Mowing New 60" mower

[deadstick]

New 60\" mower

Just received my new 60" mower today and I have to say WOW /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif...

Moving from a Sears riding lawnmower there is just no comparison. The fact that I can vary my speed and direction within seconds vs changing gears is a big time saver. The from 42" to 60" cutting width helps as well....

Definiately glad I made this purchase....

 

[MossRoad]

Re: New 60\" mower

Congratulations! I also gave up the lawn tractor for the Power Trac mower and I agree. Bing able to change directions instantly is great. And mowing under bushes and low branches without scraping up your sides is great too! You just can't beat the front mounted mower.

 

[bubenberg]

Re: New 60\" mower

many happy mowings. make sure you use a high grade, high temperature grease for the spindle and about twenty five pumps after each use over an hour mowing.

good luck

 

[deadstick]

Re: New 60

Speaking of the maintenance on the mower... I see a couple of zerks on the front wheels and one on the part that attaches to the quick attach plate (sorry, don't know the terminology)...

Are there any other areas I need to be aware of or any other maintenence issues. I really love my PT but the documentation comes a little too short for my liking. In this case there apparantly is none for the mower... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[deadstick]

Re: New 60\" mower

One thing I would add, is check the back two wheels before mowing. I'm happily mowing yesterday when all of a sudden I see the left rear wheel rolling on its own away from me. About 30minutes later I find the nut....

I will be checking the tightness on those wheels from now on...

 

[bubenberg]

Re: New 60\" mower

the mower is about 9.6 miles away and i am home for the night. if no one else is chiming in i will check tomorrow. can't keep all these grease points in my old brain.

the problem of nuts and bolts going south with most of the newer and smaller manufacturers has been a problem. best example is big old exmark, i have been with them for over twenty years nuts and bolts went south at most inconvenient times possible .... no more now

 

[bubenberg]

Re: New 60 & documentation

i guess this winter we will do something about that. don't know what forum we will use. but us pt'ers have to do something and come up with an electronic means. pt, by far, are not the only ones without documentation for their attachments.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: New 60

Chris:
If it is the same as my 72", and I bet it is, you also have a zerk at the base of each spindle bearing. I was advised by Power Trac to use high temperature grease in those. I bought synthetic at $10 a tube, which is probably unnecessary. There are blended high temp greases at any parts store.
I grease between uses, even when reasonably short. I can't see the bottom of the bearings, so don't know when they're full. I give them an arbitrary 20 pulls on a pistol grip gun. On yours, you can probably pick up the deck and see where grease is coming out above the blades, right Hans, David, other 4xx users?
Mine has zerks on the kingpins of the front wheels and on the hubs of all four wheels. The rear ones are nearly impossible to grease unless the mower is at its highest setting. I recall someone saying that the rear wheels on the 60" deck have sealed bearings, but my recollection is often faulty.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: New 60

The only grease zerks that I can find on my 60" mower are the one on the center pivot for the qucik attach and the one on each front wheel. I took off the cover for the belt and cannot find them anywhere on the spindles. I'll call Power Trac tomorrow to check with them. Believe it or not, I only have about 7 hours of mowing time on it. It only takes me about a half an hour at the most to mow my yard /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: New 60

Talked to Terry at Power Trac today. The mystery spindle grease zerks on the 60" mower are on the UNDERSIDE of the deck. Ther is one on each spindle. You have to lift the deck up to get to them. He said we need to use high speed marine grease for these bearings only. The wheel bearings and pivot bearing on the quick attach use regular grease, just like the joints on the main tractor. He also said they need to be greased every 8 hours of operation.

 

[marrt]

Re: New 60

I use AMSOIL Synthetic Multi-Purpose Grease, NLGI #2, GC/LB. I grease the mower every three hours (i.e. before each use) and it takes about 12 pumps in each spindle! That’s a lot of grease. At first, because I don’t use “high speed” grease, I was concerned the bearings may be getting hot and the grease was leaking out. However, after mowing, I raised the deck and the bearings were completely cool. I have no idea where the grease is going.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: New 60\" mower grease zerk photo

Here's a picture of the greas zerk on one of the spindles of the 60" mower.

 

[deadstick]

Re: New 60\" mower grease zerk photo

Thanks, I was going to grease tomorrow, so this picture will come in handy

 

[bubenberg]

Re: New 60\" mower grease zerk photo

don't forget if you want to have less hassle to use a high grade, high temperature grease for the spindles.

good luck

 

[pajoube]

Re: New 60\" mower grease zerk photo

Hans,
Would this type of grease work for all zerk fittings even if not needing high temp grease?
PJ

 

[bubenberg]

Re: New 60

you know, this is not scientificly proven by me, but i have two grease guns now, one for all my high rpm turning devises and a more goopy type of standard grease from mobil or texaco oil corp for all other greasing points .... no legal suits, please.

just to tell you this arguement has been going around in my head and my maintenace yard for some ten years. the result is much less replacements of ball baerings and spindles, since i decided for everyone here to switch to this sythetic type of grease for mower spindles and other high rpm ball bearing greasing points.

in winter time i go back and forth every snowstorm or every 8 hours of use between the two consitencies. reason for it is that i don't think the synthetic grease lubricates as well in the cold weather. this is just my opinion.