Disc axle nut tightness

   / Disc axle nut tightness #11  
On the subject of greased disc bearings, Domries, a Central Valley California disc maker only sells discs with sealed bearings as their theory is a greaseable bearing stands a chance of getting over greased and will push out the seal allowing dirt to enter.

For customers that wanted bearings to grease, they ablige by installing a zerk, but aren't greasing anything. "It makes them happy"
 
   / Disc axle nut tightness #12  
Lots of bearings are sealed now vs being grease able. Automotive u-joints and wheel bearings are prime examples.

I kinda doubt farmers are greasing +30’ discs once or twice a day anymore.
 
   / Disc axle nut tightness #13  
Lots of bearings are sealed now vs being grease able. Automotive u-joints and wheel bearings are prime examples.

I kinda doubt farmers are greasing +30’ discs once or twice a day anymore.
While seaied bearings may be nice in certain applications, the problem with them IMO is on equipment such as round balers , there is virtually no way to know that one is going bad other than stopping and shooting each bearing with an IR temperature gun every 20 or so rolls or just watch for the smoke and hope it doesn't catch fire, and while that is really not a concern with disc harrow bearings it is a good feeling to grease them and spin the axle and know you can go to the field and work without that concern. About 7 years ago I rebuilt my 12' bush hog brand leveling harrow which I grease before use and while I replaced all 8 bearings along with all the disc pans only 1 of them was failing, I would like to think it was due to me greasing them religiously prior to each use.
 
   / Disc axle nut tightness #14  
While seaied bearings may be nice in certain applications, the problem with them IMO is on equipment such as round balers , there is virtually no way to know that one is going bad other than stopping and shooting each bearing with an IR temperature gun every 20 or so rolls or just watch for the smoke and hope it doesn't catch fire, and while that is really not a concern with disc harrow bearings it is a good feeling to grease them and spin the axle and know you can go to the field and work without that concern. About 7 years ago I rebuilt my 12' bush hog brand leveling harrow which I grease before use and while I replaced all 8 bearings along with all the disc pans only 1 of them was failing, I would like to think it was due to me greasing them religiously prior to each use.

That would tell me that you properly greased the bearings, which is not the majority of instances.
This also underlines the importance of using quality sealed bearings vs cheapest available. Pre-greased, sealed bearings need to be loaded with grease when manufactured and this isn’t always the case.

The bearings on discs that were greasable that didn’t makes sense to me were those utilizing flangettes. Grease never finds the bearing and dirt gets into the flangettes.
 
   / Disc axle nut tightness #15  
 

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