Replace Shielded Mower Bearings With Sealed?

[Suburban Plowboy]

I started a thread about a 60" mower deck for a 430 garden tractor, and I got off on a tangent worthy of a new thread. My deck's parts diagram calls for M63810 bearings on the blade shafts. I looked these things up. They're shielded, which means grease can get in, but dirt can't. When you look for replacement bearings, you are likely to find sealed bearings. These will keep grease out as well as dirt. You can't grease them using zerks. You have to replace them when they fail.

There is no way for me to know when the bearings on my used deck were changed last or whether they've been greased regularly. At the moment, I don't even know whether they're shielded or sealed. The original bearings were shielded, but the current ones may not be.

I don't want to have problems in the future, and bearings are cheap, so I'm thinking of replacing all 6 bearings instead of waiting for an expensive failure. What's the best course? Shielded or sealed? If I go with sealed, can I completely abandon greasing? I assume the bearings are the only things in the deck that need grease.

It would be nice to forget about greasing these.

 

[beenthere]

From previous thread:

I don't know how old they are. I saw a video about deck bearings. It said the grease zerks do precisely nothing. The guy in the video said the bearings were sealed, and that the zerk was between them, so all grease does is fill an empty cavity between bearings that can't be greased. Don't know if it's true for all JD decks, but he pulled one open in the video, and he was right about that model. His solution was to remove the seals from the inner sides of the bearings, to let grease in.

Sounds like you have a plan. If it was on the internet in a video, must be true.

I grease 2-3 pumps about once a year.. and that is after around 60-70 hours of mowing. Not a biggy, and have not had a bearing failure yet.. knock on wood.

 

[4get gto]

I replaced a blade spindle on a guys Cub Cadet a while back. Had 250 + hours on it . Seen it had grease fittings on it but never seemed to be greased. Asked him if he knew it had fittings. He said he didn't have a clue. Come to find out these had a sealed type bearing too but still had a grease fitting BUT never greased. Not bad service for never touching them...!

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

From previous thread:


Sounds like you have a plan. If it was on the internet in a video, must be true.

I grease 2-3 pumps about once a year.. and that is after around 60-70 hours of mowing. Not a biggy, and have not had a bearing failure yet.. knock on wood.

Yeah, I don't think he took the deck apart and altered it just for a video. His channel is wonderful. Steve's Small Engine Saloon. I can't tell you how helpful it has been.

It sounds like you're in a better position than I am, because you know your equipment's history.

 

[Amvcane]

If the spindles spin freely and don’t make to much noise leave them alone. The bearings will let you know when they are bad and there will not be any catastrophic failure.
Have about 1000 hours on my 318’s deck bearings, they are sealed and who knows how many hours the previous owner put on them.

 

[bg71361]

Yeah, I don't think he took the deck apart and altered it just for a video. His channel is wonderful. Steve's Small Engine Saloon. I can't tell you how helpful it has been.

It sounds like you're in a better position than I am, because you know your equipment's history.

You got an apple and orange thing going on. The deck Steve is talking about is not even close to a 430 deck. I would replace the bearings if you feel you need to with exactly what my local JD Dealer sold me, no need to reinventing the wheel. Here is the video link for those interested. Good luck to you!

Your Riding Lawn Mower Tractor's Dirty Little Secret ? Video - YouTube

 

[PILOON]

Don't over think it.
Cheap open bearings are the way to go.
That is not a helicopter tail roter.
Probably un oiled they will go 1000 hours and it lubed 2000.
Let $'s rule!

 

[4570Man]

Don't over think it.
Cheap open bearings are the way to go.
That is not a helicopter tail roter.
Probably un oiled they will go 1000 hours and it lubed 2000.
Let $'s rule!

I put the cheap china bearings in my mower last year and they lasted maybe 20 hours. I tore it apart again and put good bearings with metal seals in it and so far so good. 1000 hours on cheap China bearings is a complete joke.