Spindle Bearings

BrentW

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Aug 8, 2017
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I have a Tiger Cat 2 61 in that has gone through way to many spindle assembly's. It has 450 hrs and has already gone through the factory set and now a aftermarket set. I use good red grease and still burn through them. I mow all summer and mulch lots of leaves in the winter and am tired of replacing spindles. Any advice would be appreciated.
 

Auto Doc's

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Hi BrentW,

My guess is that you are pumping grease into a spindle housing with sealed bearings. It is a cruel engineering joke for many of the parts manufacturers to install fittings that do no good to grease.

Take one of your old spindles apart and wipe all the excess grease off and then look at the top and bottom bearings. They will likely have seals on both the inside and outside portion of the bearings. That means they are "sealed" bearings.

What many folks do (that now know this) is remove the inner seal (only) so when the spindle is greased at the fitting on the side of the housing, the grease can actually make it to the bearing rollers where it is needed.

Hope this helps you.
 

BrentW

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These are tapered roller bearings with a press in race and a seal on each end of the housing. I have pressed one apart and started to rebuild it but the assembly’s were almost as cheap as the bearing kits.
 

GrumpyCat

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These are tapered roller bearings with a press in race and a seal on each end of the housing. I have pressed one apart and started to rebuild it but the assembly’s were almost as cheap as the bearing kits.
Bearings come in standard sizes. Buy a set of quality bearings and don't over tighten.
 
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