RCK60-24B bearing failure ??

   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #1  

Ken_f

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2003
Messages
44
Location
Glen Rock, PA.
Tractor
B2410 / BX2230 / RTV-X1100CW-H
Was mowing today with my B2410 with the 60in mid mount rotary mower and all of a sudden I hear a loud slipping sound and the tractor stalled. I figured that I had hit something "big" as I have never had that problem before. I checked and nothing. I started up the tractor and slowly let the clutch out and it bogged down. I checked and the discharge side blade spindle was locked up tight.

Strange as it was not any warmer to the touch than the other side. And I had just finished mowing my usual 3 acres. I would have figured that if it seized it would have got real warm.

I am shocked that this failed like this. The unit is less than a year old and I never have abused it. I grease it with 3-4 squirts of high quality grease before every use. (so, was this enough or too much ??)

Will be calling the dealer on Tuesday. I would figure that it would be covered. Is this something that I could easily replace as taking the unit 30 miles to the dealer is a pain. It looks like it would be easy to remove / replace.

Thanks for any advice.

Ken
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #2  
I would probably take it to the dealer for a warranty repair. I'm guessing the warranty is a year...hope so as I have a same/similar(?) mower on my BX...

My fear would be once I messed with it I would void the warranty. Sometimes what first looks simple gets complicated.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #3  
I believe there is a design flaw. When I remove my blades and pull the grease cups I find that the grease does not get to the lower area on all the spindles. I have been planning to address this but between building airplanes, hot rodding Toyotas and souping up motorcycles I just haven't found time.
I bet if you pull the blades you will find no grease in the lower area--it will be dry--could be wrong. Let me know what ya find. J
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #4  
I bought my B2400 used and found when greasing the deck( RCK60-24B) that the discharge spindle had two grease zerks. One was located on top of the spindle, like my B7100's deck, but there was also a zerk located on the deck itself at approx the 4o'clock position when veiwed from above. It appears as this deck has been rebuilt at one time as the pulley on that spindle was silver and not orange as the others. Could this be a modification performed to alleviate this or do all 24B decks have this?
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #5  
I have a B2400 and have only one fitting on each spindle. The number on the mower is RC60-24B. I bought the tractor new in 1998. I think the discharge chute is higher on mine than your's. You may a newer tractor. When I grease the mower I felt no resistance on the grease gun, so I just kept pumping till I felt pressure on the gun. One spindle leaked a little grease on the floor. The spindles probably have a large cavity because of the bearing size. I had to use a hand operated gun. Had no feel when the spindle was full with the air gun.
Bud
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ??
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Well, I agree that there is a major flaw when it comes to greasing this deck.

Being a nasty mid-Atlantic Memorial day (rain in the 60's) I figured I would give it a look before I returned it to the dealer tomorrow. I picked up the deck with the FEL and took the blade off of the spindle that failed. Of course there was NO sign of any grease in the cup that protected the shaft. The only thing that was in that cup was dust.

So, I hooked up the grease gun to the lower zerk and started pumping... And pumping... After 70 pumps I started seeing dust and old grease come out of the lower end of the shaft. AMAZING !!! And I give ALL of the zerks 3-4 squirts every time I mow.

The middle one was worse. 110 squirts. The left side was about 50. Looked at the manual and I don't see any mention about how much grease this takes.

Perhaps they are empty from Kubota ??

I put the blades back on and the seized one broke free. Of course the bearing is still shot but what a waste as this could have easily been prevented.

I am wondering where the top zerk goes ?? Perhaps the same place ???

I advise anyone that has one of these MMM decks to check them. I would think that we probably all have this problem.

Ken
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #7  
Just to clarify...what the consensus might be...should I put a hundred pumps of grease in each of my spindles?

What would the best thing to do be? Lift the deck on it's side, take the blades off, and pump till I see grease coming out the bottom?

Safe to assume that once grease does start coming out then afterwards a few pumps every ten hours will be enough?

I would think so but...what do you guys think?
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #8  
For everyone thinking that I over greased my deck when I said that I put in 40 pumps before I saw any coming out, please take heed. Mine came out of the top and only on one middle spindle. I don't know about the other two. I did feel then after cutting the deck and they were more than warm to the touch. Actually they were too warm to hold my fingers on them without burning them. I too am wondering about the amount of grease that is in the decks when they are delivered by the dealers. Once again, I will ask the question. "How much grease does the deck take to fill each spindle when it is delivered from the manufacturer?" Inquiring minds need to know!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Since we have a few Kubota dealers on the site, possibly one of them could check with the service department and let us know. How often do you sell bearings for the decks? Tomorrow, I am going to take off my deck and remove the blades to see how much grease is in them. If I find that they are dry, I might disassemble one to see if the bearings are damaged. I also wonder the advisability of using chassis grease on the bearings. If I find any problems, I am tempted to remove them all and clean and repack with a high temperature wheel bearing grease for marine applications. If the deck bearings are properly lubricated, they shouldn't ever need replacing. The bad part is that for most of us, the deck having only a 1 year warranty, it will usually fail when it is out of warranty. If I were to look at the total hours of my machine and figure out how many of them are cutting grass, I doubt that it has more than 10 - 15 hours of use total since last September. Enough time to cause a permanent damage to the bearings, but not enough time to cause a catastrophic failure.
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ??
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I would probably just take it off and yank a blade to take a look.

From what I see I don't think you would hurt anything if you over fill it. The center one where the drive shaft connects does have a vent that allows grease to flow above the deck. I was pumping away and noticed a gob if grease flowing between the gearbox and the deck. Still, the grease did go
below but not as fast on this one.

This makes me mad as this deck has been a thorn in my side. I traded in a BX1800 for this tractor and its a pain to keep switching the attachments. I have a back-hoe and when I want it on, I take off the MMM deck. It seems like I spend so much extra time moving stuff around. If I could have done
it again I would have kept the BX and got the 2410 without the mower. It sure would have been easier..

Now I wonder what condition the two other spindle assy's are in. It sure the heck has not helped them.

Ken
 
   / RCK60-24B bearing failure ?? #10  
Are we just seeing the tip of the iceberg here???? Here is another post about a MMM deck bearing failure due to insufficient grease. Post number 427640. This post is by Cuda.....
 
 
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