Spindle bearing failures Husqvarna 112C

[markocosic]

Hi,

Stringy "grass" (weeds - nettles/raspberries/tall grass) is making its way between the spinning part of the spindle and the stationary part of the spindle on our 112C front mower:

This melts the rubber bearing seal, forces the metal part of that seal into contact with the bearing cage, dries out all the lube, and generally trashes the bearing. What you see in these photos is the "first mow" (< 8 hours) where we didn't notice this happening or think that mid-mow maintenance would be needed.

What are the options for preventing this? Any addon deflectors / recalls? Better to use metal shielded bearings rather than rubber sealed bearings in this application?

For the moment I've cleared the muck out, removed the remains of the bottom seal, flipped the bearing over so that the good seal is on the bottom, and chucked some oil don the hole so that I could do a second mow. These original bearings are toast though...

The other mower (a 20" / 51 cm Makita push mower with a Briggs engine) doesn't have this issue but is obviously brutally labour intensive. (3 acres total, perhaps 1.5 acres mowed, and lots of trees)

 

[bertsmobile1]

Try fitting metal shields
Same bearing number but has a ZZ on the end
From memory they are 6203 2rs in which case you need a 6203 zz .
Down side is while the ZZ stop a lot more mechanical damage, they do not stop water and really should be used with a grease nipple.

 

[ILENGINE]

That stuff wrapping around the bearing looks like baler twine from hay bales mixed with grass. Metal seal bearings may slow down the bearing damage but will continue until you get the junk collected from where you are mowing

 

[markocosic]

6204s - I'll order in some ZZs and give those a whirl.

No twine here. We cleared the whole plot in winter (chainsaw, consolidate deadwood >1 inch diameter in a corner, abuse a mulching push mower to mulch everything <1 inch diameter) and were left with this:

March 29:




April 24 (both photos the same day...)





Then...left it until June 14 (working away) to come back to this and decided cleared enough to get to the building area (red smudge between trees) before decided that we would die trying to clear a "demilitarized zone" around it with the push mower (80-90F, 50-100% humidity and thunderstorms - so unworkable due to mosquitos and horseflies if you're too close to tall wet meadow weeds)



It's this stuff that's stringy. Stinging nettles, white flowering weeds, and wild raspberries that you can't see over the top of whilst standing or mowing. If we can once get them down to grass level - and keep them there - I think it'll be fine. Right now it's like trying to cut a wet fishing net. (with added stinging leaves and biting flies...)



Lesson learned about when the first mow needs to happen! (mid May, else you're stuffed)

 

[bertsmobile1]

Wrong mower for this job.
Those articulated out front mowers give a stunningly beautiful cut on a fine lawn
But using it for this and you will kill it stone dead
Best thing is to hire a flail mower and if you find one mounted to the front of a skid steer then all the better
Really long stalky grass responds best to being chopped down from the top rather than chopped off at the bottom.
Even better if the grass & weeds have not set seed, hire a tiller
Set it to 1" to 2" and treat the undergrowth as green manure do this at 1 month intervals during the growing season and you will end up with fabulous soil to build your lawn on.
This will leave you a lot more time to concentrate on building that house .

You could probably cut that undergrowth with a sythe by hand faster than you could cut it with that mower .

 

[markocosic]

We know.


But at the moment it's what we can get here (Lithuania) thanks to the covid related reduced production and money printing that's been happening in western europe and north america. :-/


Building? The USA has bought up literally all of the graded timber in the Baltics. (prices went from €230 per cubic metre to €600+ per cubic metre in April to just "sorry it's all on a boat to the USA" in May)

Landscaping? Western Europe has ought up all of the groundskeeping and construction machinery. The hire shops are booked out and the local contractors with machinery are taking bookings...for 2022 season.


Ground speed / cutting power isn't an issue. "Cut" (flatten) once at full height. Leave dry a couple hours. Cut (actually cut it off at the base) again at full height. Leave it die off a couple days. Cut (mulch) again at half height - at a reduced ground speed - and it's done.

I think you'd die of blood loss (from horse flies / mosquitos) rather than heat exhaustion if you attempted to scythe this at the moment. So I'll buy the $5 bearings, $10 blades, and $15 belts to clear the insects from around the house! I just wondered if there was a "stringiness deflector" or similar available for bearings/blades. The push mower by comparison is totally indestructible.


This is what we really want. €750 per day in 2020 for machine/driver/fuel/transport to and from site. €come-ask-again-in-2022 at the moment though - and useless around all the trees unless you want to mulch them.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Not quite the implement I had in mind.
That looks more like a roller than a mulcher.
We of course had no idea where you are
So looks like some of those trees will be going through a mill for timber ?
Shortage of lumber is world wide.
The fires down here last year knocked out 85% of our construction timber forests so it will be at least 10 years till we start getting local pine & no idea when hardwoods will come back .
Quite a few down here ( OZ ) are resorting to full brick because they can not get framing timber or full steel .
Nothing to stop you getting some pipe cutting it then fitting over the spindle to act as a guard.
But I fear your idea is going to be it
Buy the bearings in bulk keep the grease up to them and keep the blades sharp
If there is not much in the way of big sticks & stones you could sharpen the blades to a knife edge so they cut better
How fine will be a trial & error till you find an edge thickness that does not wear out strait away or get covered in deep gouges.
Shame you can not get your hands on a tiller those weeds would make a great green mulch
No farmers locally looking for a days work a month ?