Hey Frigman: This thread reminds me of what happened to me with a brand new Gravely(THAT'S RIGHT AMERICAN MADE). It was a 1996 Gravely pro200 zero turn mower, and it had a twist joint in the middle of the machine with a grease fitting on it at the end of the pin in question. It was greased regularly as the manual indicated, but I began to notice that the mower was sagging in the middle at this joint. Upon dissassembly, the problem was easy to spot. The pin was a tapered one, and the factory had put the grease fitting on the socket at the narrow end. Now I'm no engineer, but it seems to me they were trying to get grease to run uphill. So its not only imports that have these problems, you just have to take 'em as you find 'em.: