Better choice of grease for spindles and bearings

C

CajunMan89

Active Member
The book for my John Deere LA115 says to use general purpose grease, but I find that grease doesn't last long. So my question is, would it be a good idea to switch to high temp. grease?
 
I have used both and see no measurable difference. I put 3 pumps every day. That is 8 hours of mowing. My personal opinion is the time they tell you to grease is way too long of time. My mowers all perform better with grease so I grease them often.
 
BlazNT said:
I have used both and see no measurable difference. I put 3 pumps every day. That is 8 hours of mowing. My personal opinion is the time they tell you to grease is way too long of time. My mowers all perform better with grease so I grease them often.
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Same here....although I don't use my mowers or tractor commercially, I grease the fittings far more than the manuals call for. I doubt that the "brand" of grease makes that much difference...rather the act of keeping everything well lubed will extend the life of the units.
 
Amsoil dominator synthetic grease. Don't be bashful when you buy it at 14 dollars a tube. :thumbsup: Myself I would just use the cheaper general purpose grease but more often.
 
Grease used for spindles, pins/bushings, and slow speed bearings (>1500 RPM) should contain good moly. The way I understand high speed applications you should not use moly in your grease because due to its sticky nature it can be thrown away from the bearing, a more flow able grease is more desirable in this situation. Just what I have been told by Mobile Oil sales representative.
 
Well I go the other way.
I use low melt EP 0 lithium grease in spindle housings.
2 reasons
1) most spindle bearings are sealed deep groove type and require a very small amount of grease
2) Because they are inside an enclosed space and generally sealed all that the grease dose is fill the void preventing water ingression
 
Theses days it does really pay to grease the bearings because most of them r sealed. U can over grease causing a load on them more than they need leading to premature failure. On most units the fittings r there for one reason for heat transfer purpose only.
 
Luffydog said:
Theses days it does really pay to grease the bearings because most of them r sealed. U can over grease causing a load on them more than they need leading to premature failure. On most units the fittings r there for one reason for heat transfer purpose only.
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Say what ?

Most commercial units that have fittings, also have a hole below to allow extra grease to be pushed out.

And fwiw: I use Green synthetic grease.
 
We run the red grease from Tractor Supply. We grease spindle bearings every time we do a blade change. We did not lose a spindle bearing this past season on either of the mowers. They were ran as hard as probably anybody's on this forum.

Using a decent grease and using it regularly is in my opinion the key.
 
Depending on the grease you use, it will just simply be a matter of how often you have to grease them. If the manual does not call out a specific grease, then you should be okay staying with the same NLGI consistency rating. For example, if it just states No. 2 grease, theoretically any No. 2 grease should work, albeit there are some No. 2s that are better than others. I personally use Mobilgrease XHP 222 on anything with a zerk fitting. Fortunately my spindles are maintenance free, but if they weren't, I would use this as well. Besides, if you are looking at this like synthetic motor oil where you can distance the time between lubrication, you will likely find no good answer to your problem as other factors such as moisture, dirt and operating temperatures will change your lubrication frequency no matter how much you put in there.
 
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