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Just did a service on a 2020 magnum 54 inch cut today. After finishing and was checking it out engaged the blades and the deck bearing and idlers were roaring. Put it back on the lift and took the belt off every one of the deck spindle bearings and two of the idler bearings were bad. Did not look at the hours on the mower but you would think the bearings would last more than 2 years.

If you check I would put money on the owner using the wash out port every mow and not allowing it to dry off properly .

Would not bet on it as there was quite a bit of grass build up on the under side of the deck.

I have seen sealed bearings to go bad with one year. And many OEM are installing sealed bearing even in spindles that have grease zerks. These greaseable spindles still can't get grease into the bearings.

The problem with sealed bearings is the type of grease used by the manufacture. I remove the seals, wash out the grease, and refill with EP2 grease. It doesn't dry out like the grease I am finding in the new bearings. It is same with idler pulley bearings, poor quality grease used.

Never was a fan of " sealed" bearings , Always look for spindles you can grease or add zerks to them

bertsmobile1 said:

If you check I would put money on the owner using the wash out port every mow and not allowing it to dry off properly .

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My 2021 54" doesn't have wash out ports.