Anyone put grease in Howse cutter gearbox

[Bird]

When I pulled the stump jumper on my Howse, I made my own gear puller with two big "C" clamps I had handy and a short piece of channel iron.

I never put grease in any of my gearboxes, but a good friend and neighbor had an old Howse that he bought used, and said plain grease was the only thing he'd ever used in it.

 

[jinman]

Okay, I gotta tell my story. . .

I was out cutting when all of a sudden my shearbolt popped on the cutter. I didn't notice anything I had hit, but I jumped off the tractor to replace the bolt. The first thing I noticed was the heat coming off the gearbox. It was very, very hot and the shaft coming out would not turn. The whole gearbox was bound up tight.

So, I feathered the PTO enough to get perfect alignment. drove out the old shearbolt. and added a new one. When I started to engage the PTO, the tractor's engine started bogging down and I realized the shearbolt was about to pop again. So, I drove the tractor back to the house and cooled the gearbox down with a hose. To my amazement, suddenly the gearbox turned fine when it was cool. I've since checked several gearboxes with plenty of oil and found they get very hot even under normal use.

It turns out the bottom seal had let go and I didn't notice any oil being slung out from under the cutter. I had a spare gearbox from another cutter that bolted right up to the cutter, so I got really lucky.

 

[mbohuntr]

I don't try to stuff it as when it runs, it will heat and will have no room to expand. Use enough to let the gears swim in it.

 

[DieselPower]

If your going to fill it with a NGLI #00 grease fill it to the point you would as if you were using gear oil. Over filling it with grease will cause the same problems as filling it all the way with gear oil.

 

[HickoryNut]

I have an old Woods M5 cutter that I use a cheap oil additive designed for worn out engines, "Smoke-No-More". It has a honey-like viscosity. Although I don't use this cutter much, the lube has stayed in it for several years.

 

[have_blue]

When you hit a rock and the seal starts leaking, it's because something got bent or knocked out of alignment. Simply replacing the seal probably won't fix the leak. Replacing any bent shafts or warped bearings and a new seal will fix it. If it's an oil unit, using grease may be more practical.

 

[atgreene]

I run grease in my Wood 6 HD cutter, no issues. Gave up on oil after the seal kept leaking after repair. Mowing with it commercially just ate the seals out everytime it hit something solid.

FWIW, don't try this at home, but I drained my gearbox of all oil, took cover off, engaged pto(slowly of course, carefully stayed away from all moving shafts ) and pumped grease into the bottom of the box. Used a paint stick to work the grease into the bearings. Added enough grease to fill the box to the normal level.

Also, for those panic sticken people who say it's bad for the box, look at the average bearing on a car wheel, mower, baler, center bearing etc.... etc.... They run on grease, not in an oil bath. Perhaps they don't last as long as an oil bath bearing, but they do last for years with proper grease. The bearings in your mower gearbox are the same bearings used elsewhere in similar equipment but with grease. BTW, my gear box runs cooler with grease than oil.

Good luck, flame away.

 

[kossetx]

I bought my howse cutter in 1992. The lower seal went out in 1992. I shot a tube of grease in the gearbox in 1992, per the dealers advice. I've put some more in maybe 2X since then and never a problem and I've beat the crap out of this thing, since 1992.

 

[Soundguy]

I read one reference in the archives. I have a Howse 400 rotary cutter.
Howse parts drawing
Oil seal sprung a leak when I hit a large rock. I tried removing the stumpjumper blade assy and get not get it off the splines and had limited tools. I'm temted to add grease instead of oil and take my chances. This brush cutter is not used that much as my neighbors horses do the job for free.

-IF- it was just a weepy seal.. yeah.. that would likely work.. however.. since this happened as a shock load.. I'm willing to believe that your bearing is damaged and that is why the seal leaks.. and it will likely get worse untill the bearing fails, and the shaft galls,possibly damaging the gear and the lower housing casting / bearing flange.


soundguy

 

[caver]

Follow up post.
I brought the brush hog home last weekend and went to work on it tonight using advice from my farm neighbor. He said you need to whup on top of each side of the bar that the blades and pan are attached to. I almost gave up after putting a propane torch on it and hitting one side with a sledge and then the other. Wouldn't you know,,,,,,,,I couple of light taps before I was going to call it a night dropped the pan.
Bad news is the shaft is .010 out near the threads and .009 out about 3/4 of an inch away from the gearbox.
I was walking through the pasture Saturday and noticed the rock I had hit a year earlier. I need to get that thing loaded and hauled to the rock pile.