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Greasing 42" deck Arbor Shafts


B.Ikard

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I rebuilt my 42" deck(1978 7012H) a while back, carefully assembling/aligning arbor housings, etc, etc....not used it yet. I'm finally getting around to putting the tractor back together. Today I begin to pump grease in the arbor housings and notice all the grease is coming out thru 3-4 5/16" holes on the top half of the housing! I assume the grease is not getting to the bearings as no grease is visible where the shaft comes out of the arbor housing. I noticed after the fact the simplicity manual recommends sealing the arbor shaft halves with RTV. So do I need to tear it all back down and seal with RTV? Any Ideas? Ike
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The bearings are sealed and the grease is there to keep out moisture. The bearings benefit none buy the grease since there sealed. I would probably put the RTV in if the manual recommends it.
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quote:
Originally posted by RayS
The bearings are sealed and the grease is there to keep out moisture. The bearings benefit none buy the grease since there sealed. I would probably put the RTV in if the manual recommends it.
I'm not sure these bearings are sealed-It didn't look like it to me. O.E.M 108202 simplicity(fanfair) bearings This is a 42" deck for the 7000 series landlord with 2 piece arbor housings. I hope you are right-don't want to tear it all down again-my grass needs cutting ! Ike
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If you got them from a dealer and didn`t remove the seal around the sides of the bearings they should be a sealed bearing. Any of them that I ever replaced were a sealed bearing and that is the only number 108202 that I have ever seen in them.
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Actually it's "Fafnir", and unless you can actually see the balls inside the bearing, they are likely sealed. The sure clue is the rubber seal around the inner race on both sides of the bearing. There are also shielded bearings, which are closed on each side with metal shields. They look very similar to the sealed bearing, but won't have the rubber seal. I'd agree with Ray that you likely have sealed bearings. I know the replacements that I get from my distributer are sealed. If you want to be able to grease them, you can remove the seal on the inner side of the bearing. That way grease can enter the bearing from the spindle housing, but dirt and water can't enter from the outside.
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quote:
Originally posted by JR
Actually it's "Fafnir", and unless you can actually see the balls inside the bearing, they are likely sealed. The sure clue is the rubber seal around the inner race on both sides of the bearing. There are also shielded bearings, which are closed on each side with metal shields. They look very similar to the sealed bearing, but won't have the rubber seal. I'd agree with Ray that you likely have sealed bearings. I know the replacements that I get from my distributer are sealed. If you want to be able to grease them, you can remove the seal on the inner side of the bearing. That way grease can enter the bearing from the spindle housing, but dirt and water can't enter from the outside.
After learning here that simplicity OEM bearings are sealed that was my concern-these bearings don't have a visible black rubber seal. They appear to be shielded with steel sides around the inner race but the balls are not visible. Mabye some old stock bearings I got before simplicity went to sealed bearings? That's what I wanted to know in a nutshell-is there a seal inside/behind the steel inner race cover of the 108202 bearings? If not I suppose I need to tear it back down :(! and seal the arbor shells so the grease won't escape thru holes in the upper arbor shell before the bearing is greased. Ike
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if you don't see a rubber seal, then these are likely just shielded bearings. Whether they're old-stock or not, I couldn't say. But, yes if you want to be able to grease them you will need to seal the arbor housings somehow. I would also remove the inner shield to let grease get into the bearing easier. You should be able to pop the shield off with a small screwdriver. I use these same bearings in the spindles on my Yazoo, and those spindles are also greasable. I just pop out the inner seals and I can give the spindles a shot of grease now and then. Being able to put some fresh grease in occasionally really helps them last longer than when I just put 'em in as they came and didn't grease. Forty years ago when this mower was built it was common to be able to grease everything, and the bearings that were specced for these mowers were usually open on the inside and shielded on the outside so you could actually "maintain" the machine, not just replace parts. Nowadays in our "throwaway", no-maintenance world it's hard to find greasable bearings, as they don't rarely have grease zerks on anything anymore. Personally, I like to able to keep things lubed. Maybe that's why our thirty-forty year old stuff is still working hard after all these years!
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JR Instead of starting a new topic, I juct wanted to tell you that I am glad to see that I am not the only one still 'enjoying' the use of a Yazoo! I have a 20" walk behind, and a 26" self propelled that I use regularly when a bit of land clearing is on the menu. For the mandrels, I have used sealed generator bearings for years with no problems. I also have a project on the horizon to rebuild the deck on a 65 Landlord. It works fine, but, the noise tells me that the bearings are either dead or dying. Can't complain a bunch, the tractor was free.
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The old Yazoos are pretty tough stuff. Mine was bought new in the early sixties, so it's over forty years old now and still cutting grass. I'm pretty sure it's my oldest piece of equipment other than my big tractors (newest of those is my 58 D-17). The Wisconsin AGND single cylinder on the Yazoo is still running great on the original bore. And it hasn't exactly lived a pampered life. It was bought originally for a large cemetary, and spent most of it's life hard at work there until it got retired and robbed for parts. I traded for the remains and rebuilt it back to it's former glory and have been using it ever since. Right now I'm putting a THD twin back together to upgrade it a bit. Since I've been greasing the spindle bearings, it's been years since I've had to replace any. I'm convinced that greasing them regularly has made a big difference.
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both of mine started their lives with Clinton engines, the 20", a 4 HP vertical shaft, and the 26", a 6 HP vertical shaft. The one I like the most, though, is an old one that has had the upgrade to a 5 HP briggs horizontal shaft, from a cast iron Clinton 4 HP. That one, I don't call usable yet. My dad 'rebuilt' the deck, which was a Ralph nader nightmare, complete with an opening through which you could see the blade on top of the deck. Actually, it was about half of a deck, with the rest open. Well balanced until Dad did a bit of work. I intend to undo the work someday, make a new deck frame from conduit as original, and leave the opening. Using that as a kid seperated the men from the boys, and as I was a boy, that didn't say much for the men that borrowed it! The yazoo is another story in itself, and I have my eyes on another 26" frame right now!
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Ike, Simplicity rates the life expectancy of these bearings at 500 hours that is alot of mowing.
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Thanks fellas for the replies, Well I went ahead and split the housings, cleaned the surfaces and sealed with RTV. I mow 2 acres every 2 weeks so hopefully it will be a long time before I have to get these housings apart again. After looking at these bearings closely I think they are sealed but there is no visible rubber seal as in ither bearings. I am gonna let this RTV set up before I try to grease and will let you know. Back in the early 80's I worked in small engine repair and have 3 wheeler Yazoo memories too. I had to pull a taper mount axle hub off one (16hp C.I. briggs/ ? deck) to replace a leaking hub seal.....hours later I finally got it off with a torch & bearing puller designed for a 9 yd cement mixer drum!!! Needless to say the hub was pretty much trash after that....but a tough or tougher design than is out there now in commercial mowing. Thanks, Ike
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