Craftsman T-240 Deck Spindle Grease

TiIngot

TiIngot

Active Member
This is probably not new news to many here. I hit an object that broke a deck spindle on a Craftsman T-240 46” mower. After the removing the original broken OEM spindle, the guts basically fell out of it.

It had a grease fitting built into the spindle but from the factory, no grease was inside the spindle and it had sealed bearings. The new replacement also had a grease fitting built into it and I pumped and pumped grease into it and gave up trying to fully fill the cavity.

I just don’t understand the logic of putting in a grease fitting built into the spindle and not adding grease from the factory.
 
The grease nipple is there for people that think that the spindle should be greased, but in reality is just wasting grease and time.
 
Disassemble the new spindles and remove the bearings. Then remove the inner seal and pack additional grease into the bearing rollers. Reinstall the inner seal of the upper bearing, but leave the lower one off

For mine, I just leave the inner seal out of the lower bearing, so it gets constant grease when extra is added though the grease nipple.

The new bearing come with a minimal amount of grease in them, so if you pack them by hand as described, they will last much longer and run quieter.

Of course, no amount of grease will help if you hit an object again.
 
Auto Doc's said:
Disassemble the new spindles and remove the bearings. Then remove the inner seal and pack additional grease into the bearing rollers. Reinstall the inner seal of the upper bearing, but leave the lower one off

For mine, I just leave the inner seal out of the lower bearing, so it gets constant grease when extra is added though the grease nipple.

The new bearing come with a minimal amount of grease in them, so if you pack them by hand as described, they will last much longer and run quieter.

Of course, no amount of grease will help if you hit an object again.
Click to expand...
If the factory put little to no grease in the new spindle, multiplied by thousands of spindles, saves them substantial money over the years.

The whole controversy of whether the sealed bearings in spindles are actually receiving grease or not, once again. I have seen examples on YouTube where the sealed bearings in spindles that are greased did in fact get grease inside. This is why I continue to grease spindles. At the least you are keeping out water and debris.
 
Tiger Small Engine said:
If the factory put little to no grease in the new spindle, multiplied by thousands of spindles, saves them substantial money over the years.

The whole controversy of whether the sealed bearings in spindles are actually receiving grease or not, once again. I have seen examples on YouTube where the sealed bearings in spindles that are greased did in fact get grease inside. This is why I continue to grease spindles. At the least you are keeping out water and debris.
Click to expand...
Murray did this exact testing back in the 90's that proved this also. They used 2 different colors of grease that would change to a 3rd color when combined.
 
Hello ILENGINE,

I agree about the plastic side seals used on most of the "sealed" bearings. They are meant more for keeping the original factory grease in the roller area where it belongs. If more grease is in the mandrel tube, it will eventually get hot enough to migrate past the lip of the seals and migrate into the roller bearing area where it is needed.

The trouble comes with "how long will that take"...... how long will the original cheap factory grease hold up before the new (better) grease gets hot enough to migrate into the rollers?

I recall the old original Cub Cadet fabricated rider decks with the larger open roller bearings and grease fittings on the steel mandrels. The never seemed to fail even when they made a little noise with age.
 
Tiger Small Engine said:
The whole controversy of whether the sealed bearings in spindles are actually receiving grease or not, once again. I have seen examples on YouTube where the sealed bearings in spindles that are greased did in fact get grease inside. This is why I continue to grease spindles. At the least you are keeping out water and debris.
Click to expand...
Same here. I grease my spindles, too. Here is the video that TSE is likely referring to. After watching this video, if you still think greasing spindles does no good, then I don't know what to say. Having said that, you DO have to fill the spindle until grease squirts out. The first time you do this, it will take a lot of grease.
 
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