Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier

   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #1  

MountainBuck

Silver Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2016
Messages
159
Location
TN
Tractor
Ventrac 4500P; Kubota RTV-X1100C
We have discussed this problem zerk before on this forum but my wife pointed out something interesting today.

As I was cussing out that zerk this morning, my wife, who had been watching for a while said, "wouldn't that be easier if you took off those hydraulic couplers?"

So I handed her 2 wrenches.

She called my bluff and removed the 2 bolts holding the bracket fairly quickly.

Sure enough, that did allow me to snaking my arms underneath the radiator and get to that fitting much easier.

The last service was particularly difficult because I couldn't get the grease gun off that zerk fitting for a long time. With the couplers out of the way that was also less of an issue because I could wiggle the grease gun fitting more and it popped off easier.

As a reminder, she even wrote that into the manual so I wouldn't forget to remove the couplers for the next service.
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #2  
I.drilled a 1' hole in the side that lines up with the zerk fitting in the front setting at 90 degrees and access the rear one straight up by removing the velcro cover behind the radiator. Then I got a piece of 1/8 pipe around a foot long that was threaded and and coupler, added it to the grease hose and put the grease end on the pipe. now I insert it through the hole I drilled and through the core support and on the zerk fitting and I do guide it on. I see no reason to remove the Hyd.couplers.... Jim
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #3  
I.drilled a 1' hole in the side that lines up with the zerk fitting in the front setting at 90 degrees and access the rear one straight up by removing the velcro cover behind the radiator. Then I got a piece of 1/8 pipe around a foot long that was threaded and and coupler, added it to the grease hose and put the grease end on the pipe. now I insert it through the hole I drilled and through the core support and on the zerk fitting and I do guide it on. I see no reason to remove the Hyd.couplers.... Jim
I made up two such extenders.

One uses: three straight six-inch (15-cm) red brass nipples with 1/8-inch NPT pipe thread at each end; four 1/8-inch NPT double-female couplers; one male grease fitting; and one female grease fitting.

The other one uses: two 6-inch grease-gun extender pipes... like this one <https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BKNLICG906?impressionRank=2>; two double-female 1/8-inch NPT coupler, one male grease fitting; and one female grease fitting. The two pipes are arranged in left-right mirror-image fashion, with the coupler in the middle, the female grease coupler at one end, and the male grease fitting at the other end. Geometrically, the assembly has a shape like this: \_______/. The angled lengths come in handy when the Zerk to be greased is in tight quarters, e.g., the one at the rear end of the hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers the hitch arms.

I did not have to drill any holes in the tractor itself.

It has gotten to the point that I can engage the extension onto the front prop-shaft U-Joint Zerk by feel if I have properly oriented, visually, the front prop-shaft U-Joint Zerk. I did this just yesterday. What in the early days of my Ventrac experience seemed like a real chore is now a piece of cake.

I made sure before using either of the extenders for the first time to connect the extender to a grease gun and to apply pulls to the trigger of the grease gun until grease, and only grease, came out of the female grease coupler on the extender. The idea being to purge the air out of the extender so that it would deliver only grease to the Zerk to which I would attach the extender.

I keep both extenders in my tool chest on wheels, in a cylindrical container that I made out of PVC pipe and two end caps. I wipe any excess grease off of the male and female grease couplers after each use and before inserting the ender back into the home-made container.
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #4  
I made up two such extenders.

One uses: three straight six-inch (15-cm) red brass nipples with 1/8-inch NPT pipe thread at each end; four 1/8-inch NPT double-female couplers; one male grease fitting; and one female grease fitting.

The other one uses: two 6-inch grease-gun extender pipes... like this one <https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BKNLICG906?impressionRank=2>; two double-female 1/8-inch NPT coupler, one male grease fitting; and one female grease fitting. The two pipes are arranged in left-right mirror-image fashion, with the coupler in the middle, the female grease coupler at one end, and the male grease fitting at the other end. Geometrically, the assembly has a shape like this: \_______/. The angled lengths come in handy when the Zerk to be greased is in tight quarters, e.g., the one at the rear end of the hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers the hitch arms.

I did not have to drill any holes in the tractor itself.

It has gotten to the point that I can engage the extension onto the front prop-shaft U-Joint Zerk by feel if I have properly oriented, visually, the front prop-shaft U-Joint Zerk. I did this just yesterday. What in the early days of my Ventrac experience seemed like a real chore is now a piece of cake.

I made sure before using either of the extenders for the first time to connect the extender to a grease gun and to apply pulls to the trigger of the grease gun until grease, and only grease, came out of the female grease coupler on the extender. The idea being to purge the air out of the extender so that it would deliver only grease to the Zerk to which I would attach the extender.

I keep both extenders in my tool chest on wheels, in a cylindrical container that I made out of PVC pipe and two end caps. I wipe any excess grease off of the male and female grease couplers after each use and before inserting the ender back into the home-made container.
You don't have a 4500P, they are terrible to grease the drive shaft front zerk fitting. It's all you can do to touch the zerk fitting .... Jim
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #5  
You don't have a 4500P, they are terrible to grease the drive shaft front zerk fitting. It's all you can do to touch the zerk fitting .... Jim
You are correct. My Ventrac is a Model 4500Y. It has a three-cylinder Kubota Diesel engine.
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #6  
The lay out of the radiator above the drive shaft is stupid.... you can't get your hand in under the core support to get ahold of the grease gun fitting to get it on the zerk fitting. That is why I drilled a hole in the frame and used a solid extension to push it on from the out side and just guide it on with one or two fingers.... Jim
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier
  • Thread Starter
#7  
The lay out of the radiator above the drive shaft is stupid.... you can't get your hand in under the core support to get ahold of the grease gun fitting to get it on the zerk fitting. That is why I drilled a hole in the frame and used a solid extension to push it on from the out side and just guide it on with one or two fingers.... Jim

I would be concerned how much the support was weakened and how much more chance the radiator will leak now.

Seems like taking 2 bolts off like my wife recommends would be easier and safer.
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #8  
Oh, I would venture a guess that Johara drilled an access hole that was not so large as to compromise structure.

prs
 
   / Greasing that front drive shaft zerk on the 4500P easier #9  
I would be concerned how much the support was weakened and how much more chance the radiator will leak now.

Seems like taking 2 bolts off like my wife recommends would be easier and safer.
You need to understand that what I did is nowhere around the radiator and if a hole that size hasn't in anyway weaker that part of the tractor, nothing happened in 700 hrs. of hard use.... Jim
 
 
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