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For the past 3 years I've been using my Toro TimeCutter MX 5475 and it's been performing great so far.

But, one thing that irritates me is that the front wheels have to be greased fairly frequently since there are no sealed bearings.

Seeing how this is a swivel wheel, it there a bolt on replacement where the bearing the wheel spins on is a sealed bearing that is protected from dirt and dust and doesn't have to be greased?

On my current setup, you pump in axle grease until it starts coming out the back so this is NOT what I have in mind for a replacement.

Surely somebody makes a sealed bearing for this right?
If anyone knows where to find so a replacement for this, please let me know.

Maybe the entire swivel wheel unit on both sides can be replaced with something mo model that has sealed bearings.. double sealed bearing would be even better!.

Maybe someone should invent sealed bearing for lawn mowers?

The design of the front wheel is that for a bushing not a wheel bearing. If you want, I suppose, you could buy a castor style wheel off a larger wrecked machine {ZTR} but the spindle diameter {#1} will usually be greater than the housing of the frame assembly.
Toro 138-9839-01
That wheel Caster does cross over to an Exmark Mower

That's my question... WHY would they design a bushing for the wheel to turn on instead of using a sealed bearing which would last far longer

Maybe they know the bushing will play out and they can sell some parts!

I guess someone would have to custom build a steel wheel that has a sealed bushing pressed in both sides and have a mounting bracket so it can bolt on to the fork

The design of the front wheel is that for a bushing not a wheel bearing. If you want, I suppose, you could buy a castor style wheel off a larger wrecked machine {ZTR} but the spindle diameter {#1} will usually be greater than the housing of the frame assembly.
Toro 138-9839-01
That wheel Caster does cross over to an Exmark Mower

Click to expand...

I didn't see any of these options having a wheel that is any different than the wheel my mower currently has... which spins on a bushing and not on a sealed bearing on each side of the wheel

Yes, Sir! Right away, Sir! I'll get right on it! BTW, there'll be another $100 added to the manufacture of your machine.
On my end, that is. Then there's the extra cut each & every middleman that touches the mower. End result would probably be another $250.
I used to keep an old TimeCutter running for a neighbor, years ago.
Let's just say, I'm not a fan but you have to fish from the old john boat and not that new BassPro Cruiser

When I sold my farm I was sporting a new Ferris Diesel 60" Z.
Nice ride but, I too, started somewhere farther over by Tractor Supply

I hear lots of zero turn radius mowers have the same crappy front wheel design, so the issue is not that my mower is a TimeCutter

Besides, it's performed great for over 3 years and the seat has it's own suspension system to it's way more comfortable than most mowers out there.

I would rather not have to grease the bushing on that front wheels every time it starts to squeaking. Using a sealed bearing is not going to so much cost to the mower to make it that much more expensive.

If it bothers you that much, Bro., get busy.
My point was, & still is, that you wanted a mower at a price point.
It's lasted you all these years.
Enjoy it.
BTW, any ball bearing you can find has numbers affixed to it's outer or inner race.
Google: Ball bearing manufacturers & there you will find a wonderful world of ball bearings.
You'll find sealed with plastic, open &, my personal favorite, stainless steel.
Loaded with aircraft grade grease for extended wear.
On a farm we had to make lots of older parts last or reman. them to fit our application.
Sample:
Bearing Mfg

If you find doing routine maintenance onerous then pay some one else to cut your grass .
Just like blade spindles, the tension arm pivot the drive belt pivot plus all of the places where metal moves against metal, the front casters need to be greased
If done regularly it takes all of about 10 minutes once a month,1 or 2 strokes .
Use a better quality grease and if you leave it til the wheels start to squeak then you are doing damage to the bearing and the shaft which causes excessive wera so the greae works it's way out faster .
Cheap greeases have more suspension medium and less lubricant
You can put high temperature wheel bearing grease in there is you like
and if it really runs out quickly the fir some felt washers to pack out the space between the yoke & the wheel .

So what high end zero turn radius mower has front wheels rolling on sealed bearings?

use two Stens 215-211 bearing per wheel to replace the two Toro 114-1640 bushings per wheel. Still have to greased every so often just not as much.

Thanks. Those may be a little better quality... but they aren't sealed bearings.

I found them in the Sterns website at

I guess I should get the measurements from the OEM berating and then see if I can find a sealed bearing with the same outside and inside diameter

We can send a man to the moon... so surely we can fit these wheels with sealed bearings... we have the technology!

And yes, why screw around with greasing the bushings when you can have sealed bearings that would last longer than the mower itself! It's not a matter of being lazt, it's a matter of we have beet stuff available that should be used.

I do this sort of thing on my cars and trucks in order to get better performance and less down time, but I understand good enough is fine for some folks.

Costs COSTS COSTS
Wallet glue prevents most from paying a reasonable price for the type of quality you are seeking from the LOW budget residential mowers
Interesting that I have a dozen or more Time Cutters being used commercially that I service once or twice a year but have yet to have one come in with a squeaking front wheel.
So something does not gell
are you pressure washing your mower ?
And as for sealed bearings, unless you buy very expensive bearings they will be lucky if they last a season.
The front casters are very small so they revolve quite quickly
I actually remove sealed wheel bearings to fit the Toro single bearing because it lasts a lot longer .
In reality they should be a pair of tappered roller bearings with grease seals .
However no one will pay the extra price for that set up
I have a lot of 2000 series Cub Cadets with tapered rollers in the spindles
Thousands of hours and not a problem with them all running perfectly
OTOH the sealed deep grove bearings fitted to most spindles will be lucky to last a full commercial season
In fact most service manuals recommend replacement every season, more frequently in dusty environments

bertsmobile1 said:

Costs COSTS COSTS
Wallet glue prevents most from paying a reasonable price for the type of quality you are seeking from the LOW budget residential mowers
Interesting that I have a dozen or more Time Cutters being used commercially that I service once or twice a year but have yet to have one come in with a squeaking front wheel.
So something does not gell
are you pressure washing your mower ?
And as for sealed bearings, unless you buy very expensive bearings they will be lucky if they last a season.
The front casters are very small so they revolve quite quickly
I actually remove sealed wheel bearings to fit the Toro single bearing because it lasts a lot longer .
In reality they should be a pair of tappered roller bearings with grease seals .
However no one will pay the extra price for that set up
I have a lot of 2000 series Cub Cadets with tapered rollers in the spindles
Thousands of hours and not a problem with them all running perfectly
OTOH the sealed deep grove bearings fitted to most spindles will be lucky to last a full commercial season
In fact most service manuals recommend replacement every season, more frequently in dusty environments

Click to expand...

My experience with people greasing the zero fittings on mowers is about how often they sharpen their blades. Not nearly often enough, maybe once a year. Customers have demanded lower cost of many products for several years now, and that is what we are getting. Along with lower cost comes lower quality and less longevity often times.

If costs are not a problem then use JD AM127304 bearings which are sealed on both sides. And there is the Rotary 6573 with removable back seals. Can't quote my dealer cost on the Rotary but here they are the route to go but the JD are better quality in general as I have seen those personally here and not seen the Rotary ones yet but they are on my next order for inspection.

The JD AM127304 bearings are $19.99 on Amazon for a 4 pack... is this considered big money??? No sure bout everyone else, but $19.99 is reasonable for me.

QUOTE - are you pressure washing your mower ?
And as for sealed bearings, unless you buy very expensive bearings they will be lucky if they last a season. /QUOTE

No, I hose it off with a water hose and this has nothing to do with the crappy design of my wheels riding on bushings. When greasing it, you have to keep pumping it in until you can see it start to ooze out and then it's full.

Since there's no seal really to keep the grease in, it only takes 4 or 5 mowings for the grease to come out and the bearing squeak... after pumping in more grease, the squeaking stops.

I mow for about 2 hours at a time and I'm using Amsoil synthetic wheel bearing grease like what is used in automobiles so the grease is not the problem

I may have to try the JD AM127304 bearings or the Stens 215-211 bearings which someone commented on Amazon are sealed (the Strens website mentions one side allows for grease to enter the bearing which didn't sound very sealed)

KM Richards said:

The JD AM127304 bearings are $19.99 on Amazon for a 4 pack... is this considered big money??? No sure bout everyone else, but $19.99 is reasonable for me.

QUOTE - are you pressure washing your mower ?
And as for sealed bearings, unless you buy very expensive bearings they will be lucky if they last a season. /QUOTE

No, I hose it off with a water hose and this has nothing to do with the crappy design of my wheels riding on bushings. When greasing it, you have to keep pumping it in until you can see it start to ooze out and then it's full.

Since there's no seal really to keep the grease in, it only takes 4 or 5 mowings for the grease to come out and the bearing squeak... after pumping in more grease, the squeaking stops.

I mow for about 2 hours at a time and I'm using Amsoil synthetic wheel bearing grease like what is used in automobiles so the grease is not the problem

I may have to try the JD AM127304 bearings or the Stens 215-211 bearings which someone commented on Amazon are sealed (the Strens website mentions one side allows for grease to enter the bearing which didn't sound very sealed)

Click to expand...

Unless they are in a plastic sealed packaging with a JD part number on it, they are fakes
OFten vendors will take a photo of a genuine then send you a faked item
Classic was again supposedly genuine JD bearings because they had the JD part number etched into the side of the bearing, some thing that JD does not do .
I can get bearings from China for under $1 a piece
If I order 2000 or more they will etch what ever I ask for in the side of the bearing,
You have to take a step back and think when you order bearings
At $ 5 a piece the vendor has to be making $1 profit ( at least )
Amazon take $ 2 to $ 10 off the total sale price depending upon weather they are warehousing them or just hosting the selling softwear , so we will call that $ 2
This brings down the price of the bearing to $ 3.50 a piece at the vendors warehouse
The cost of High Speed Steel that good bearings should be made from by weight in a 6203 bearing is around $ 1 and that is as a slab directly out of the furnace before rolling precision grinding assembly & testing and if you think all that can be done for under $ 2.50 a piece and we are excluding boxing , freight, tax & profit for the bearing factory then you have had one too many visits to Disney Land
The last thing I would buy off Scammazon would be the most counterfitted product onthe planet ,,,,bearings
Particularly as there are hundreds of genuine bearing shops to choose from

OK, so know any good lawyers willing to take on Amazon for selling fake stuff?
Might be some profit in that venture.

So this particular JD bearing, how much should it cost?

And, where can I find a vendor selling the real McCoy?

They are called John Deer agents & I am told there are around 75,000 of them in the USA
Most real bearing shops, you know the ones you can walk into & lean on the counter .
They will have genuine bearings
IN $ A I cab get spindle bearings for 4 different prices from the junk Chinese ones intubes from JAk--Max through to the boxed Nachi's from RGS.
Stens , Rotary, prime Line & oregon all do the same bearings and all of them have "Find a dealer" feature on their web page.
After that there are dozens of places like ProParts Direct, Jacks Small Engines, Small Engine warehouse, Small Engine Supplies, K & C Mowers , Messecks E-replacement parts & parts Tree who do on line sales .

So this particular JD bearing, how much should it cost?

And ONLY John Deere agents can sell these?

I find that hard to believe....

Did I not mentions that ANY real specialist bearing shop will keep them ?
As for cost you are in the USA & I am in Australia so I have no idea about bearing costs in the US
Most stuff over there is cheaper than down here even when I allow for currency conversion which is to be expected in a market that is 10 times bigger
I pay $ 15 WHOLESALE price for the bearings I use in Spindles because I want good ones that will go the distance .
Now I can get them down as low as $ 3 a piece which would be fine for a low load application like a shopping trolley .
Unless people have worked in manufacturing they end up with unrealstic ideas about what it actually costs to make things.
Unless they have worked in warehousing & transport they have unrealistic ideas about the logistical costs involved in getting those bearings into the purchasers hands .
Now a $ 5 US bearing direct from the factory could be an OK general use bearing but at retail level there are a lot more costs and anywhere from 2 to 5 more profit mark ups many of which are 50 % or more .
Now those Amazon bearings could be genuine, bought from a closing down dealer at below wholesale costs price or they could be NOS stuff being dumped to pay a tax bill because it is cheaper to loose money than borrow money or they could be fakes , quality control rejects , flood damaged etc,etc,etc .
Every day I hear the consumer advocates hammering home the adage "If it is too good to be true then it isn't true"
And every day I hear about beople being hood winked , scammed or products failing because they did not stop and ask that single question
When we see something that appears to be a bargan the natural instinct is to grab it now while you can then consider why it was a bargan latter on .
I have just bought 1/2 ton of synthetic stone for almost nothing but I know the reason is because at the end of June it will be illegal to sell it so the vendor is dumping his stock and will probably put an economic loss claim aainst the government to cover the $ 2000 he lost on every slab of stone I have bought

I cussed my 42 inch Toro ZTR for that high pitched squeak in the front wheels until I discovered that the fork was too narrow and binding the wheel hub at times. I widened the forks a little bit and the squeak went away. Could that be your problem??

Here is what the bearing look like.

Yes of course... only John Deere agents have the really really good quality parts that are not made by the chinese communists

KM Richards said:

Yes of course... only John Deere agents have the really really good quality parts that are not made by the chinese communists View attachment 64179

Click to expand...

BS. JD bearings are made in China too