5000 Series Maintenance ?

[Mike5252]

Since May I have put 25 hours on a new 5252. All in all a great little tractor. Today I performed the 25 hr maintenance (changed oil, oil filter, hydraulic filter, transmission filter). While I was doing this I decided to also lube a few of the zerks under the tractor that are impossible to reach while the deck is on.
There seem to be three zerks on the drive shaft of my 5252. One on the front universal joint, one on the back universal joint and one in the middle of the drive shaft. The one on the middle of the shaft was no problem. The ones on the universal joints look to be a nightmare. I couldn't get my grease gun to fit on the one on the front, and couldn't even get close to the one on the rear.
What kind of grease gun/attachment is anyone using to lube the front univeral joint? How is anyone even getting to the rear universal joint?

One other observation - I had a 2550 before this tractor. As I recall, the 2500 series have a 10 hour break-in period before the engine oil/filter should be changed. Its interesting to me that the 5252 (with the same basic kohler engine) has a 25 hour break-in period. I have no explanation for this, it just seems odd.

 

[wojnaroski]

Mike,

You need to be using a grease gun with a flexible hose. Sometimes you need to turn the drive shaft so that the zerk fitting is accessible. I also remember having to use a small wrench and turn one of the zerk fittings, it was turned against the universal housing. Hope this helps.

Alan

 

[Bob_Bainbridge]

I assume that you are referring to the three fittings on the drive shaft to the deck. I had the same problem greasing my 54 inch deck on my 3235. I have a flexible hose on my grease gun but the nozzle is too big to get the u-joint fittings. I found if I disengaged the shaft from the spline I could then pivot the u-joints far enough to allow the gun to slip on the fittings.

Bob B.

 

[TractorLarry]

They make a special head for hitting fittings in U-Joints and other close-fitting parts. I used to use them back in the 70's on certain cars.

I forget the name of them.

-Larry

I assume that you are referring to the three fittings on the drive shaft to the deck. I had the same problem greasing my 54 inch deck on my 3235. I have a flexible hose on my grease gun but the nozzle is too big to get the u-joint fittings. I found if I disengaged the shaft from the spline I could then pivot the u-joints far enough to allow the gun to slip on the fittings.

Bob B.