RCK60-24B bearing failure ??

[om21braz]

Are'nt some of the MMM decks produced in the USA ? Anyway, on my RCK48-TG deck there was plenty of grease in blade spindle housings from day one. The spring-loaded idler pulley needs some attention though - you cannot get any grease into it without removal. The bushing has a very tight fit inside the pivot housing and with the nut on and tight you cannot get any grease to it - I think I'll remove the bushing, chuck it in a lathe and cut a groove that lines up with the zerk and then mill a groove perpendicular the entire length. That should help.

 

[MBman]

I took delivery yesterday of the bx23. My mmm and everything else for that matter took no grease as my dealer had greased the piss out of everthing. there was grease piles everywhere including around the hst pedal. I did not mention the grease issue to see how it would be delivered. I think my dealer did this because they are out in farm country and deal with only real tractors. He spent about 2.5 hours with me setting up the tractor, removing backhoe, loader, 3 point and brush cutter.
My neighbor came over w. his bx2200 and we installed my new brush cutter on his tractor while I removed the largest stump from his yard. He said it wouldn't touch it, but it did.
For the next trick I installed mower and removed the loader and hoe and mowed the property. I think next I will use the hoe to dig a hole and bury my old mtd rider properly.
My neighbor said he will be ordering a bx23 monday a.m. -lol.
p.s. bx2200 w. la211 loader and front brush guard for sale in N. Atlanta /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Don_Sullivan]

At the risk of pounding this subject into the ground I report on the MMM bearing situation on my BX1500 (about 90 hours) with RCK48-15BX deck. I had followed the "give it a few shots" recipe drom day 1.

Pulled the deck, hoisted with chainfall and chocked. Removed blades and "dust cups". Some grease was showing on all spindles. Cleaned it off and pumped in grease with my trusty 1952 Sears gun until I could see it coming out in a mirror.

Right (discharge side) spindle took 20 squirts, Center took 30 and Left took 30. An Eastern Standard Squirt measure about 1/4"D x 1 1/2" long, about 1/10 Cu. In. So my spindles ate about 2, 3 and 3 Cu. In., which seems like a lot. For what it's worth I've attached a picture of the grease coming out of the center spindle (one Zerk on this machine).

Not sure what to make of all this but I'm glad to have invested the energy. This Forum is a wonderful resource! Thanks to all contributors.

Don Sullivan, waiting impatiently for Spring in NH.

PS - Also thanks to the Forum for a post on another thread about changing the PTO Selector to Rear PTO Only for helping to line up the drive shaft coupler.

 

[BIGUN]

After all the scare here about dry MMM bearings I spent Saturday checking out the bearing situation on my BX1500 (about 45 hours) with RCK48-15BX deck. I had previously greased the spindles a couple of times, about 3 shots each, from my pneumatic Harbor Freight grease gun.

I pulled the deck & thoroughly cleaned under it with my power washer. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Removed blades and "dust cups". Some grease was showing on the outer spindles. The center spindle had no visible signs of grease on the outside.

I didn’t count the squirts, but would guess around 25-30 per spindle until grease was observed coming out the bottom. As expected after using a pressure washer there were several drops of water which came out before the grease showed up. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Are the nuts welded under the deck for the belt guard bolts the locking type? They sure do a good job of damaging the bolt threads. One was damaged enough to be unusable. All the others bolt threads were somewhat flattened. I ended up running a die over the bolts and a tap through all the nuts. I will need to get a new bolt this week. Anyone else experience this?

 

[robertm]

I'll ask it again as I didn't see anyone's response...

Don't you all find that when you graese the !@#$% out of your decks that when you take off the belt covers on top of the deck after mowing, there are stripes of grease around the deck and the covers from the spindles throwing the excess grease off from under the spindles? I am worried about trashing a good belt, too. Yes, I know the spindles cost more, but this all gets to be a major mess to clean, not to mention the dirt and grass magnet excess spent grease becomes on the deck, covers, and the belt.

 

[Don_Sullivan]

robertm:

I didn't see any evidence of excess grease coming out of the spindle tops but then I used only enough grease to get a little ejected from the spindle bottoms. Doesn't make any sense to me to blow in a megaton of grease though it is a pain to disassemble the deck to the point where you can see the bottoms. I'll keep doing that until I'm comfortable with some small number of squirts.

I haven't seen an official spec on the kind of grease to use though various posts have extolled the virtues of people's favorites. Any clues?

Don Sullivan

 

[Burk]

After I pumped all the grease into my spindles I didn't see any streaks on the top of the deck, but I did notice some out the bottom of the spindles. My deck did run considerably quieter. As I had said in my earlier post oily water came out of my left spindle. I will try to see my dealer again today and see what they say. I will tear the spindle down to check for damage after I talk to them.

I have always bought the better quality lithium based grease. No real reason, except I have rebuilt some old wornout under greased equipment, I just buy the better grease and use it liberally.

 

[canuk]

I double-checked my RCK54-24B mmm on the weekend and confirmed that two of the three spindles had grease showing in the dust cups. The third spindle took only a few pumps to show grease coming out the bottom. I bought my deck from a John Deere dealer (of all places) still in the box and never used. Other than the usual occasional greasing over the last two years I'd have to say that the deck likely came from the factory almost fully primed with grease.

 

[DSM]

This thread got me worried too, it turned out all was OK. I removed the blades/dust caps on my 60" MMM and found no grease. But after about 6 pumps to each spindle plenty was flowing out the bottom. No significatnt leakage at the top - a small amount from the center spindle. The grease coming out was black, not green. I had been adding a few shots per spindle after every few uses. Total uses of about 15

 

[JWE]

Robert

After I reinstalled the deck I ran it for a minute or two to verify that everything was OK. When I shut it down I noticed that excess grease had spun out from under the pulleys. I cleaned it off the deck and pulleys but that could be a real problem if it continues to seep and migrates onto the belt.

John