the right size bearing for your application that only has one side sealed you'll probably realize why the manufacturer went with both sides sealed bearings.
You are correct, but you must add a very small weep hole in the casting or you may blow the end seals out. You saw how securely they were installed.
As always, great quality on the video, and I appreciate your dialog - concise, to the point, no wasted words, no dumb puns, no kids or dogs or noisy neighbors. Keep up the great work.
No proof plus false claims = bad. Pump in like 70 shots of different colored grease and then check the inside of the bearing again.
Well done, I've been doing this for 20 years, I have a 1995 craftsman garden tractor with original spindles (3) I repack the sealed bearings at the end of every season.
Pump in like 70 shots of different colored grease and then check the inside of the bearing again.
What?! Didn't see this coming - "don't grease the grease fitting"?! As always, very informative! Thanks!!
I posted this on facebook last year it is a built in money maker for John Deere. I saw a video like this before i posted it. Thanks for informing those who don't know about this
I work at a John Deere dealer and that question comes up all the time. The main reason they use grease fittings on spindles is for heat dissipation. To keep the spindles cooler. They will run hotter with out the grease. Love your videos!
john deere says that but they come out of their chinese factory with no grease? go figure
@@donyboy73 That is correct. The dealer is supposed to grease the spindles as part of the prep and delivery. I'm sure not every dealer does however. Really enjoy your videos and have learned alot from you over the years. Thank you.
I have a John Deere STX38 lawn tractor and it says in the owners manual not to grease those fittings.
I have a Ferris zero turn, one 'feature' was greaseless spindles, they lasted one season, I'd not a commercial user, they were shot and I was kinda po'd that this expensive machine had this weak link. I went to the dealer (Ferris dealers change every couple of years) and the new model featured 'greasable spindles' I checked and found they would fit my machine and I replaced them all (three), since the machine wasn't designed for greasing spindles I have to take it apart to get at them but I do this several times a season, it's been at least ten years. I don't know if greasing help but I'm gonna keep doing it. the spindles on my big (72") pto operated tow behind mower are also fitted with grease fittings and I hit that about one a month during the season. Never had any problems there.
The belt tension lever on this Ferris has a fitting for grease but it never took any. I had it off for some reason and I looked at it carefully, there was a bushing pressed into the arm that it swings on and that wasn't drilled to let grease through, it is now. It takes grease. this wasn't a ball bearing but a sleeve bearing so it really needs to be greased somehow. Having a little excess grease showing on fittings doesn't bother me, what does is seeing dry fittings on machinery. There is a lot of poorly engineered, poorly assembled krap out there.
I replaced both bearings on a spindle on my L110 JD and I ordered OEM bearings. The top bearing was sealed on both sides but the bottom one was open to the inside. So my thinking was the top bearing stays cooler and will last a long time, where as the bottom one gets warmer and needs the grease from the fitting.
Pump in like 70 shots of different colored grease and then check the inside of the bearing again.
Once I saw a video showing me what was inside of the spindles on my S100 John Deere, I figured it was useless greasing the assembly via the fitting provided. You just confirmed what I though. It is such an easy job to change bearings on the S100, which I just purchased last week, I am just going to plan on changing the bearings at a given time frame and just move on. I got 12 years out of the spindle bearings on my old Craftsman lawn tractor so in 10 years I'll change bearings.
Thanks for the interesting video.
Barry
I agree. I did the thing removing the inner rubber seals, pumped about a half tube in, and I think it causes more problems. Take a good look at your belt idlers (the pulleys/guides/tensioners that do not have blades attached). If you look closely, the same sealed bearing is sandwiched between the two halves and they NEVER get grease. I know for a fact because I drilled out the welds on one, replaced the 6203rs or 6204rs bearing, and tack-welded it back together. Yeah..its a $15.00 part but I enjoy the challenge. Like you say. It makes people feel better.
I have replaced those bearings when they wear out with the best quality bearings I can find and there is a difference, they last longer and only cost 6$ Canadian. Great video keep it up.
Bill Lovett, I haven't looked but I'd say Don has good videos on it, if not, Taryl Fixes All has many different mower videos on drive belt changing. I don't think Don will mind me telling you that here, he and Taryl know each other.
@@boots7859 EBAY
Got to disagree with you on this one ... I have found that grease under pressure will take the path of least resistance, which is around and through the “seals” on these bearings. Rubber seals are meant to keep out dust & dirt ... they won’t stop a fluid under pressure.
You are so right. There are many RUclips videos saying this crap and it is wrong. Grease will go into seals.
Agreed
Correct, the seals use shields that pass grease, NOT seals!
@@rcf8367 Suzie sells sea shells down by the seashore.
Your right I just did it to my z375r it took like 60 pumps for each of them but the grease goes under the seal i use the marina grease. It’s waterproof and good for very high temperature.
When you rebuild them take the seal out on one side. Press the non seal on the inside for both ends. Then the grease fitting will work. I did that for a few of the ones I owned and I never has to replace them.
You are supposed to fill the void with grease to prevent water from accumulating in that space, which will eventually find its way into the bearing races, not to grease the sealed bearings.
Some higher end units, other than big box store lawn tractors, do have plain non-sealed bearings, but they have shaft seals on the outboard sides of the bearings, so greasing them does push fresh grease through the bearings.
Yes, Pump in like 70 shots of different colored grease and I'm sure it will enter even this so-called sealed bearing
Can you please show me in one manual where it says grease is just to keep water out of a mower deck? Lol, stop washing your deck if water is in your bearings. Geez. That’s absolutely ridiculous information. Did you just make that up? 😂
Rebuilt my spindles on my 42 inch deck left the inner seals off drilled and taped the spindles for a zerks
In any instance you can pop the bearings out and remove the inner seals and then reassemble it. Thatd make it super easy to grease,but youd better keep it well greased. If you let it go for a while the too nearing may het somewhat starved as the warm grease would tend to flow towards the bottom of the spindle.
The spindles on our old John Deere LX280 don’t have sealed bearings. They have separate lip seals - one on top, the other on the bottom. As such, the grease fitting does allow injected grease to get to the bearings (from the inside). These spindles are a pain to rebuild.
Man, I never thought about the bearings possibly being sealed! I know people who remove their new spindles and drill & tap them to install a grease fitting if they don't already have one! Thanks for sharing this. I've seen the bearing packing video. It is also a good one to watch.
What about taking the 2 inner seals off and fill the spindle with oil as the shaft turns it will throw the oil into the top bearing.If you put sealant on the shaft and the outside of the bearings it will not leak oil.I used to work on Landrovers everything is lubricated by oil you may pack the wheel bearings with grease but after a short time the grease is washed out by the oil in the diffs.
murray mowers have the grease fitting as well
i found a design flaw (planned obsolescence?) on the 1001709 Jackshaft Housing, these are sold as a complete assembly and the 2 bearings don't have the spacer tube between them, and less than 1mm "shoulder" for the bearing to sit on.
i had a machinist turn up some steel water pipe and fit it onto the new jackshafts which i pulled apart and found the same fault.
i stripped them down last year after 6 years (i did two mowers so 4 jackshafts) and ALL the bearings are still good, i just had to panel beat and weld up the decks that were showing their age (2006 built mowers).
Having a grease fitting on the spindle (also called a mandrel assembly) is it doesn't require disassembly to put anti-seize or a grease on the shaft. Grease will help prevent the shaft from rusting to the bearings and the spacer. True, it has nothing to do with greasing the bearings since they are sealed but it might prevent the shaft (which is raw steel) from rusting and making driving the shaft out of the housing for bearing replacement more difficult.
On the other hand, these spindle assemblies are about $75 for a set of three (Amazon). If I have one starting to give problems (excessive noise when you turn the blade) or pulley, I just replace all three. Be careful when spinning the blade that it doesn't make contact with your hand. It's not that much more expensive than finding bearings and going thru all the labor of replacing them since it can sometimes be a real hassle.
It's amazing how the water from wet grass will invade every nook and cranny even around the perimeter of a bearing pressed into a spindle housing. There's a lot of upward pressure above the blades that drives that water upward. That housing, full of grease, helps keep the water from getting inside the housing.
I was going to say the same thing.
Based on my manufacturing experience the fitting us there because either the casing is also used on a spindle that you do grease or they kept it for replacement on older style spindles. Since that one had no grease inside it from the factory it probably is not used.
That is nice to know since I have been putting grease in my spindle on my Craftsman lawn tractor until it went down. I now have zero turn mowers which I use to mow my lawn with and I assume the same thing is the same for them also. Thanks so much for this tip and I wish you and your family a great weekend and new week.
Nah, grease cost nothing.... Grease the hell out of it !!! LOL
You could remove the inner seals for the grease to get into them. Mine last about 12 years so I just buy new bearings.
thanks for the advice. Just repalced spindles on 22 yrear old Husky yth 22v42.. great video . thank you
I removed the inside seals of the bearings and left them off. That way they can properly receive grease for long life
what if you remove both bearings, and the inboard bearing seal on both and reassemble? will that help?
i still gave a thumbs up, just asking n that
It might be tricky to add just enough grease without popping the seal off the other side but it might be doable.
I pulled the seals out of mine last year. It was easy to do.
what i did with my 30 year old craftsman lawn mower never lost a bearing after that
@@the_mowron My new bearings lasted 20 years after I removed the seals so they could get grease.
How about removing the bearings and removing the inside seal, then the grease would go in from inside, yes?
RichE San Diego, CA
yes absolutely
I am here in Kuwait.,what I see here is humidity condensation settling on the lower bearing and damage soon. So I feel greasing will help. We are the dealer for Husqvarna. Husqvarna doesn't provide the grease nipple, but fix either on shaft or Mandel housing.
Thanks, great video, when the spindle gets noisy, what are your suggestions, I am at that stage where I am about to pull my John Deer 110 apart to have a look at them, cheers
That grease fitting on the spindle housing (also called a mandrel assy.) is there for putting grease into the housing to prevent rusting of the shaft and spacer so the shaft can be pulled out without seizing from rust. The reason rust forms inside the spindle housing is from cutting wet grass. The moisture will go everywhere because the blades sling it everywhere. It will even migrate around the bearings and the shaft and into the spindle housing. If there's enough grease in there it will help keep the moisture out. The grease really serves no other purpose.
Personally, I wouldn't remove the seals from the bearings. The seals keep the grease around the bearing. If the top bearing has no seal to hold the grease, it will migrate down and starve the top bearing, which will cause it to fail. Grease stays in a sealed bearing pretty much for the life of the bearing.
I agree and also want to add that the grease is there for ‘cooling’ purposes. Keeps it cool and cools down the metal parts that the grease touches. Acts as a ‘coolant’ for the shaft and housing so the bearings don’t heat up as much as they would if that spindle housing was completely dry of grease. My 2 cents.
Update. I should have stated that I do not pump grease into a fitting. I just glob it in there before I install last bearing. That’s it. Just a big glob of grease in housing
lol how would you know when to stop pumping grease to fill the cavity and not push it into the berrings , one pump too many and thats it , NOW ya got grease in yer berrings lol they are meant to get grease pushed threw them they are not seals just loose fitting dust covers , ya can pick em out with your fingernail and a grease gun puts out 10,000 psi every pump , you would never feel resistance of them "seals " holding the grease back , it goes threw like they not even there
If this was so important why wouldn't it be full of grease when new?
Great Tip but there is a way around it I have a G1 10 John Deere tractor with a 54 inch deck and I purchased new spindles for it I took them all apart like you were showing in your video I took the plastic cover off the bearing and I left them off and I put the bearings back in The opposite way where the center shaft is now when you pump grease into the spindles a grease is the bearings I just wanted to share that with you awesome video
yes it's good to verufy if the bearings are sealed in your specific machine
Thanks for sharing that. I have a D130 and the grease fitting on the front axle pivot point is critical yet is partially blocked by a bracket. This makes it impossible to securely attach the hose of a grease gun. I’ve actually taken the fitting out and packed grease into it by hand. Not a good setup; it’s like they designed it without thinking about ease of servicing.
i made a video on that grease fitting ruclips.net/video/__JWLcj3Vjg/видео.html
@@donyboy73 I remember watching that video a long time ago. Do you have any recommendations for a better way to grease it? I wanted to pick up a right angle fitting, but since it is smaller than the types used on automotive ball joints, I'm not sure if a right angle in that size is available.
@@LongIslandMopars yes they are available, lots on amazon or a local auto parts store
I could see a possible moisture problem as the bearing heats a little while in use then cools down and condenses. This could be a strong enough suction to pull in moisture. In this situation the bottom bearing would bear the brunt of it when the droplets would fall on it. Having a little bit of grease may help keep them apart, especially if you use a marine type wheel bearing grease. But after that little bit, I agree it's not of any use. Thanks for the look inside the spindle. :)
Did you try packing the spindle shaft with grease to see if it gets into the bearing casings? I know this is an old video, but figured that I'd ask.
Good Morning DB73, another great video made by you. I probably would grease fittings if I see them. A little dab ell do yah !! LOL. Thanks Bud for putting out these videos. You rock.
Thanks Dony! I wondered about that, it’s interesting to see what’s actually inside the spindle. I have a John Deere 135, bought it in 2006 still runs great but I want to replace the drive belt (not the deck belt) myself instead of having a shop do it. I’m sure you’ve done that many times in your shop but it’s a little tricky when you’re trying it at home. Any tips for your followers on how to do it successfully? Thanks for the video, great as always! Stay safe.
You need to still fill them up with grease. It keeps the shafts from rusting and from water getting in them.
My Husqvarna has the top bearing sealed on both sides but the bottom bearing is open on top. I can pump in some grease for the bottom bearing and take the pulley off to grease the top bearing. I think that’s ideal and if I ever have to take a spindle with two sealed bearings apart I’ll put it back together that way.
It's not a sealed bearing. It's a shielded bearing. Big difference. And if you removed the inside shield on both bearings and greased them regularly with the zerk you will never need to replace these bearings again. Your deck will rust away before the bearings go bad.
My E170 spindles took 25 pumps of grease before pushing water out the top. If I have sealed bearings I have no idea how I was able to push the water out? I have photos showing the water.
"some people do it just for psychosomatic reasons......if people think it's helping then it
makes them feel better" *EXACTLY!! lol* The JD green paint used to have the same effect on me, but nowadays it's just like those grease fittings.
Good video. I repack bearing when possible, alot easier to replace bearings an shaft than the whole assembly.
I popped the inner seals off my bearings so the grease can get inside the bearings, I did it when my tractor was new and have never needed to replace my spindle bearings, 7 years ago.
also the manufacturers put in the cheapest bearings they can find
How come it Pumps out through the seals on the bearings then ?
Makes me glad I have a Walker. The deck spindles share an oil reservoir with the gearbox from the PTO. As long as those oil seals are good, you're cooking!
The funny thing is, they actually make bearings that are sealed on only one side for specifically this purpose. You think JD is just being lazy?
they are lowering the quality
Grease has two functions #1,to lubricate and #2, to transfer heat. So lubricate the shaft cavity zerk fitting.
Hey Dony..you can take the inner seal out of the bearings with them facing inside then you can grease it and will last ..the city workers told me that's what they do..the were replacing bearings every 3 weeks same set up on the spindle he said they will last way longer..Cheers 🍻🍻🍻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
yes absolutely
Maybe that explains my ford e150 king pin bearing. No way to grease it. And it had a metal cover. Very frustrating.
My spindles have tapered timken bearings. They are built up like a trailer axle and require periodic greasing.
Easy fix take the seal out on the inward side and reinstall worked on mine
Wow that’s nuts. Was not expecting that. Makes total sense
Not really, this is bad information
Thanks Don
You can take the bearings out and remove the inner seal to make them actually greasable. I do this when I replace bearings in spindles that can be replaced. Can also drill and tap a hole in the ones without grease fittings and put a zerk on them.
what if you take the seal off the back side facing the empty space the grease fitting where the grease fitting would then put grease on the open bearings? Take the seal off the back of the bottom bearing and the seal off the top of the bottom bearing and then the grease fitting would allow the grease to enter the bearings
Commercial mower spindles have open bearings and separate sealing against dirt form outside. In these grease fittings are doing their job as its meant to be. So... -This "don't bother to grease" statement applies only to certain mowers in customer market.
I believe Donny did make it clear that this video was for "home owner" lawn tractors.
@@Peter-976 Yes he did. But even those grease nipples can be made functional just by removing internal seal from the bearing. So I would not judge every spindle by its cover but I also admit that it is really stupid from those machine manufacturers to leave grease nipple in the design if bearings inside do not comply...
@@Peter-976 yes
@@JuhaErkkila They probably just wanted to save money by using an old part instead of designing a new one.
We discovered this on our Ariens too. Same thing the bearings are sealed.
Thanks for your advice! Never thought of that!
Caleb
Tanks my friend.
it actually does help, at least on the bottom bearing, those are dust seals oil will leak through them if you pump the spindle full of grease the oil will separate from the soap and keep the bottom bearing in fantastic shape.
hi, the only thing to do if you want your bearings to get greasy is to remove the inner seal on both bearings, this way you can use the grease fitting, it's that simple
Seals can leak. Having grease in the spindle will replace any
lost grease and the grease also will help displace moisture
in the spindle.
I see things differently. I disassemble the spindles and remove the interior weather seals to allow grease from the zerk fitting to fill the bearings with a fresh charge of grease when serviced.
That's the way to do it!
Very helpful info thank you
Thanks
Good video but I don't agree... those are rubber seals and they give way to allow grease to enter the bearing...the trick is to provide enough grease thru the zerk fitting to force it into the bearings....usually around 70 pumps for a dry spindle.
I know right ,people think a rubber “cover” not a seal that you can pick out with your fingernail can stop 13000 psi from a grease gun lol , they use grease guns to provide hydraulic pressure to tighten tracks on excavators lol it goes around them “seals “ like they not even there
I would tap out one of the bearings and remove the seals on the inside so the grease will get in there
I was spraying WD-40 on top of my riding mower's deck to wipe some rust off but I sprayed A LOT where the spindle is because of the rust there. Then I thought of the greased sealed bearings... Can the WD-40 dissolve the grease under the seal?
Donny, you are probably the only small engine technician that I will ever hear using the word "psychosomatic". :-)
i could give many real life examples from my shop lol
good advice, worth doing, and like you say "don't waste your grease"
Expect he is dead wrong. Makes me question the rest of his advice. Nobody knows everything.
Thank you for your videos, over the years. Much appreciated
Somewhere I read that John Deere does not recommend greasing their spindles. Said that was a factory one time grease when building. Don't wash the deck and your bearings will last longer.
@The Oracle Can't answer that question. Just what I read in a John Deere manual.
I worked for the Fafnir Bearing Company, and if a bearing is factory sealed (rubber seal) the bearing should never have grease added to them. they are factory greased, with the correct amount of, and the right type of grease. The grease is designed to outlast the metal components. They are greased for life! If you do add grease, it will probably over-lube them, and cause the bearing to run hot, thereby shortening the life. it only takes the thinnest film of lube for the balls to roll without friction. if you pack the ball bearing with lube, the lube actually becomes an obstacle that the balls now have to fight thru, this causes friction, and friction causes heat, hence, Dead bearing. Note,, if the bearing has a metal shield, and not the rubber seal, you can lube them . there is a tiny fraction of opening between the shield and the inner race that will allow lube to enter. this is not the case with a rubber seal. There is positive contact with the rubber seal and the inner race. no grease will get in or out.
For removing heat from the hub
Great tip. Thank you for sharing. 🇨🇦😎
Grease will find it's way in them. That is not a seal (plastic to metal) that will stop liquid or grease from entering or exiting the bearing.
The purpose of greasing spindles with sealed bearings is to keep moisture out and the grease also acts as a heat sink to help spindles run cooler
i wonder why they don't grease them at the factory?
Some people will remove the seals facing the inside of the spindle. You need to know that bearings made to be greased have an outer seal that won’t pop out when you grease them with a pneumatic or electric grease gun. If you take the inner seals out of sealed bearings, there’s a good chance the outer seal will be pushed out if you grease the spindle with a pneumatic or electric grease gun.
Seems to make sense to me. There are so many things like this.
I saw another video.
The maintenance man remove the inside seal on top and bottom bearings so they both can get grease. His needed packing before he reinstalled though. Pretty dried out!
In that situation I can see why greasing the spindle is useless I suppose. I would have to look at mine but that is to much work for me. Thanks for the information.
I discovered this many years ago. Make mention to you viewers not to get that kind of grease on the threads. Have you ever contacted John Deere and asked why the grease fitting? Could it be the shaft should be lubed? Could is be it allows an option in bearing replacement? Is it that the hub is universal ?
Right, except a touch of grease on the outside of the fitting can make a prospective buyer feel better when looking at your mower.
absolutely!
hey donny ,, i like your channel,,for me i like to remover the seal in the inside of top and lower bearing ,,then grease does get to bearings ,,thru ,,the fitting ,,i
as i wrote this i noticed eos joe ,,does the same ,.
please keep your vids ,,coming ,,i like watching ,,have a great day
Hi! How do you lubricate the U-joints on a John Deere X-354?
When the cavity’s are filled with grease it acts as a heat sink for the bearings, helping to distribute the heat.
If you remove the bearings and take the seal off on the inside then you can use the grease zurt to grease them.
I take the seals on the inside out, fill the inside with grease, and when i do grease the fittings It'll push out the outside seals out enough to get the grease in the bearings.
My New Holland has them on spindle and bearings are open inside with out plastic seals !
Question, how about if you take the bearing covers off on the inside then grease will get into the bearings.
If you take these bearings out and remove the internal seals (facing inward) would that allow grease entered from the zerk to get into the bearing? Thanks for sharing such good info over the years.
yes
Is this the same for all grease-able spindles?? I got a trio for my Exmark last year. Grease fitting on one side, relief valve on the other side.
I have a 2006 JD145 with 1100 plus hours on the tractor. I mow a 1 1/2 acre lot. I grease the spindles whenever I change the blades, which is 3 times a season. I have never replaced a spindle on the deck, as of this writing.
better bearings in 2006, 2020 = cheaper bearings
@@donyboy73 Sounds logical.