B7500 60 MMM missing zerk fitting

Drafty · May 28, 2004

Hi All,
I have been faithfully greasing my B7500 mmm every 10 hours. I didnt read the manual very carefully on the locations for the fittings, and went about greasing the fittings. However one night I was bored and picked up the manual and noticed that I should have been greasing a fitting on the tension pulley. I didnt think that I just would have overlooked it, so I went to the garage and looked and much to my surprise NO zerk fitting on the pulley.
Went to the dealer and asked about, their first response was that if it wasnt there then wasnt supposed to be one there. I asked them to look it up just to check and they found there should be one on the pulley. Well I am at about 50 hours so I asked if the bearing could possibly be damaged due not being greased, answer "No, not at all...... 50 hours isnt much for a MMM."
My question is.. should I be concerned with the life of the bearing? and should I get them to replace it.
They are ordering the zerk fitting for me... a dollar or so...

Thanks

Junkman · May 28, 2004

The mower deck is warrantied for one year. If the bearing was greased in the beginning and the fitting just fell out, then there should be no damage. I just greased my deck this week and didn't even look for any fittings other than the 3 deck bearings. I pumped each fitting with about 40 pumps of grease and only the middle one had grease coming out the top when I stopped. I have no idea how much grease it will take to fill them. There was a post last week about someone that had a 60" MMM deck on a BX that required the replacement of the top bearing since the grease has a tendency to go to the bottom and the top one went dry. Getting back to your original question, I would disassemble the bearing and see what it looks like. If it is dry, suggest to the dealer that it be replaced under warranty. Once the deck is out of warranty, they won't do it no matter what the cause. Be prepared that they might shift the blame to you for not reading and following the instructions in the MMM manual. If that should happen, shift it right back to them by informing them that they should have caught this in the pre delivery check up. If your dealer is conscientious about keeping happy customers, you will not need the previous advice and the new bearing will be in your hands right after you ask. Seems that there are only two types of service that dealers give. Extremely poor or extremely good. I hope that yours is extremely good, if not, contact Kubota service and document the problem.
Just checked my manual and I will be doing some more greasing in the morning..... belt tension pivot and belt tension pulley. I have done the driveshaft, but more can't hurt. Grease is cheap, bearings are expensive.

PowerMax · May 28, 2004

( I pumped each fitting with about 40 pumps of grease )

What? 40 pumps of grease? Must be a typo, unless you have a toy grease gun.

Junkman · May 28, 2004

No typo, it is a full sized grease gun and only one spindle showed signs of being full. I have no idea of the quantity of grease to fill each spindle, do you????? I am certain that the cavity between the top and bottom bearing is quite large.

PowerMax · May 29, 2004

Junkman ... All kidding aside, I've just never had to put that much grease into anything. 4-5 quirts (max) usually does the trick. Where do you suppose all that grease went, that was in the spindle? Are you sure your grease gun is working properly? Is the zerk fitting allowing grease in? When was the last time you greased it? 40 pumps is a bunch of grease, for sure! I'd definitely keep an eye on it, as that baby had to be really dry.

Junkman · May 29, 2004

I plan on taking it off this weekend and cleaning up the underneath. I will grease it again and look for some seepage. If I don't find any, I might just take one spindle apart to see what is going on inside of it. There was a post about the bearings not having any seals that could blow out, so I want to find out for myself exactly what it looks like. I thought it a lot also, but I have also seen cavities that will hold a lot of grease and you have to fill them once before the single pump or two will replace the missing grease, if you know what I mean.

Henro · May 29, 2004

I just greased my deck this week and didn't even look for any fittings other than the 3 deck bearings. 

No doubt those three are the most important...but there are something like a total of 7~9 zerks on the deck asking for a shot or two... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I just put several pumps in each time and do grease it more frequently than every 10 hours.

One of the largest causes of failed bearings in the plant where I used to work was over greasing. Our mechanical people used to over grease, which cause seal failure and bearing overheating and consequent failure.

I don't know if over greasing the mower bearings would be a problem or not. In the manufactuing process there are often solutions that can get inside a bearing if the seal is compromised, causing bearing failure.

40 pumps sure does sound like a lot of grease...You might want to feel the tops of the spindle housings after mowing, with the mower stopped and the tractor key in your pocket... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif ... to see if that one that had the grease coming out the top is hotter than the others.

theboman · Jun 1, 2004

40 pumps is a lot of grease. I bet there's a gob of grease under the deck, or on the ground.

On my 60" MMM I ususally grease every third/forth mowing which is in the 10-12 hour range. Then it's about 3-4 pumps until the new grease pushes out the old, and on the deck spindles I pump 4-5 times since I've found out where the gob of grease comes from on the driveway....under the deck!

Junkman · Jun 1, 2004

replying to "theboman" comment to "Drafty", which should have been addressed to "Junkman":

I believe that the difference between yours and mine is that yours was filled originally and my deck bearings were not. Once filled, it will only take a pump or two to maintain the quantity. There is another thread going on at this same time about a similiar problem with a deck and the poster put in a lot more grease than my 40 pumps to fill the bearings. Actually, almost 3 times as much!!! Read more about this here.....

Junkman · Jun 1, 2004

Got the deck off and then it started to rain, so I quit for the day. The interesting thing about the middle bearing, the one that I put all the grease into..... well, the Zerk fitting is now missing. Does anyone know if they are standard US type Zerk fittings or are they metric? Thanks