I have a Cub cadet GT2544 and the deck spindles seem to not hold grease in them. After about 3 hours of mowing i could probably but 10 pumps of grease in every spindle. The manual just gives generic service intervals which seem way to long. I generally try to grease the spindles about every 2 to three hours of mowing. I fill them until i can hear the grease popping out because its full. I have read through some other posts that may suggest that i am over filling them. Any thoughts?
Can you over grease deck spindles?
- Thread starter jstutz
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I would say your over applying for sure,most new units of today have no Zerk's and make it many hundred hrs,cut back they'll be fine.
You do not need to add that much grease at such a short interval.
I give mine two pumps of grease every 20 hrs or so...520 hrs on the deck and it still runs nice and smooth.
I give mine two pumps of grease every 20 hrs or so...520 hrs on the deck and it still runs nice and smooth.
Yea, i guess so. I didnt realize that some of them had sealed bearings in them anyhow and the grease was just water protection. I guess this is just one of those things i picked up long ago on our farm. my grandpa was very strict about greasing equipment. Our lawn tractors were greased every single time they were used. Two pumps in each spindle. I actually thought i was being neglectful by letting it go a few times before applying grease. Hopefully i didnt blow out a seal or something. There is little back pressure on the spindles when they get full.
Originally Posted By: jstutz
I guess this is just one of those things i picked up long ago on our farm. my grandpa was very strict about greasing equipment.
That i can see,some of our stuff needs grease every 5 hrs!!!! or have auto lubes installed.
I guess this is just one of those things i picked up long ago on our farm. my grandpa was very strict about greasing equipment.
That i can see,some of our stuff needs grease every 5 hrs!!!! or have auto lubes installed.
I have seen decks/spindles with zerks on them go well beyond the life of the lawn tractor with never being greased. I'm lazy to a point, I try to clean my deck, and grease the spindle once per year. I hit each spindle with about 5 pumps which may well be over greasing them as well. These bearings are not huge etc, I have seen much bigger with 2 pumps of grease last months on continuous duty... however I have also learned continuous duty is much easier on every single mechanical part from belts, bearings, electrical circuits, boards etc (you get the point lol) than the seldom use or start stop such as a lawn mower.
Now can we bring another debate into the thread without me hijacking the thread I would like to know what type of grease people are using along with grease intervals
Now can we bring another debate into the thread without me hijacking the thread I would like to know what type of grease people are using along with grease intervals
On just about every item I grease that I can see, there is an escape route for excess grease. If you can't see where the grease is going, it's probably just escaping through a joint and accumulating on the outside. As previously mentioned, one or two pumps every few weeks will probably be enough. I grease the spindles on my lawn tractors once a year. That's seems to be more than adequate.
By the way, if you're concerned about water resistance, you might want to look at marine grease or snowmobile grease. Both have excellent water resistance.
By the way, if you're concerned about water resistance, you might want to look at marine grease or snowmobile grease. Both have excellent water resistance.
Yes, once or twice a year is more than adequate for most of us. I also owned a GT2544 and although it did have Zerks on the blade spindles, the bearings were sealed. I have heard of some owners prying the shields off the bearings to allow for grease to go in/out. I never tried that. I just 'assumed' tearing the shields off trashed the bearing. FWIW, my 31yr/old Case 220 is on it's second set of deck bearings. The housings have no Zerks and it uses common sealed bearings. The cast iron housings weigh about five pounds a piece. Most of the Zerks were pain to get to accept grease on my Cub 2544. Same with my new Z-Force and the Z-Force has zerks above and below the deck on the spindles. 2x the joy of globs-o-grease going everywhere but into the housings !@#$%
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