grease in a rotary cutter gear box?

[Fallon]

I just put some pourable grease & 90wt in the gearbox of my old Ford 917 flail as a seal started seeping. I paid $100 for the mower, new seals were going to be half what I paid for the mower.

Gearboxes on implements are not precision machines. As long as they have clean lube, they will run fine. Oil will lube a bit better, or at least get everywhere better, not to mention move easier (eat up less HP), but grease, especially pourable will get the job done just fine.

 

[RobS]

Wish I'd have known this a couple of years ago. Trashed a gearbox when the seal went bad during use. Never leaked up to that point and I had no way of knowing while mowing other than the crashing sound that resulted. I got a good deal on a used mower rather than a new gearbox and maybe I'll fill the replacement with grease now!

 

[Soundguy]

Try 0 first, it will stay in better than 00.

Pump it full till it extruded with 0

JD cornhead is 0

Comes in gg tubes

 

[kebo]

And a fair amount of fuel too!!

And a sore arse!

 

[pmsmechanic]

I had a 506 John Deere mower given to me. For years I could get away with just adding some oil when I used it. Eventually I had to use thixotropic grease so that there would still be some lubrication. After a while that would run out too. So one winter I took the gearbox apart for repairs. Good thing I did because cage on the bottom bearing was just about all gone. I installed new bearings, seals and blades. Now the gearbox stays full of 85w-90 oil. The point I'm making is that taking the gearbox apart to repair it saved me money in the long run.

 

[Turbys_1700]

My Brown 472 specifies cotton picker spindle grease. That is a 00 type grease. I bought a case of John Deere corn head grease. It is a 0 type grease. The only difference that I can gather between the two is that 0 is solid and then flows when heated and is available for grease gun cartridges. 00 is liquid and is available in quart and gallon containers.

 

[Soundguy]

yup.. viscosity thing..

 

[94BULLITT]

I had a 506 John Deere mower given to me. For years I could get away with just adding some oil when I used it. Eventually I had to use thixotropic grease so that there would still be some lubrication. After a while that would run out too. So one winter I took the gearbox apart for repairs. Good thing I did because cage on the bottom bearing was just about all gone. I installed new bearings, seals and blades. Now the gearbox stays full of 85w-90 oil. The point I'm making is that taking the gearbox apart to repair it saved me money in the long run.

I suspect a lot of rotary cutters leak because the bottom bearing is wore out.

 

[Soundguy]

Another big leak cause is the bottom seal is hogged out due to debri getting wrapped around the shaft.. like twine and fence wire.. heck, even weeds that wind up and then get forced into the seal face.

 

[MESSMAKER]

I do not understand why they don't come from the factory with cornhead grease. Would save a lot of gearboxes.