Sealed or serviceable bearing: your choice?

[5030]

Like round balers!! Dozens of bearings and all sealed, not one zerk fitting to be found! Metal shielded at that so you can even sneak a little grease in there.

That entirely depends on the make of bailer. My old and sold NH had a few but my new Kubota BV has all greaseable bearings.

 

[5030]

Never met a sealed bearing that I could not pop the seal off and grease yet.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

That entirely depends on the make of bailer. My old and sold NH had a few but my new Kubota BV has all greaseable bearings.

We have a Kubota dealer in town. Been there since 1944. Same people own it. They won't sell or touch a baler. They were Ford, then New Holland/Kubota.

 

[5030]

We have a Kubota dealer in town. Been there since 1944. Same people own it. They won't sell or touch a baler. They were Ford, then New Holland/Kubota.

I really like my BV. Kubota don't make it, it's a Kneverland, made in Italy. 100% electronic controlled, you are just a 'seat holder' following what the screen tells you to do and I have had zero issues with it so far other than the net tail wasn't extending quite far enough and the Kubota rep came out and fixed that issue.

It's festooned with grease fittings unlike a NH (not familiar with a JD) and it's centralized greasing as well plus it lubes the drive chains automatically, has a pressure lubing system on the bailer itself.

Got a helluva deal on it as well. I upgraded for basically 10 grand

 

[ruffdog]

I like the rubber sealed bearings for dust exclusion but I pop the seals off one side, squirt grease in there and reseal.

I’ve very very seldom had to replace a greaseable bearing over the years , sealed I’ve replaced many. If I can get to a sealed bearing I grease them on the machine with a needle, here’s one off a fork lift mast i greased, first thing that pushed out was tiny water droplets

Every few years I'll grease all the sealed bearings on the mower decks by using the needle grease gun attachment. Carefully sneak it by the seal and grease it while spinning the inner race.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I really like my BV. Kubota don't make it, it's a Kneverland, made in Italy. 100% electronic controlled, you are just a 'seat holder' following what the screen tells you to do and I have had zero issues with it so far other than the net tail wasn't extending quite far enough and the Kubota rep came out and fixed that issue.

It's festooned with grease fittings unlike a NH (not familiar with a JD) and it's centralized greasing as well plus it lubes the drive chains automatically, has a pressure lubing system on the bailer itself.

Got a helluva deal on it as well. I upgraded for basically 10 grand

Sounds good. We just run old John Deere balers around here. Mainly because a dealer is handy. Not very many grease fittings. There was an attempt at an automatic oiler, but it's just in the way now. We oil it ourselves. Did put new belts, that always helps. We still use string.

 

[5030]

The BV can run twine or net, just depends on the computer setting and I keep a couple twine balls loaded in it just in case I have net issues. Only thing I don't like about the BV is, like NH, the net roll loads in the front and is a PITA. JD's rear load is a much better design. Other nice thing about the BV is, you can carry 2 additional rolls of net under the side wing. With a NH bailer, you have to buy an additional (expensive) net holder than fits on the back of the tailgate. Net rolls are quite heavy and this old man dreads loading them....

The BV holds 6 twine balls but I only keep 2 in the holder as net is my preferred wrap.

I carry an IR thermometer in the tractor when bailing and check all the bearings and stuff with it in the field. years ago I had a bearing lock up on a NH round bailer and set it on fire. Insurance covered the loss and replaced it but once you set a round bailer on fire, the best thing you can do is unhitch the tractor and let it roast.

 

[5030]

Every few years I'll grease all the sealed bearings on the mower decks by using the needle grease gun attachment. Carefully sneak it by the seal and grease it while spinning the inner race.

What I do / did was pull the mower spindles and pop the inner seals on the spindle bearings so they get grease. For some odd reason, mower spindles come with grease fittings but have sealed bearings which is counter productive. never figured that out actually. Easy to pop off the seals with a pen knife.

 

[ArlyA]

Quality sealed bearings will last a long time.

I agree.

 

[5030]

In todays competitive market, quality sealed bearings are not all that common. Most of them come from China today, especially in mower spindles where production cost is always the driving factor. Myself, I prefer FAG or SKF.