Grease for mower deck spindles?

[tomplum]

I just opened a original OEM spindle (532187292) on my 2015 Husqvarna YTH24V48LS lawn tractor and found grease still in the bearings. I have only greased them once in the 9 years I've had it and routinely mow an acre lawn over Florida sand. Interestingly the top bearing is sealed on both sides and the bottom bearing is only sealed on the bottom.Both bearings are Chinese make.
Also, I found virtually no grease in the cavity between the top and bottom bearings.

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Pics and everything. Welcome to TBN.

 

[Richard001]

Was there a reason to take the spindles apart ?

 

[SARG]

I'll just mention my experience ....... depends on the make of the machine.
At one point I had three MTD Yardman machines and the spindle bearings were very easy to replace. I just bought a roll of bearings.
Then I got a Husqvarna machine and the bottom spindle bearing is pressed on making it necessary to replace the entire spindle.
I found that inserting grease just made the chore of replacement very messy

 

[SteveS42240]

If the spindles have sealed bearings, there is no reason to grease the shafts. I am getting 3 or 4 years out of the bearings in my mower deck and when they start getting noisy, I take the spindle off and replace the bearings. Actually, I keep an extra spindle on the shelf to swap out if I hear one squealing while mowing.

 

[KennyG]

If there is no need to grease them, they wouldn't put zerks on them. I grease mine and they are doing fine after 15 years.

 

[RandyT]

If there is no need to grease them, they wouldn't put zerks on them. I grease mine and they are doing fine after 15 years.

The grease zerk is a marketing ploy to appease the customers into thinking they are getting something extra when they have grease zerks. Grease them or not it doesn't make any difference.

 

[DarkBlack]

Zerk fittings go in the design, to make the housing universal, so they can source different bearings from different vendors, depending on price and availability at the time they stock up. They can use sealed or open and nothing has to be changed.

 

[dadohead]

I have replaced a number of these and have developed an opinion. The bearings are typically sealed whether there is a zerk or not. However, when the spindles without zerks fail, the bearings are usually dry indicating a seal failure and the shafts are corroded, indicating moisture in the spindle. If you pump the spindle full of grease, it keeps the moisture out, cools the bearings and keeps the bearings lubricated if the seals fail.

^^^^this^^^^

I'm a retired tractor engineer. Grease is pumped into spindle housings to displace water that often finds it's way inside due to condensation and/or power washing. Pretty common on big box store level mowers.

 

[Smokeydog]

Tapered roller bearings in my woods finish mower spindles with regular greasing lasted +25 years, ~2500hours. Just a couple of pumps every 8hours usually after using and spindles still warm. Got to be extra careful with any pneumatic or electric grease gun can easily push seals out. Same for trailer ex-lube axles. Good to have manual lever grease gun sometimes.