Best Grease For Spindles

[tim l]

Hi temp grease from Walmart, Napa or where ever. Been using it for years. Recommended to me by my good friend, who was a small engine mechanic for many years. I have burned upa spindle due to not enough grease, but never had any problem from too much grease. About 20 pumps to each spindle about three times during the mowing season.

 

[jgayman]

If your spindle bearings are like most JD spindle bearings they are sealed on both sides. Meaning, your grease isn't getting into the bearings anyway. My old 175 went through two sets of spindle bearings in just a few years despite me greasing them several times a season. When I installed the third set I removed the seals on the side of the bearing which faces the zerk. I continued to grease the bearings several times a season and they lasted over 15 years.

I just purchased a X500 and I am curious to see how long the first set of bearings last as based on the reports from other owners they too have seals on both sides. :-(

 

[peterc38]

For me, I always go by what the manual states and document what I do and keep receipts in case there is ever a warranty issue.

I have an X500 and for frequency the manual states to grease spindles annually or every 50 hrs

For grease types it states:

John Deere Multi-Purpose SD Polyurea Grease

John Deere Multi-Purpose HD Lithium Complex Grease

If not using any of the preferred greases, be sure to use a general all-purpose grease with an NLGI grade No.2 rating.

I use the last option because that is what I use on most everything else

 

[Gary Fowler]

Since blade spindles turn at high speed and generate heat, they also have to endure wet conditions, so my choice is always a quality wheel bearing rated grease.
They both live in very similar environments. Spindle replacement is much more costly than a bit saved on a tube of grease. Choose wisely!

Wheel bearing grease would not be my choice for a lawnmower spindle. It is much too thick and would cause excessive heat build up if it were applied to the bearing. TOO much grease on a bearing is as bad as too little and a thick grease will likely never see the bearings as it doesn't flow well at all. A bearing hub on a trailer or car turns very slowly compared to a lawnmower spindle and even then they do get hot from the friction drag.

As some one posted about their JD and grease not getting to the bearing, that may be true of most of them. The grease might be just to fill the void between the top and bottom bearing to keep water out more so than lubricating the bearing especially the top bearing.

 

[Richard Kahn]

If you are talking about blade spindles, and you use the mower commercially, two or three pumps from a grease gun is *not* enough. Each blade spindle on a commercial mower has an "overflow" hole. Each mowing day (I might do 5-10 lawns in one day) I grease the spindles until the grease starts to ooze out the overflow hole. I use a DeWalt electric grease gun and it usually pumps 20-25 times before oozing starts. Other pivot points require a lot less, and there are no grease seals that blow out on blade spindles, or anywhere else on a commercial mower.

Oh, and I never had to replace a blade spindle on my John Deere mower, going on seven years of commercial use. I did have to replace one on my Ferris walkbehind.

 

[DaveMueller]

We have two LA145s, one purchased new with about 500 hours on it now, and another purchased over the winter with I think 3 or 400. The 500 hour tractor saw some serious near brush hogging abuse for a few years. I grease mine once a month or so, until the grease squirts out. The newer tractor was well maintained and looks almost new, but I don't think the spindles were ever greased. Two were failing, the blades wobbled. I put new spindles on the 500 hour tractor and moved the still good set to the newer tractor. The new Stens (?) spindles were dry, I needed about 20 pumps each to get grease to come out of the ends.

In the end, I think "frequently" is the type of grease to use

 

[guyina4x4]

any grease you use will be better than the grease most people use.
none

 

[BravoXray]

any grease you use will be better than the grease most people use.
none

 

[sklunk]

If you are talking about blade spindles, and you use the mower commercially, two or three pumps from a grease gun is *not* enough. Each blade spindle on a commercial mower has an "overflow" hole. Each mowing day (I might do 5-10 lawns in one day) I grease the spindles until the grease starts to ooze out the overflow hole. I use a DeWalt electric grease gun and it usually pumps 20-25 times before oozing starts. Other pivot points require a lot less, and there are no grease seals that blow out on blade spindles, or anywhere else on a commercial mower.

Oh, and I never had to replace a blade spindle on my John Deere mower, going on seven years of commercial use. I did have to replace one on my Ferris walkbehind.

This. If you read the Owner's Manual for most Deere commercial equipment it specifically tells you to pump the grease gun until you hear the spindle "burp", which basically means it is full and pushing extra grease out. The newer spindles are designed to do this and do not blow out seals like old designs. The manual also specifies which type of grease to use - and yes they are often different between a tractor and ZTR (due to the much higher spindle RPM on ZTRs).

 

[5030]

One thing I learned about blade spindles early on and that is most (probably not all) use sealed bearings in the spindle assembly (I know the Stens spindles are like that), so, no matter how much grease you pump in, very little to none of it actually gets in the spindle bearings.

What I do is I take them apart, take out the spindle bearings and remove the inner seal from the bearings and re assemble them. That way when you grease them, you actually grease the bearings.

After doing that, I have not replaced a spindle in years. I grease them until I see grease oozing out from the lower bearing (above the blade) and call it good. Sure is a lot cheaper than replacing wobbly spindles because the bearings have went south from inadequate lubrication.

My big bearing destroyer is actually poly square baler twine. Gets between the bearing dust shield and the bearing, gets hot, melts and destroys the bearing. Nasty stuff and it always winds around the spindle for some reason.