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I have a crasshoppoer 725D that has a grease zert on the drive shaft about middle way under mower. I bought the thing new and it has 500 hrs on it. The salesman showed me the zerts I needed to keep greased and did not mention this one. I don't recall the owners manual mentioning this zert I'm talking about. I used a 3 ton jack to jack it up as it is heavy. Still could not get to it. How long can I expect this bearing to last without greasing it? Thanks

cambre, There's got to be a way to grease it. Don't let it go. Someone in this forum has a way to grease it and will tell you, I hope. Sometimes cars have access trap doors or panels that snap open to give access from the top.

motoman said:

cambre, There's got to be a way to grease it. Don't let it go. Someone in this forum has a way to grease it and will tell you, I hope. Sometimes cars have access trap doors or panels that snap open to give access from the top.

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Thanks motoman: I will wait for other answers. It may take a special grease gun. I have 4 but none work on this. I even bent the neck on one to try to get it to fit. No luck

You probably know...there are kits with 90 degree adaptors and flex cables that can be bent around. I have also made extensions with tube. If you work alone a remote zerk is difficult without an air style gun. Mine is the old style hand pump. The middle spindle zerk on my 48" craftsman is difficult and usually bloody. Of course the deck can be dropped for that one.

The drive shaft has 2 fittings. One basically under your feet,( lift the foot rest up to get access) and the other is at the rear of the mower. I'm not sure which fitting you're talking about.

my 928d only has 2 pillowblock bearings to grease,one in front one in back.unless grasshopper added another one I couldn't tell you.My mower has a total of 14 zerks and a Grasshopper tech told me that number has been cut down on the newer models....russ

motoman said:

You probably know...there are kits with 90 degree adaptors and flex cables that can be bent around. I have also made extensions with tube. If you work alone a remote zerk is difficult without an air style gun. Mine is the old style hand pump. The middle spindle zerk on my 48" craftsman is difficult and usually bloody. Of course the deck can be dropped for that one.

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Thanks motoman: I will look into what kind of adaptors that my help me.

bobbysr said:

The drive shaft has 2 fittings. One basically under your feet,( lift the foot rest up to get access) and the other is at the rear of the mower. I'm not sure which fitting you're talking about.

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Thanks bobbysr: I know about the one under the foot rest. The salesman who sold me the mower showed me that one & the three that grease the blades. I found the one in the back either from the manual or when the PTO clutch quit. I bought the mower new for $11,700.00. It has 475 hrs on it and the PTO wire broke twice. I was able to fix it myself both times. After I found the zert I'm complaining about I really haven't taken the time to see if its in the manual. I did read the manual, especially about lubrication. This zert is between the one under the foot rest and the one in the rear. they are all on the drive shaft. Thanks for the answer.

cambre said:

This zert is between the one under the foot rest and the one in the rear. they are all on the drive shaft.

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So you are saying that you have 3 zerk fittings on your drive shaft? What year is your mower?

I'm going to take a closer look at mine,I know I have 1 for the u-joint that goes into the deck,1 where the shaft goes into the deck shaft,another u-joint and the front pillowblock bearing and the rear pillowblock bearing,my manual does not show anything between those two bearings.tomorrow I'm going to look at my mower.maybe the newer mowers have three pillowblock bearings on the drive shaft..by the way I use a grease gun powered by air.makes it much easier to grease some of those hard to grease zirts...russ

I have a 2014 729T. It has 2 pillow block bearings ( 2 zerks) on the drive shaft.

Those carrier bearing fittings are accessible from underneath. It's a pain to get at 'em, but as an earlier poster wisely advised, don't let them go. The carrier bearings are much harder to replace than they are to grease.

bobbysr said:

So you are saying that you have 3 zerk fittings on your drive shaft? What year is your mower?

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I bought the mower in October of 2011.

bobbysr said:

So you are saying that you have 3 zerk fittings on your drive shaft? What year is your mower?

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I bought the mower in October of 2011. The manual doesn't show this bearing as needed to be lubed but it has a zert. I know a lot of bearings are sealed at the factory and are not suppose to need greasing but why put a zert on it and not say anything about it? I am going to call grasshopper tomorrow. Thanks bobbysr for the interest and help.

MBDiagMan said:

Those carrier bearing fittings are accessible from underneath. It's a pain to get at 'em, but as an earlier poster wisely advised, don't let them go. The carrier bearings are much harder to replace than they are to grease.

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I agree. Thanks

If the factory parts bin was still full of zerk- fitted ?housings? they would continue to use them even with sealed bearings until used up, I think.

173abn said:

I'm going to take a closer look at mine,I know I have 1 for the u-joint that goes into the deck,1 where the shaft goes into the deck shaft,another u-joint and the front pillowblock bearing and the rear pillowblock bearing,my manual does not show anything between those two bearings.tomorrow I'm going to look at my mower.maybe the newer mowers have three pillowblock bearings on the drive shaft..by the way I use a grease gun powered by air.makes it much easier to grease some of those hard to grease zirts...russ

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I called grasshopper service and there is only two zerts on the drive shaft. I was counting the zert on the sliding shaft going to the deck as being on the drive shaft. They said to take the guard off that is protecting the bearing to grease it. They recommend greasing these every 80 hrs. This was my mistake and I'm sorry if I caused confusion.

bobbysr said:

The drive shaft has 2 fittings. One basically under your feet,( lift the foot rest up to get access) and the other is at the rear of the mower. I'm not sure which fitting you're talking about.

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You are correct. The zert under the foot rest that has sliding shaft going to the deck is the one I thought was part of the drive shaft and you were talking about the drive shaft bearing further back under the foot rest. You are correct about only two bearings on the drive shaft. This was my mistake. Grasshopper said these need to be greased every 80 hrs. The one you said was under the foot rest is the one I could not grease. How do you grease yours? Grasshopper said I may have to take the bearing guard off to get to zert. Cambre

No need to take the gaurd off, its right there!

glad you got it figured out...russ

bobbysr said:

I have a 2014 729T. It has 2 pillow block bearings ( 2 zerks) on the drive shaft.

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I got mind greased. Had to change zert. Put a straight one on. Thanks for the help. Cambre

MBDiagMan said:

Those carrier bearing fittings are accessible from underneath. It's a pain to get at 'em, but as an earlier poster wisely advised, don't let them go. The carrier bearings are much harder to replace than they are to grease.

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I got it greased. Thanks for info. Cambre

motoman said:

If the factory parts bin was still full of zerk- fitted ?housings? they would continue to use them even with sealed bearings until used up, I think.

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Thanks for your help. I sure did make a mistake on how many zerts are on the drive shaft. There is only two, I counted the shaft going to the deck as on the drive shaft. I replaced the zert I could not grease with a straight one. That made it easier to get to. Thanks ever one for your patients. This forum is great and so are the people who answer. Cambre

cambre said:

Thanks for your help.

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Dont be afraid to ask for help. I'm on my 5th Grasshopper and know a thing or 2 about them.

bobbysr said:

No need to take the gaurd off, its right there!

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Yes bobbysr, My problem was I couldn't get my grease gun on the zert. Not from the side or through the hole in the guard. I put on a straight zert and was able to grease it. Thanks to all for the help. Cambre