Bushings, Seals and Bearings Cancel The title field is required!

1. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   10/29/2012 3:10 PM

   In the same vain as my hydraulic hose question last week.
   
   How often are you all replacing bushings such as for deck yokes and the like and spindles, reel and roller bearings and seals? Or do you do a thorough check of the machine at the end of the season and just replace what feels loose? Do you break down reels and check bearings then replace the seals and just the bearings? I know in the past (late 80's to early 90's we used to replace all reel bearings and seals on our triplex reels, our fairway mower we did it every other year, in early 2000's we would tear stuff down, check bearings, replace what was needed and then replace all seals. I do know with our Toro DPA reels we didn't do anything for 4 years and 1600 hours and when we did everything was like new.
   
   Here it seems hit and miss, and maybe that is more of my issue, but trying to figure out a good schedule based on knowledge rather then the hit and miss way it's been done.
   
   Thanks! Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
2. Dalton Andrew

   
   11/1/2012 6:11 AM

   I think that is based on how good of a preventative maintenance program you have. I worked at a course once that did minimal preventative maintenance and we would go through the reels every winter and replace the bearings and seals and to be honest they probably could of gone another season. I think with a really strong preventative maintenance program you could do it every 3 to 4 years. We are doing our bearings and seals every 3 years at my new job. However, if our stuff isn't greased regularly someones getting an ear full.
   
   Andy

   
   
   
   
3. Michael Wagner

   

   0 posts
   
   11/2/2012 2:11 PM

   I am also very interested in this. I am an assistant in the northeast and I do all of the winter maintenance of our mowers. Recently our Superintendent retired and now we have a new Super. His philosophy is to tear everything down and replace all seals and bearings every winter. I see this as a huge waste of money. It cost's us about $4000 every winter to do this and I find myself throwing away perfectly good bearings. The only real benefit is grinding our reels into perfect cylinders is simple since everything is like new.

   
   
   
   
4. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   11/2/2012 3:11 PM

   Michael Wagner said: I am also very interested in this. I am an assistant in the northeast and I do all of the winter maintenance of our mowers. Recently our Superintendent retired and now we have a new Super. His philosophy is to tear everything down and replace all seals and bearings every winter. I see this as a huge waste of money. It cost's us about $4000 every winter to do this and I find myself throwing away perfectly good bearings. The only real benefit is grinding our reels into perfect cylinders is simple since everything is like new.

   
   
   Michael, I know when we used to do this it was in the interest of avoiding break downs during the season. We didn't really have spare equipment when we did have a break down. The expense was like an insurance policy. But I agree sometimes bearings are still good, and depending on the bearings they are not cheap. I guess the other part of the question is, heck it's apart, if the bearing was questionable and then fails in the season, your tearing it down again, why not replace over the winter.
   
   I can see both sides of this, I also agree with Andy on the PM. I've noticed somewhat that machines that get regular pm don't seem to have quite the issues.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
5. Dinger Greg

   
   11/2/2012 5:11 PM

   I have never been able to wrap my head around disassembling every reel and replacing all bearings and seals in the winter. If I'm replacing reel stock, sure, but that's it.
   
   I have a Jeep that sits in the garage all winter. It's my Wife's version of a convertible, and only gets driven in the summer. I'm not about to pull the pinion seal out of it and reset the pinion on a chance that it may fail next summer.What sense would that make? Obviously if the pinion bearing were failing or the seal were leaking, I would address it, but just in case?
   
   That said, we just closed out our ninth season with our mowing fleet. Our four fairway mowers range from 2900-3200 hours, and have never been apart. They are close to needing reel stock, so that must be addressed, but I keep the bearings adjusted, greased properly with the best stuff I can get my hands on, and we keep mowing.
   
   Keep the five "Rights of Lubrication" in mind.
   
   1. Right lubricant for the job put in the
   2. Right place at the
   3. Right time in the
   4. Right quantity (more is not better) and maintained at the
   5. Right operating temperature

   
   
   
   
6. Matthew Neff

   

   0 posts
   
   11/2/2012 7:11 PM

   Greg Dinger said: I have never been able to wrap my head around disassembling every reel and replacing all bearings and seals in the winter. If I'm replacing reel stock, sure, but that's it.
   

   
   
   Are you referring to only f-way mowers with this statement or do you mean all reel equipment across the board (greens mowers especially)? Just curious because I've wondered about whether it's really necessary as well. Since we replace greens reels every year we typically re-use bearings from greens mowers in other equipment without any issues so it makes you wonder if it's really worth the time and expense. And since we're on the subject, what grease(s) do you like for reel equipment?

   
   
   
   
7. Kenneth Meals

   

   2 posts
   
   11/5/2012 9:11 PM

   Me and most of the Equipment Manager I know use Swepco grease.

   
   
   
   
8. Henry Heinz

   

   0 posts
   
   11/6/2012 5:11 AM

   I use Swepco, I have also used other products out there with great results. As Greg mentions, right products, timing, and place is key. During my time in the Mid-West and Northeast, I would purge and check all bearings and seals. If you find one leaking thing by all means change it out, you don't need grease on your turf. Feel for play or rough spots in the bearings, if everything is tight and smooth rolling then move on to the next. You can generally tell what's going to happen by the grease and gunk that comes out during purging. If all is good roll on until you need to spend the money.
   
   Regards,

   
   
   
   
9. Dinger Greg

   
   11/6/2012 6:11 AM

   Matthew Neff said:

   Greg Dinger said: I have never been able to wrap my head around disassembling every reel and replacing all bearings and seals in the winter. If I'm replacing reel stock, sure, but that's it.
   

   
   
   Are you referring to only f-way mowers with this statement or do you mean all reel equipment across the board (greens mowers especially)? Just curious because I've wondered about whether it's really necessary as well. Since we replace greens reels every year we typically re-use bearings from greens mowers in other equipment without any issues so it makes you wonder if it's really worth the time and expense. And since we're on the subject, what grease(s) do you like for reel equipment?

   
   
   
   Matt, I replace nothing preventatively. I've also been known to reuse reel bearings in greens reels when renewing reel stock and just cleaning everything up and installing new seals.
   
   Like Kenny and Skip, been using SWEPCO 103 since '04. http://www.swepcousa.com/lubesite/lubes ... _103SB.pdf

   
   
   
   
10. Hart Kevin W

    
    11/6/2012 8:11 AM

    We check everything in the winter and just replace what is bad. I think the key to bearings lasting is using a good grease. If you use cheap stuff that doesn't stay where it should and keep out the water then you will be replacing that stuff more often that not. We use Chemsearch Maxi-Lube.

    
    
    
    
11. Chad Shafer

    

    2 posts
    
    1/26/2013 7:01 PM

    We only replace them if it is needed. We use to replace everything every year but that got to be really expensive and time consuming. The one thing we will do is purge the grease every year while we have them in for grinding and that seems to help a lot. That way they have fresh grease when the season starts. At that time we also check for any play in the bearings and replace them only if it is needed.