John Deere Spindle Breakdown BIG Secret

[@Midge1k]

I saw a video where a guy showed that you can press grease through the seal by pumping grease around 40 times to bypass the seal. If they can run dry then there must be a way to put it in . He showed it was possible by his demonstration of the grease in the bearing before and after the 40 pumps

[@joe78377]

Great video. I appreciate you time and concern with J.Deere logic in greasing these spindles. I will remove bearing covers and manually grease them. I also like your one year review on the out come of the spindles. good job hero!

[@RobHoffmann20]

Thanks for the kind words im glad this video provided some good info for you. Thank you for watching Cheers!

[@100vg]

The collar around the blade spindle inside will probably block grease from the zerk fitting getting to the bearings, even with both inner seals off. You would have to disassemble again and check to see if the bearings are getting grease inside. Other John Deere owners say that grease will ooze outside, but not get into the bearings. Spindle Assemblies have been accused of being designed to fail for years all over KZbin and the Internet. I complained to Troy-Bilt Parts Sales about it, and told him it's everywhere, and he said, "Why would we do that?" I said, "To sell more parts." He insisted that they didn't, which of course he would, but it sure seems to be the case. I hope this works for you! Congratulations! It seems the procedure worked for you. And you didn't get a straight answer, either. May I suggest that you replace all of those rubber/plastic/acrylic-sealed spindle bearings with metal-sealed bearings, remove the inner seals and go that way. Metal seals are much harder to get out than rubber/plastic/acrylic ones, so the internal grease pressure would be much less likely to pop the outer seals off, and they would hold the grease pressure better.

[@RobHoffmann20]

I dident really look into the issue much further than this video. I can report however I'm STILL running the same spindles from this video and I typically add a few pumps of grease about every 10hrs. In the event that I have a bearing failure I will definitely consider that type of replacement as it does make sense. I will need to pull off the deck soon in order to patch a few thin spots, I'll give it a good once over when I have it up for repairs. Thanks for the comment. Cheers,

[@100vg]

@@RobHoffmann20 Thanks and glad it worked for you.

[@77bubba00]

I'm thinking that the both seals are in place because the grease won't get into the top bearing due to gravity. There is nothing in the spindle to throw it around, much less upward.

[@mr.cryptobull1520]

The grease is really STAGNANT and doesn't get thrown around much. That's why he packs them tight until a bit of grease oooozes out.

[@mr.cryptobull1520]

I have done many JD deck spindle rebuilds mostly on the 300, 400 and 500 series lawn tractors. Sometimes there are seals. Sometimes there is not. ( I remove all seales on this model) On these units there is a separate grease seal above and below the spindle, the grease nipple is actually on the top of the shaft, the shaft has 3 grease exit holes ( middle, above and below the bearings) very expensive and over engineered design so grease gets evenly distributed through the spindle assembly... you get what you pay for. I grease mine twice a season only because I take my deck off in spring and July to sharpen my blades.

[@MeditationInspiration]

Great video!

[@RobHoffmann20]

Thank you! I appreciate you checking out the video, Cheers!

[@stevebasham2946]

Thanks for the information / video.

[@altonrowell613]

90 percent or more the load is on the bottom bearings. And the Greece falls downward to the lower bearing.

[@fredhop1881]

My NEW bearings had seals on each side and NO grease visible when I pulled the seals off

[@RobHoffmann20]

That makes me wonder how long the expected life span is when it's not receiving fresh clean grease. 🤔

[@altonrowell613]

You can buy those bearings by the 10 packs. Around 10.00$

[@mr.cryptobull1520]

China are such junk I wouldn't waste my money unless you are fine with replacing them every 2 yrs and putting up with the crazy vibration.

[@mellowjammer]

Probably concerned that if the grease settles a bit and the owner is not diligent about re-greasing the spindles often, the grease would run out of the top bearing due to gravity and dry out quickly. Maybe that's why the top bearing is sealed. IDK

[@RobHoffmann20]

That's a possibility, I do regularly grease the spindles but likely not everyone does the same. Thanks for watching. Cheers,

[@mellowjammer]

@@RobHoffmann20 Your welcome...good video!

[@philliphall5198]

I got deck brging over 20 years old and still ok Just keep them greased once you remove the inside covers and drill and tap for zert

[@joeteejoetee]

I wonder if (on new-spindles) the air trapped inside of the spindle allows the grease to flow in, but the air not out of the top bearing, and thus the top bearing never gets a wash of new clean grease, but the bottom bearing does. If the bottom bearing was 100% sealed and (under the most loads) failed from zero grease it would raise suspicions. So they design-in the need (for most owners) to have the mower/tractor "serviced", else your spindles fail. The top spindle bearing may last several annual "$ervice" calls and then when the top bearings finaly fail, customer buys 2-3 new spinals (and a belt, just to be safe) and the cycle repeats, as designed...

[@ChrisHolt1]

I would think the top bearing is likely to stay dry and there's no point in pulling the seal, repacking it, etc..

[@RobHoffmann20]

I can say when greasing the same spindles this year I do get grease out of both the top and bottom of the assembly. Typically they would have been trash by now based on the others I have replaced in the past.

[@bobbg9041]

Now take the belt pullyies apart and pack grease into them by hand, the put the dust cover back on. Do that every few years they dont get grease.

[@philliphall5198]

It’s all about sales and marketing with lies from JD

[@captainedc]

Listen closely (lol). You are much better off having fully sealed bearings in those spindles and preferably the tin seals which hold up better. The reason is its VERY hard to keep them properly greased and nowadays the greases are so good they can cause the rollers to SLIDE instead of roll if they are not greased perfectly and often. And overgreasing is even worse which is very easy to do. Timken even has a bulletin about it. Only put a few pumps in once in awhile to keep everything from rusting and seizing up from moisture. DO NOT put unsealed bearings in. They come perfectly lubed already which can last DECADES.

[@RobHoffmann20]

I'm not going to debate your perspective, I'm sure it's got some validity to it. I can only speak from my personal experience with this specific machine, but I can confidently say this has extended the spindle life on my machine. I am still also running the same bearings from this video. My machine has now exceeded 650 hours. by far outlasted the last 2 sets of spindles. Perhaps the damp grass clippings play a role in this equation and cause additional corrosion in the raceways. I'm not a bearing or grease specialist, but this has yielded good results for me. I appreciate the comments Thanks for watching. Cheers,

[@altonrowell613]

You better repair your safety system man. You don't want that mower turning over or rolling over you running.