BX 2200 Greasing Help??

   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #1  

rixtory

Bronze Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
73
Location
Bethlehem, PA
Tractor
Kubota BX2200
Hi Tractor gods,
I have a Bx 2200 that I bought from a dealer used last fall - It seems to run great. however, after hearing a high pitched whining/squealing from the mower deck this past Saturday, I stopped mowing and removed the deck to examine it.

I found that the nut on one of the 5/16 x 1" bolts on the right side pulley had vibrated off and the bolt was grinding on deck. (there are 6 bolts on these double pulleys).
So I went to Lowes and got a replacement Grade 8 bolt/washer/locknut and was set. While the deck was off I gave it a thorough cleaning and put on new blades.

I decided to also give it a thorough greasing - Here's what happened.

I pulled out my mini grease gun put in a new tube and started greasing each pulley - I must have gone through a whole mini tube of grease on only 2 of the pulleys and started to worry - I stopped pumping grease into them for fear of damaging a seal or something .

I always thought that when greasing, you keep pumping until you either see grease come out or you feel "pressure" on the pump. Anybody know how much grease these pulleys are s'posed to take??

Can I be "overgreasing" them?? I put the deck on and it seems to run much quieter and smoother now, but should I go back and finish filling those pulleys with grease?

Thanks in advance
Rick
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #2  
You aren't going to "overgrease" them. On the spindles, excess grease is going into the metal cup that is underneath the blades (Looking at the deck upside down). Someone here mentioned a good thing to do is to take the blades off, remove the cup, and grease until you see the new grease coming out. Sharpen the blades while they're off, balance them and reinstall. This is exactly what I do. Between sharpenings, I just pump in 5-7 squirts of grease into each spindle before each mowing session. As for the other pulleys, etc, I just pump in enough to see the new stuff coming out before mowing.
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #3  
I just happen to have a mowing deck spindle removed today. The bearing below the pulley is over 2 inches in diameter and their is about 1/2 inch of space above and below it. Thus, there is a lot of room for extra grease around the bearing.
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help??
  • Thread Starter
#4  
so those cups are s'posed to be filled with grease - I hadd them off yesterday and nothgin came out except some grass that had turned to dust. Well, I'll just pump them full of grease tonight. I hope the previous owner wasn't guilty of lack of maintenance and only overlooked these fittings. (...sigh...)
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #5  
Well, the cups don't need to be filled wih grease, just make sure that some grease is coming out of the bottom of the spindle that's protected by those cups. The cups prevent any twine/garbage, etc from wrapping around the spindle shaft and ruining the seals. Getting grease in the cups can't be avoided though, and it's one of the reasons I pull off those cups...to clean out all the old grease.
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #6  
After useing my 60" MMM as a makeshift bushhog to take down an over grown 2 acres this past week, I just got done servicing my MMM also.

Like Charliebrn said, you probably started filling up the metal cup's that functions as both protector and grease holder for the blades.

Normally I don't pull the MMM just to grease it, as I grease it every 10 hrs of use. But atleast once during the mowing season and when I put it up for the winter I drop it and give it a good servicing. I have a set of mower axles which makes servicing of the MMM very easy.
While I have the blades off for sharpening (I use a file btw), I'll also take the cups off so I can see how much grease it takes before it starts to squeeze out of the spindles. I have an air powered grease gun and the 1st time I ever greased the MMM it took about a tube and a half. I believe that the MMM wasn't properly greased when I took delivery of it.
Now that I keep it regularly greased it doesn't take but a couple squeezes to see it starting to squeeze out from around the bearings and I use this as a benchmark. It's good to get a benchmark when it's off because you can't tell when the spindles are full once the MMM is back on the tractor.

A good rule of thumb is that you can't over grease the MMM. So when in doubt about the hrs, give it a couple of squeezes for GP :D

I haven't filled the cups up yet but when it happens I'll be making the cleaning out of all the grease thats collected in the cups during the mowing season as part of the winterizing ritual.

Volfandt
 

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   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #7  
Ahh.. the undergreased bearing issue. I remember it well. Basically, there is probably 3 dealers in the US that put enough grease in these things to start. They love to count their pumps!

Get a big tube and pump away laddy, it is probably pert near bone dry. As others have said, there's plenty of room in the cup underneath. As I recall, my side ones didn't take too much (probably 8 pumps) but the center one took 1/2 a tube.

By the way, it probably isn't a bad idea to pump anough in to purge the old stuff, as I've heard some of the grease flavors to blend well and cause issues.
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #8  
How difficult or easy should it be to take the coupler off when removing the MMM? I read elsewhere it only takes a few minutes to take the MMM off but my coupler is giving me fits.
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #9  
tb4192 said:
How difficult or easy should it be to take the coupler off when removing the MMM? I read elsewhere it only takes a few minutes to take the MMM off but my coupler is giving me fits.

Your PTO/Shaft coupler? or the attach points for the fromt and rear of the deck?

Either way, it is not at all hard. Remember to treat it like a tractor and not a Rolex.
 
   / BX 2200 Greasing Help?? #10  
It gets easier, to get the PTO shaft off, with practice. I find it helps a bunch to jack up the rear of the tractor a couple of inches.
 
 
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