Rotary Cutter Leaky seal in bush hog squealer

Michael Knight · Nov 10, 2008

Well, I have been using it pretty hard lately and my bush hog is leaking out of the bottom seal now. What is a fair price to expect to pay a shop to change it?

I have installed gears in cars before, would this be something I could possibly do myself or is there a bunch of special equipment required?

Hooked_on_HP · Nov 10, 2008

A lot of people just pump the gearbox full of grease with a little gear oil. The thick mixture wont leak by the seals.

dawoodwa · Nov 10, 2008

I usually do the grease and oil mix. The only mower that I have ever had that I can keep seals in is my 15' Rhino batwing, my 6' Rhino lasted about 2 years till it began to auto change the oil. I use grease in my 6' mower and still use oil in the 15'. Been doing this for years with my 3 PH mowers.

8934 · Nov 11, 2008

My uncle, an old farmer, always used a mix of diesel and grease in his gearboxes.

I bought an old mower from him once, and cleaned out the gearbox and put gear lube in it, it poured out the bottom as fast as I poured it in.

So I put the grease and diesel back in it, and never had any problems.

daBear · Nov 11, 2008

A few months ago I took my gear box off and in to the dealer for repair. They replaced both seals for $65. Of course it would be higher now. Don't know if it is something I could have done but for that price it was worth it.

have_blue · Nov 11, 2008

Michael Knight said:
Well, I have been using it pretty hard lately and my bush hog is leaking out of the bottom seal now.

How old your Squealer is? It should be covered by the 5 year warranty, if it's not too old. How bad is your leak? I have a Squealer too, now I'm getting worried about leaks.

Just looking at it, it looks like a straightforward job to change the seal. The devil is in the details, getting all those big bolts broken loose.

Hooked_on_HP · Nov 11, 2008

A 5 year warranty on a bush hog???

mbohuntr · Nov 11, 2008

Grease er up, I've had leaky seals in my brush hog since I bought it used about ten years ago. I'm guessing it is around 15-20 yrs old, no problems...I fill it at the beginning of each season.