Anyone else have this problem?

[pjwbx2230]

Just cut my lawn today for the second time- Weed and Feed seems to have made both the grass and dandelions grow out of control. That, however, is not the problem. Upon finishing, I got the grease guns out and greased the FEL,the anti scalping rollers, and the mower deck. Problem is, when I greased the rollers, the zerks pulled out of them with the grease gun. Has anyone else had this problem? If so how did you resolve it?

 

[redharley]

Seen this happen before they are drive in grease fitting's.The quickest way to repair is to center punch at a angle in the offending hole a tap it back in,Or the best way, get a tap and some new grease fitting's at your local parts store about the same size as what came out, and tap threads in hole, screw in grease fitting's problem solved for good.Drive in fittings are much less expensive to install when equipment is made thats why a lot of companys use them. hope this helps

 

[Bird]

Not an unusual problem at all; happens all too frequently. A previous poster has told you how to fix it, so I'll just suggest something to prevent it from happening in the future. Loosen (unscrew) the very end of the grease gun a bit so it doesn't fit so tight. In fact, you can even do it, if necessary, after it's on the grease fitting and before trying to pull it off.

 

[texasjohn]

This happened to me... almost... what actually happened was the threaded end of a zerk broke off. I used an easy-out to remove it and install a new zerk. Took broken zerk to FOX auto parts in Georgetown, Tx and when they discovered all I needed was one zerk, they simply gave me a new one.. muchly appreciated!

 

[N80]

I bought an expensive grease gun, well a $40 anyway, and find that I have to struggle to get it off of nearly every Zerk on my L4400. And like the previous poster I broke one off the first time. When I loosed the end of the grease gun enough to come off easily it is too loose and grease squirts out. These are screw in Zerks.

I've greased my own truck for years in the past and never had this problem with cheapo grease guns. I'm puzzled about this and sort of glad I'm not the only one who has had the problem. It makes a very simple task very aggravating.

Maybe I need to find a cheap grease gun.

 

[Bob_Young]

Same deal on my L4300, N80, though I haven't tried loosening the end of the gun fitting. Makes a 5 minute job take 3 times what it should.

I usually take a screwdriver with me to help pop 'em off with a little leverage. Gotta be careful...works best if I just twist the blade under the gun fitting rather than try to pry it off.

Prolly a Chinese gun not fitting Chinese zerks. Standard sizing isn't a Chinese strong point.
Bob

 

[AMR]

I have had an interesting problem with grease zerks on the shaft for my fertilizer spreader. When I first mounted it I did not pay attention to the shaft length thinking that it was not a big deal. Well I guess I raised the 3 PT too far and jambed the shaft onto the spreader and broke off both zerks, the grease fitting broke off leaving the body in the shaft. Armed with a sledge I turned the spreader upside down and beat on the shaft for oh, say an hour or so, and it finally came free.

So now I cut the shaft down by about 4", put the spreader on again, fired it up and start working. I must not have been paying attention becuase I did it again, I broke both zerks off and jambed the shaft back on the spreader. Idiot I thought to myself.

I learned this time that the zerks break when running the spreader too low and I took another 1" off the shaft to prevent the jambing condition.

I find that I can't make the shaft short enough to fully raise the 3 pt arms and still have it long enough to have the recommended 4" when it is near the ground, so now I am just careful and I keep a handful of 6, 8, and 10 mm zerks in the tool box because the broken ones now litter my yard.

 

[teachdocs]

I had a similar problem.
See this post:

spreader PTO shaft problem

 

[AMR]

yup, same thing, I also run it about level and it does a good job, it really beats walking around for 4 hours spreading fertilizer

 

[DanielTerence]

I did my first greasing (10 hr) of my FEL on L2800 this past weekend, bought a $15 grease gun and thought the whole job would take 5 minutes. It took me 1/2 hour to figure out I needed t loosen the adaptor/connector at the end of the hose in order to get it on a few of the stubborn zerts. but then grease leaks out and it's hard to retighten. And then you have to reloosen to remove. Shouldn't be this difficult.