Newbie to Forum Need Advise am Really Confused

[djdicetn]

Blade spindle lubrication has been debated it seems forever so ask your dealer if this particular mower , or any others you're interested in , has sealed bearings. If he doesn't know you'll detect that somewhere in his answer and he really doesn't know his product very well.

If it or others have sealed bearings the bearings are just what the name implies and were never intended to be greased. So why does the manual recommend greasing every 10 hours if it has these bearings. That manufacturer is blowing smoke and he must blow smoke to keep up with his competition that's blowing smoke.

I have ask where this grease goes that's pumped and how much it takes to fill the cavity between bearings and no one can ever tell me for certain.

So my recommendation is open the window and let the smoke out and buy whatever you like the feel of and seems to fit your needs and price range best.

Don't let this mower shopping get the best of you. :biggrin:

DPASCHEN,

User SandburRanch is spot on. During my recent research and shopping for a ZTR I was told by more than one dealer that almost ALL lawn mowers with grease zerks in the blade spindles indeed now have sealed bearings. It is nothing but a "placebo effect" because some companies got so much backlash(and lost sales) because potential customers "wanted" to be able to grease the spindles to make sure the bearings would not go out. And the sealed bearings of today are much better(and have metal caps on the tops & bottoms to prevent rupture by debris) than the older sealed bearings did. The only "upgrade" you can look for would be cast iron spindles versus aluminum spindles because the cast iron are a lot heavier duty(the ones on my Gravely have a 3 year warranty). Most of the sealed bearings are rated to last 1,500-2,000 hours which for normal consumers is pretty well a "lifetime"(I have a 1.5 acre yard and my old lawn tractor I gave to my son had approx. 400 hours on it after 6 years of use). It took a while to convince me, but now I've been convinced that it's just another "maintenance chore" that I no longer need to perform. You need to ask the dealer or the manufacturer on the Cub Cadet i 1042 if the bearings are sealed and tell them the "maintenance" is a deal breaker for you. Hopefully, they'll be up front with you then.