Idler pulley bearings gone

[joe04785]

So I have a rz5424 zero turn mower that I purchased 2 years ago. I believe it has somewhere around 60 hours on it. Well a few months ago, I washed the mower really good before storing it for the winter. After I noticed that the mowing deck had last flakes of paint peeling which didn't make too much sense to me. Talked to the dealer and I was given another mower deck under warranty due to a defect in the paint. Fast forward to now and I started removing all the pulleys and spindles to swap over to the new deck and I noticed that the idler pulleys all had quite a bit of slack in the bearings along with a lot of resistance when trying to turn the pulleys. So $100 dollars later, I got all new pulleys installed. I'm just wondering if anyone else had this issue with the failure of bearings in such a short amount of time? Thanks

 

[pmsmechanic]

I'm wondering if the issue isn't the amount of time, it's the fact that you washed your deck just before putting it away. I've found over time your better off cleaning your deck with air rather than water. Water seems to get into everything where as air just blows the junk away.

 

[joe04785]

I think that your onto something pmsmechanic. I have been talking to others about this situation and they are saying the same thing. From now on, its nothing but air. Thanks for the info.

 

[murse72]

most of the pulleys have a shielded bearing not a sealed bearing and air is the way to go. i found some cupped washers from oregon that go above the pulley and they seem to protect mine a little better from water

 

[pmsmechanic]

We pressure washed a combine one year to clean it up for the season. We replaced a lot of bearings the next year.