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How Much Grease - Spindle Bearings


leeave96

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I'm working my mowing deck on the Agco Allis 918H and from the neglect this deck has seen, I imagine it's been a while since the spindles have been greased. Having said that, I don't want to pack so much grease that I push it out the seals. Normally I give a deck spindle 2 or 3 pumps of a grease gun. How much do you normally use on these Simplicity tractor decks and what would you recommend I start with on the old deck I've got? Thanks! Bill
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Here are some posts about the newer style decks and the arbors. I think you'll find them helpful - especially the comments by the grand poobah, Al. The second post specially mentions the amount of grease to use. http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=94953&SearchTerms=spindles http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=111826&SearchTerms=arbor,grease Happy rebuilding.
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Hi, These arbors have sealed bearings. Grease cannot get in them like the old tube arbor Landlords of the 60s. They have grease put in them at the factory, a ball about the size of a walnut. When these arbors came out, I called the factory and accused them of fraud. They said the bearings would last longer. I said it was phony advertising to say they had greaseable arbors. In a couple of years I had to eat my words and I called back and apologized. What happens is the two piece arbors are prone to get water in them. When they are assembled, silicone sealer is added between the top and bottom pieces. When this water gets in and lays on the top of the bottom bearing, the bearing hub rusts and the water goes by the seal. The layer of grease above this bearing keeps the water away from the bearing and the bearing hub from rusting. The bearings last a lot longer. I tell my customers to give them about 3 pumps about twice a year. If you go overboard, eventually the housing will be full of grease and you will push the seal into the bearing and push the 2 halves of the housing apart. In the early decks with the tube arbors, the bearings had seals only on the outside and a grease fitting in the tube. When properly greased they lasted forever, but the if a little is good a lot is better people, greased them until the pushed the grease seals out and all of the grease fell on the ground, resulting in a warranty claim. Replacing these with sealed bearings and taking the grease fitting out solved the excessive warranty claims, but the sealed bearings didn't last as long as the original design with proper greasing, but was better than the over greasing situation. Also note that the 2 piece splined shaft arbors often have up to 1/8 inch of more of up and down slack. This is not abnormal, so don't panic, Al Eden
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to me this is the most popular simplicity ever made body style and drive train now i know why i fell in love with it and im going on my 32 year heres my latest


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I gush all of mine full; there's no water; no problems; no old grease since 2005. Took some 75 shots (x3) to fill each spindle on my 48" last year On my original (damaged) deck, the original bearings were swimming in water and what used to be grease. Center spindle caved, when the housing (bearing install surface) rusted away, allowing wobble, then catastrophic failure; or perhaps the bearing bust and then the weakened housing went. Or both. I just don't consider the bearing seals to be true seals - more like shields than seals - so I think they leak grease, in or out. If not, there's not much room for water in the housings. I could be all wrong. Could be a waste; but it's what I do. Haven't topped up the 48 yet; but the 34"deck on the Pacer is 2blade, and it takes about 15 shots to top up and gush again, per spindle - I always wonder where the grease goes. sm01 There's no evidence of grease leakage during use - just the audible brief gush indicating full, while greasing. Clean excess gush to avoid grease on belts.! EDIT = I should add, where the grease gushes, is where Al warned - upper housing bolts, seems always on the upper part near one of bolts, or two sometimes. ALSO to the original question, = This 48" I greased last year w 75 shots, came from my parts tractor, and had spent 2 years on the ground before I got it. Blades went almost "click" when I turned them, but were then smooth. Never disassembled. Greased full. No troubles yet. This year it gets the better blades. I figure it's good and earned it's keep.
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