mower at bottom of new river, any problem?

[johnrex62]

Got out to check things out and found the gearbox is full of grease rather than oil. It is a beautiful clear purple color at the check hole. What is the best way to get the grease out, since it doesnt flow like oil?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

John, it looks like y'all are about to get flooded again.

 

[8404]

you will have to carfully turn the cutter upside doun with oil drain plug out so the water can get out from under the grease. and use a air hose to pressurize the gear box to force out the water and bad greace.

put the air hose on the oil level hole and let the water and dirty greace blow out through the air vent hole usually located at the top of the gear box " remove the air vent plug"

use your front end loader with chains to turn over the rotory cutter without dropping it on its top.

 

[crazyal]

The sure fire way though is to remove the gear box and tear it apart, other than that you're only other option is to try to see if water made it in and if not run it for a short time and check the oil to see if it's changing colors. Does the gear box have a top plug? If not you may be OK. Water may not have gotten in past the grease since the only void inside the gear box is sealed at the top (think upside down cup under water with the added benefit of grease and a rubber seal). If it does have a fill port on top flip the mower over and remove the plug and see if any water comes out. Unlike oil I think grease will keep the water out as long as the shafts weren't turning.

On my Herd seeder one of the fill plugs is also a vent. You wouldn't know the difference between it and the other two plug except it has a tiny hole in the center where the Allen wrench goes. Mine leaks so if the seeder is on it's side with the vent down oil will run out of it. If it's under water it'll leak and let water in. I have since fixed it.

 

[LBrown59]

This morning I discovered my rotary mower was at the bottom of a newly formed river. We got nearly 7 inches of rain in a couple hours and have flash flooding at levels not seen by anyone in the last 50-100 years. As luck would have it, I was using my rake last and the mower was off my tractor overnight for the first time in two years. Anything to be overly worried about? I have not been able to inspect it yet, what should I expect to find?This is what I saw at 9am. The ripple in the surface about 3/4 of the way to the left edge, in front of the small stand of tall weeds inbetween the trees, is about where the mower sits. View attachment 272849This is how it looked 3 hours later.View attachment 272850It is on "dry" land now, but I am not sure how much, if any, water penetrated the gearbox.

Why didn't you place it on highrt ground in the first place?

 

[Soundguy]

open drain.. pressureinze fill blow out what you can.. then pressure wash it a bit.. then pour in some alcohol, and diesel and atf fluid.. spin her up for 15-20 seconds low speed.. then drain that out and refill.

tip.. if someone had 0 or 00 ep grease in it.. then it may mean the input or oupput seals weep or leak. filling with 0 ep or 00 ep was a common fix... some mowers even CALL for 00ep grease. I have a howse that specs it..

if the seals are good.. go 85/140 or synthetic gear oil. if they weep.. and you will know with the alcohol / diesel / atf mix.. then go with 00 ep grease... snapper dealers sell it.. stens lube products do too..

 

[WilliamBos]

Sorry for the jack here....

Chris, do you recommend ever changing the ep grease if not contaminated?

open drain.. pressureinze fill blow out what you can.. then pressure wash it a bit.. then pour in some alcohol, and diesel and atf fluid.. spin her up for 15-20 seconds low speed.. then drain that out and refill.

tip.. if someone had 0 or 00 ep grease in it.. then it may mean the input or oupput seals weep or leak. filling with 0 ep or 00 ep was a common fix... some mowers even CALL for 00ep grease. I have a howse that specs it..

if the seals are good.. go 85/140 or synthetic gear oil. if they weep.. and you will know with the alcohol / diesel / atf mix.. then go with 00 ep grease... snapper dealers sell it.. stens lube products do too..

 

[Soundguy]

most boxes that are greased are leakers. thus with normal use, some grease slowly leaks out and you add a few pumps a year.

as long as it doens't get water in it.. no need to actually trade it out.

soundguy

 

[WilliamBos]

most boxes that are greased are leakers. thus with normal use, some grease slowly leaks out and you add a few pumps a year.

as long as it doens't get water in it.. no need to actually trade it out.

soundguy

Thanks. It was factory filled NLGI '000'EP gear lube. So thick it resembles grease. Not sure if it is, or not.

 

[Soundguy]

0, 00, and 000 ep greases are common in some gearbox applications. i have a howse mower that specs 85-140 gear oil, OR 00ep grease.