Question about Grease Fittings on Deck

[Steve149]

I needed to make some repairs to my Deck and I ran into a situation and need some advice. One of the grease fittings wouldn't allow me to put grease in for what ever reason so I had the deck apart to replace the idler arm and thought I would see what is up with the fittings when I noticed that one was different than the other shown in the pics.
This is the deck in question:


This is the discharge side of deck:


And the left side:


The grease fitting on the right side is what I have found online to be the correct one for this deck but if you look at the one on the left there is another nut and a bigger fitting is screwed into it. Is this correct or is this a PO fix??? I need to know before I purchase the parts for this as I can only find the type like the right side has

THanks

[olds45512]

Looks like someone threaded the spindle and put a different zerk in, it should still work. Try pushing the ball in the zerk in with a pick or something, it may just be stuck. Sometimes a little bit of heat will also help free it up.

[Steve149]

That's what I was thinking when I saw this...cause the manual says they should all be the same part. I will have to work on it this evening...god there is always something. I will try a bit of heat on the zerk to see if it loosens up some if not back to the parts place we shall go

Thanks guys!!!!

[olds45512]

Now that I've looked at it again, it could be a different style spindle. The ones on my 48" deck have that thick washer and the bolt that holds it all together is hollow with a zerk in it, can you tighten it down?

[Steve149]

yes that one in the first picture is just setting in there loose. if you remove it the pulley slides right off. There is a star washer setting on top of the thick flat washer. The double pulley in the center of the deck is the same too, unscrew the grease fitting and off she comes. The deck sounded like a thrashing machine when I mowed and after tearing into it I found the idler was bad, but that one fitting wouldn't take grease. With the belt off the spindles spin freely no slop. I will perform surgery tonight and see what I can come up with on the other.

[ironman]

Originally Posted by Steve149

yes that one in the first picture is just setting in there loose. if you remove it the pulley slides right off. There is a star washer setting on top of the thick flat washer. The double pulley in the center of the deck is the same too, unscrew the grease fitting and off she comes. The deck sounded like a thrashing machine when I mowed and after tearing into it I found the idler was bad, but that one fitting wouldn't take grease. With the belt off the spindles spin freely no slop. I will perform surgery tonight and see what I can come up with on the other.

Steve, if you clean that fitting up in the top picture I think you will find that it is basically a bolt with a hole down through the middle and the zerk is screwed (or pressed) into the head of the bolt. All the ones I ever had have been this way and I never cared for it because that bolt holds it all together. If you tighten it too much it will snap, don't tighten it enough and the spindle comes apart while you are mowing. (ask me how I know).

I've not seen anything like the lower picture but it looks like a better idea. In any event, I think I would disassemble them all to clean, inspect and re-grease. You will probably be able to free up the zerk to take grease.

One note, if you disassemble and remove the seals, when you re-assemble, the seals go in upside down of the way you would normally install a seal. Reason is that so when you are pumping grease in though the fittings and she is full, the grease can ooze past the lip of the seal without bursting the seal or popping it out. The seal is there to keep dirt out, not grease in.

My , hope it helps.

[Steve149]

I will have to look into that...makes sense on the seals. I am hoping I don't have to go that far right now. I will at somepoint though! THanks

[Shotgun Wedding]

Sometimes when peeps put those seals in backwards, you cant get grease in because they are "full" and will not take more. Full, usually means full of dried up grease and dirt.

If a zerk wont take grease, that is the second place I'd look other than the zerk installation/status as first.

[Steve149]

As an update to this here is what I found after I managed to get the pulley off! the pulley is to the right...the jam nut is on the spindle.

The guy I got this tractor from was a machinist so it explains what I see now. I had to remove the zerk as it would not pass grease at all but surprisingly all the spindles feel good now that they have new grease in them. I should have the needed parts for the idler today when I get home so I am hoping to have this buttoned up and back to mowing in short order.

[Sam Mac]

I totally blew it about the spindle being messed up. This is what it is.