Cosmo 500, Gear Box Lube?

[HayDR]

OkieG,
Please use XP-2 Lithium base grease gun grease. The Cosmo gearbox is not designed for gear oil. You will have retention problems using gear oil.
You can confirm this at LandPride FS Manual page 12.

 

[OkieG]

Thanks Mark,
The LandPride manual is certainly more complete than what came with the Cosmo, though I'm pretty sure the spreaders are the same. I have printed the manual for my hardccpy archives.

Today the hopper and frame went to Line-X for some bedliner spraying. That will help protect the floor of the hopper from rusting. The paint was scraped off the floor, down to bare metal after spreading just one hopper-ful. Have you seen this happen before. On my unit the stainless agitator piece just sits on the rotating shaft at the bottom of the hopper. It is held down on the shaft by a rubber retainer. The agitator piece just scraps along the floor of the hopper. There is nothing to hold it up a little bit. It seems it will wear through the thin metal of the floor unless a spacer of some kind is used. I'm still working on what kind of material might work best...something that won't corrode, but is kind of tough and slippery for the aggitator to spin on. Hmmm.

Thanks again for the link to the manual.

OkieG

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Periodically check for oil level in the transmission box and top up as necessary (grease to be SAE90 viscosity). Oil change in the transmission box is to be made every year."
)</font>

Because they say 90wt.. I'm leaning on oil, not grease, and a bad translation.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( After all, most gear boxes use gear oil, not grease, right?? )</font>

I guess that's a fair assesment. Most gearboxes I've seen use oil.. though some use grease. I've seen older design and marine lower end units that use grease.. some combine heads use a 0# grease.. ( JD cornhead grease ), and I've seen a foriegn flail mower that used grease. My 10' rotary mower has 3 boxes.. they spec grease or oil.. Had grease in it when I got it.. so I'm keeping it grease

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Your comment, "Remember that lots of grease guns will pump oil as well." got me thinking. I've only used grease zerks for grease, but maybe my scope of experience is too limited. The manual is ambiguous, but leans toward using oil, in my opinion. The zerk threw me off, though.
)</font>

I've seen plenty of gear boxes that use oil.. but have a zerk for filling. The GC I work for has a grease gun setup with gear oil, for just this type of setup.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Perhaps, the zerk hole is supposed to serve as the fill line. )</font>


Sounds very plausible. Like I said.. many grease guns will pump oil.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( All in all, I feel much better having good gear oil in the "transmission box" instead of just several squirts of grease.
)</font>

I think after reading your info.. that it does indeed spec oil. However if it was a grease box... it would need enough grease in it, to cover the fill-to line.. more than just a few squirts.


Soundguy

 

[PegAir]

3 years later I get one of these, and stumble on this thread before first use of the spreader. My "more updated manual"(?) included with my Cosmo 500 agrees with the land pride and says, "Lubricate with lithium grease the points shown in the picture". The picture has an arrow pointing to the grease zerk on the gear box directly opposite from where the drive shaft emerges/attaches.