Mower decks- sealed or serviceable spindles?

[Vern_in_IL]

Guy at the mower shop was touting sealed spindles as the way to go. I´ve always thought sealed spindles were junk. All my old mowers from the late 90´s all have grease fittings, and I always blow out the seals by using too much grease.

So have sealed spindles really improved to the point where a premium lawn tractor has them?

 

[Brian123]

Guy at the mower shop was touting sealed spindles as the way to go. I´ve always thought sealed spindles were junk. All my old mowers from the late 90´s all have grease fittings, and I always blow out the seals by using too much grease.

So have sealed spindles really improved to the point where a premium lawn tractor has them?

You are in 4 a surprise, the Spindles with the Grease Fittings were really not greasing much.

 

[JavierH19]

Yes sealed spindles are garbage, can't grease them so they fail. I've already replaced all the sealed bearing pulleys in my 2006 ariens at least once. I know i've replaced one 3 times in it's life. But on my old mower I'd just always grease them and they never failed.

And it wouldn't be a problem if they used some actual good grease. I opened up a new one i got for free because they sent the wrong one and let me keep as they sent the right one i ordered, Had like nothing of grease and it seemed even cheaper quality than the cheapest grease you can possibly buy. If it had more and much better quality grease it would last twice as long. But they won't make their money that way will they. All planned obsolescence. You gotta buy a 10k mower to get those longevity increasing features when they used to be standard on the cheap models long ago. That's why few justified buying a more expensive mower back then, the cheap ones were too good.

 

[doitmyself]

My workplace commercial Exmark mower is 15 years old, but only has about 1600 hours on it. Still running well on the OE sealed spindles. It gets used occassionally for some rougher than usual very tall, thick mowing (pastures) around the farm.

I doubt this quality exists at the homeowner level, but don't thow all sealed bearings under the bus. I have a 30 year old farm disc running on original sealed bearing too.

 

[Lubener]

I never had a sealed one fail due to lubrication. They failed for me because I hit something and they got bent.

 

[Cruisin'n5thgear]

1980s Deere decks were sealed back in the day. Yes, after 30 or 40 years it's time for new bearings not a bad lifespan, I'd say. Quality of bearings is probably more important than grease points.

For those with keen eyes, that's a 1969 140H3 with a relatively new 1980's deck installed. Even the original deck had one of the three with no grease points. So Deere has been comfortable with no grease points for decades ... and decent lifespan on spindles.

I do prefer grease points though, feels like the bearings might last longer. And gives me a quick task to do every 15 hours of operation.

 

[oldcodger]

My Big Dog (value brand of Hustler) 42" has blade spindle sealed bearings and it is now 12 years old and has probably 600 hours on it. I always check for play in the spindles when I change blades and so far they seem as tight as new.

 

[jeepman3071]

Sealed vs serviceable is really determined by the quality of the bearings. Cub Cadet MTD cheap sealed spindles = usually garbage designed to last a few seasons. Exmark/Scag sealed spindles will last hundreds if not thousands of hours.

Like mentioned above, some of the serviceable spindles I've had apart had sealed bearings in them from the factory, so obviously putting grease in them won't do much. The best of all worlds in my opinion is the commercial mower spindles that are serviceable.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

The spindles on my 2002 Deere LT150 are sealed. I replaced them a couple years ago and knocked the inside seals out so the grease zerk actually do something. I also added a pipe plug to open to relieve the air and grease when servicing.

Just my $0.02

 

[ragtoplvr]

if you make a habit of using the washout port or mow in the morning with dew, you may not have good luck with sealed spindles.
Or mow over string.

Rod

 

[cronk]

My John Deere 318 used sealed bearings. I mow a lot (2+ acres a week), and the OEM Deere bearings typically see a lifespan of 10 years or so.

 

[Opelman]

I don't mind greasing, but some sealed units seem to hold up. The cheap sealed spindles on our Gilson YT11 have the flanges welded on both sides. Not easy to replace trashed bearings.

 

[spasm3]

My toro timecutter went 10 years, about 250 or so hours on spindles, i just replaced them this summer. I replaced the individual bearings, rather than the entire spindle. 2 per spindle.

 

[wag123]

As others have mentioned, the quality of the bearings plays a big part in this, but the TYPE of bearings that are used also plays a big part. Some of the better high-end commercial machines use tapered roller bearings (think wheel bearings) which are lubricated when installed and don't need to be greased. They are far more durable than ball bearings and can last up to 10 times longer than properly serviced ball bearings. Scag and Toro commercial groundsmasters (among others) use tapered roller bearing spindles (and both have grease fittings even though they don't really need to be regularly greased).

 

[SHOZ]

My new JD Z320M says two pumps a year or 50 hrs. If so then they must fill the void with grease? 2 pumps a year will take years fill the empty space between bearings.

I rebuilt the ones on my old JD F510 with OE bearings and I filled the void at that time.

 

[thastinger]

You're not greasing anything via the zerk fitting. I have 2 commercial mowers that have grease fittings but inside the spindles, the bearings are double sealed bearings...no grease that you put in can get inside the bearing. Just look at the above pics of the spindle bearings and you'll see how they are sealed on both sides.

 

[SHOZ]

The old JD F510 said use ten pumps but do not overfill. Over the years it would end up coming out the top. I can't remember if those bearings were sealed or not.

 

[wag123]

You're not greasing anything via the zerk fitting. I have 2 commercial mowers that have grease fittings but inside the spindles, the bearings are double sealed bearings...no grease that you put in can get inside the bearing. Just look at the above pics of the spindle bearings and you'll see how they are sealed on both sides.

Yes, the grease does get into double sealed ball bearings.

 

[SHOZ]

I guess it depends on the quality of the sealed bearing.

 

[Exhaustgases]

John Deere manual says one or two pumps of grease for the spindles, every 25 hours.
You know that smidge of grease just goes into a cavity that probably holds a tube of grease per spindle.
So it takes almost a tube each to get to the point that the bearings that are sealed will even see that grease.
So how many hours till that happens, with a grease gun blob of grease every 25 hours? In 200 hours that is 8 pumps of grease
yeah maybe 16 if you choose the 2 shots at each interval.
I'd say it would take a bunch of hours at the recommended amount and interval to grease the bearings.