Roller bearings failing Cancel The title field is required!

1. Bibbey Jerry

   
   1/4/2012 10:01 AM

   I have an old AR250 fairway mower and we are having problems with the roller bearings failing after a short time. Our fairways are not very smooth and the reels take a lot of beating. My mechanic says the problem is dirt getting into the bearings and causing them to fail. We wash the equipment after each use and still there is dirt mixed in with the grease around the bearings. Could reusing worn shafts cause failure? Is it lack of grease? Is it the really bumpy fairways that make them wear out sooner? The last roller failed after two months. I am just looking for some answers someone else might have.
   
   Jerry Bibbey
   Boulder Creek Golf Club
   Boulder Creek, CA

   
   
   
   
2. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   1/4/2012 11:01 AM

   Jerry,
   
   It is possible that if the shafts being used in the rebuilding process are old, they could be allowing the dirt and water to get past the new seal if they have grooves from the old seals in them. Another question, are you greasing after washing? This might push some of the water and dirt out before it gets to bad.
   
   I'm sure you will get better help from the more mechanical inclined. Good luck.
   
   Mel

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

   
   1/4/2012 10:01 PM

   Jerry, failed bearings usually dont lie, and water failure looks different than dirt/debris failure looks different than overload/pounding looks different than overheating etc.... you get the point.
   
   Seals have two jobs, contain the lube and keep everything else out. Worn shafts make seals worthless at both. If there are grooves that you can feel with your fingernail, start there. If not, then pics would help. I really doubt rough terrain is the culprit, as most of that energy is transferred through the rest of the machine, and would most likely show up in worn lift arm bushings and operator complaints.

   
   
   
   
4. Henry Heinz

   

   0 posts
   
   1/5/2012 6:01 AM

   Just take a test unit and pump it up until the grease starts coming out around the shafts and see how easy, and how much is coming out. If it just flows out, then debris is flowing right in. If its hard, and is having a hard time coming out then maybe they are getting assembled in a bad environment. I don't recommend testing like this, but you will see really fast just how worn and bad your units are. Correct seals? Grooves in the shaft that you can see? Bearing load too much? Bearings being hand packed, or just greasing after assembly? Could be a number of things, but if grease leaves the bearing housing, then debris is certainly entering the bearing housing.

   
   
   
   
5. Dennis Cook

   

   1 posts
   
   1/5/2012 9:01 AM

   Great suggestions in the former posts. I also have one more suggestion to add. We have switched to marine grease on all of our cutting units and rollers and it has made a huge difference. These mowers are in a wet environment for better part of the day and the marine grease just holds up to the elements better and keeps water away from the bearings, even if it gets past the seal. I do a lot of grinding for other clubs and they have all switched to the marine grease and since I have had to replace far fewer bearings and rebuild less rollers. When we disassemble our units, its simply wash and repack the bearings, reassemble and grease. The bearings look as tho they just came out of the box.
   
   Another thing to look at is how he is greasing them. If you just blow the grease into them with no regard, you can blow out a seal very easy. You need to grease until you feel the pressure in the gun, then proceed at a slower pace to get any water to ooze out of the seal. If you can never feel the pressure in the gun, then you probably blew out the inner seal and all the grease is going into the center of the roller or you have a worn shaft and its not allowing the seal to do its job.

   
   
   
   
6. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   1/5/2012 10:01 AM

   Speaking of marine grease we have gone to that too in some of our applications, I think there are a couple our mechanic felt the marine grease didn't "sling" enough and the grease fitting really wasn't getting the grease into the bearing itself during the greasing process, (I think it is our fairway cutting units on our Deere).
   
   I want to know what grease Toro uses in their DPA reels, we just tore ours down for the first time after 4 years and almost 1500 hours and the bearings look like new. For those that don't know it, those bearings have no grease fittings.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
7. Dennis Cook

   

   1 posts
   
   1/5/2012 10:01 AM

   The bearings in the new toro dpa's will last an eternity. They are sealed incredibly well, plus they have a v-groove seal that you install on the reel shaft that pushes up against the housing seal which keeps water out. Make sure to put grease on that v-groove seal though or the units will be very tight when you reassemble them with new housing seals.
   
   Toro really did a nice job designing that housing and the whole reel itself, its very easy to take apart and simple to adjust bedknife to reel.

   
   
   
   
8. Henry Heinz

   

   0 posts
   
   1/5/2012 11:01 AM

   I'm sure, Greg, will chime back in on the grease. He really knows lubricants, and as for the both of us, we use Swepco 103. I've started my third facility on it, and in 25+ years it is the best grease ever. Water that goes in to the bearing cavity gets purged out just like tap water, clear and clean. It can not mix or contaminate the grease and bearings. Some even say leave that thin layer/extra around the seal & shaft and it will harden and form an outer seal to help prevent debris from entering.