Mower decks- sealed or serviceable spindles?

[SHOZ]

So with the newer soso sealed sealed bearings, those that the seal is easily taken off, you might as well consider them rock and dust seals and not grease seals. And they should easily vent the excess grease to show when full.

Looks like the JD recommendation of two pumps a year is just for faster future parts need.

 

[Rat407]

I didn't read all the posts but on my ExMark Laser Z HP the spindles are sealed and it has 650hrs on it. But then again, this is considered a commercial grade mower. Only think I had to replace is the main drive belt.

 

[Cujet]

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

This depends on the quality of the spindle. The John Deere spindles on my GT235 Garden Tractor's shaft end zerk fittings do provide grease for the bearings, they last for decades if properly cared for.

 

[SHOZ]

I just changed the dual pully jacksleve spindle on my F510. The bearings had gone bad and it was eating up the drive belt. I rebuilt The original one years ago but had to take it off as the drive pully was worn too thin.

But IIRC it used the same bearings as the greased spindle. The jacksleve does not have any grease zerks and there is also a huge void in it between the bearings with the support/spacer tube.

So I guess they last just abut as long one way or the other.

 

[The motor guy]

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.

I got 930hrs out of a sealed spindle. On my mower. I'm at 990hrs now and the left spindle is still fine. The right side went first imo because all the grass gets thrown to the right and I have a mulch kit on that mower.

 

[Exhaustgases]

This depends on the quality of the spindle. The John Deere spindles on my GT235 Garden Tractor's shaft end zerk fittings do provide grease for the bearings, they last for decades if properly cared for.

Problem is they pretty much never see any grease, each spindle would need a tube of grease to just fill the cavity!
It makes more sense to occasionally take them apart and inject grease into the bearings.

 

[gman2304]

My 1998 JD LX188 with the 3 blade 48” deck has grease fittings. I bought it new 26 years ago and have never replaced a spindle bearing and it has the original deck belt. I give the zerks 6 shots of Valvoline Crimson twice a season. Mine might be sealed as I’ve never looked at them to verify.

 

[Elkins45]

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

Exactly. Just smack something metal a neighbor’s kid dropped on the lawn every couple of years and it won’t matter if they have a grease fitting.

 

[MParr]

Just because there are grease fittings on a spindle doesn’t mean the bearings are getting any grease. It will surprise you if you decide to replace the bearings in the spindles. Many times the OEM bearings will have seals on both sides of the bearing. Do you really think grease was getting into the bearings?
Personally, I don’t care one way or or another. My Gravely commercial ZTR doesn’t have grease fittings on the spindles.

 

[Cherrybomb]

Jo

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.

John Deere parts man will be waiting for you

 

[SHOZ]

I was checking out bearings for the new Z320M mower spindles and could only find new spindles ($88) at the JD store.

The old F510 say about ten pumps. I did blow the seals on one and it would come out the top. Both needed rebuilt after about 15 years.

 

[The motor guy]

I didn't read all the posts but on my ExMark Laser Z HP the spindles are sealed and it has 650hrs on it. But then again, this is considered a commercial grade mower. Only think I had to replace is the main drive belt.

They have different styles of bearings too. The cheap spindles will have ball bearings and more expensive ones like on your mower will most likely have a tapered roller bearing.

 

[The motor guy]

Just because there are grease fittings on a spindle doesn’t mean the bearings are getting any grease. It will surprise you if you decide to replace the bearings in the spindles. Many times the OEM bearings will have seals on both sides of the bearing. Do you really think grease was getting into the bearings?
Personally, I don’t care one way or or another. My Gravely commercial ZTR doesn’t have grease fittings on the spindles.

They last a while on the gravelys. I have one spindle go out at 930hrs and the other is still okay at 990hrs non greasable. I know a lot of the guys who have zerk fittings throw a fit because it takes an entire cartridge to fill the grease cavity.

 

[MParr]

They last a while on the gravelys. I have one spindle go out at 930hrs and the other is still okay at 990hrs non greasable. I know a lot of the guys who have zerk fittings throw a fit because it takes an entire cartridge to fill the grease cavity.

Folks who rebuild their non-greasable spindles will add grease zerks to them. They also remove one of the plastic bearing seals from each bearing and mount the open side of the bearings inward. This allows the bearings to accept grease. Spindles with tapered bearings will always have grease zerks. Most spindle makers have moved away from tapered bearings in their spindles.

 

[The motor guy]

With that being said, I swore I read one time that you're not supposed to fill the entire cavity like a lot of people do. Once grease starts to warm up, it turns almost into an oil.