Spindle Bearings

[GearHead36]

Grease not getting past sealed bearings.... In this video, this guy disagrees that bearing seals will block grease from getting to the bearings, and he demonstrates his findings. The seals CAN block the grease if you don't apply grease correctly, and he shows how to do it correctly. The trick is, you have to pump in enough grease to fill the spindle, then pump some more until some squirts out each end. That ensures that grease made its way through the bearings on each end. If you pump in what seems like a normal amount, the spindle won't be full, and if you have sealed bearings, they won't get any grease. It takes a lot of grease to fill a spindle. I have a low end commercial ZTR. I bought it with about 400 hrs on it. When I serviced the deck, I found that none of the spindles were dry, but also, none were full of grease. Two were fine, but one had a lot of play and a lot of wear. I replaced it. I then greased my spindles as the guy in the video recommends. That was only about 30 hrs ago, so I don't have any long term results.

 

[woodstover]

Grease not getting past sealed bearings.... In this video, this guy disagrees that bearing seals will block grease from getting to the bearings, and he demonstrates his findings. The seals CAN block the grease if you don't apply grease correctly, and he shows how to do it correctly. The trick is, you have to pump in enough grease to fill the spindle, then pump some more until some squirts out each end. That ensures that grease made its way through the bearings on each end. If you pump in what seems like a normal amount, the spindle won't be full, and if you have sealed bearings, they won't get any grease. It takes a lot of grease to fill a spindle. I have a low end commercial ZTR. I bought it with about 400 hrs on it. When I serviced the deck, I found that none of the spindles were dry, but also, none were full of grease. Two were fine, but one had a lot of play and a lot of wear. I replaced it. I then greased my spindles as the guy in the video recommends. That was only about 30 hrs ago, so I don't have any long term results.

Waaaaaaaaay back in time when I was apprenticing automotive, at school the rule was not to overpack grease in wheel bearings, etc meaning pack the bearings properly, apply a thin coat on hub & spindles to prevent corrosion only as it causes heat retention and causes premature bearing wear due to heat. Overpacking a spindle to the point that it oozes out each end to me suggests that the grease is insulating and not allowing ambient air to cool the spindle housing as a whole. Also the waste of grease. Just my 2 cents.