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Took delivery of my Tiger Cat in January and so far I just love it. If I have a complaint its the doggone greasing the spindles every time I mow and the crap that accumulates under the deck that simply has to be scraped out.

But the mower handles and runs fantastic while managing the 5+ acres I have.

Not sure why you are greasing the spindles every time you mow, Scag has that on a 40 hour schedule, but most of us lube the spindles at 50, 100 and 200 hour servicing. As for having to clean the deck, if there is a part of the area that you mow that is sand or dirt with poor grass, do that area last and the dirt will remove most of the grass buildup. If you are mowing damp grass, you may want to plan to mow later in the day when the grass is dryer.

Mad Mackie said:

Not sure why you are greasing the spindles every time you mow, Scag has that on a 40 hour schedule, but most of us lube the spindles at 50, 100 and 200 hour servicing. As for having to clean the deck, if there is a part of the area that you mow that is sand or dirt with poor grass, do that area last and the dirt will remove most of the grass buildup. If you are mowing damp grass, you may want to plan to mow later in the day when the grass is dryer.

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....and follow the 1/3 rule(never cut more than 1/3 the total height of the grass I.E. if grass is 3" tall, set deck at 2 inches).

clay45 said:

Took delivery of my Tiger Cat in January and so far I just love it. If I have a complaint its the doggone greasing the spindles every time I mow and the crap that accumulates under the deck that simply has to be scraped out.

But the mower handles and runs fantastic while managing the 5+ acres I have.

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If you "over grease" those spindles, you could rupture the seals....NOT a good thing:0(

Scag lubed spindles have a relief valve on them directly opposite the grease fitting. However some grease guns are capable of putting out high pressures possibly up to 500-600 PSI. Years back when I had difficulty removing pilot bushings from crankshafts on standard shift cars and trucks, I would run a pipe tap into the bushing and thread in a pipe bushing with reducers to fit a large grease fitting, and pump the bushing out with pressure from a grease gun.

Mad Mackie said:

Scag lubed spindles have a relief valve on them directly opposite the grease fitting. However some grease guns are capable of putting out high pressures possibly up to 500-600 PSI. Years back when I had difficulty removing pilot bushings from crankshafts on standard shift cars and trucks, I would run a pipe tap into the bushing and thread in a pipe bushing with reducers to fit a large grease fitting, and pump the bushing out with pressure from a grease gun.

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Kudos to Scag for that...now those are truly serviceable mandrels!!! What I learned when shopping ZTR's is that many manufacturers add grease zerks to spindles as a "placebo" for customers who want to grease them...when actually the spindles contain "sealed bearings" and the grease fills the spindle housing "around the bearings" and never touch a bearing. The spindle design by Scag is another indication why they are one of the leading Commercial brands and don't "deceive" their customers.....you get what you pay for!!!

"Each time I mow" represents about 6 hours. Somewhere in the literature that came with the mower there was an asterisk that directed me to a subscript saying 8hrs for the spindles. I use a hand held grease gun with squeeze grip. Takes 4 - 6 squeezes to present grease to the top of the vents which seems like a lot of grease. Don't think I'm going to go 40 hours if they lose that much grease in just 6 hours operation. Never have mowed the grass/weeds/pasture wet and my discharge has never clogged. I reckon some of the weeds are just juicy.

The eight hours with the asterisk is deck cleaning and to do more often in dusty conditions. If you look at the parts that comprise the spindles, you see two tapered roller bearings preloaded against each other. During assembly it is impossible to completely fill it with grease. In time as the spindles run, they will take more grease and at a point will be essentially filled. Grease, when the temperature rises, will decrease in volume. The more important issue is are you using the correct grease for the spindles as it is not the same grease specified for use on the rest of the machine. You may use the spindle grease on the entire machine, but regular chassis grease which is recommended for the machine in not to be used in the spindles. I as many Scag operators have done, grease the spindles on a 50 hour schedule to marry up with the regular schedule of maintenance.

That was my original intention as well until the asterisk said 8hrs. BTW, I took the 8hrs to be perhaps just as a "break in" lube and not perpetual. What kept me doing it is the dramatic consumption. I'm using Mystic JT-6 Red EP high temp for everything. I don't care to mess around with a lesser lube just to save 25cents after spending $8K+ for a mower. (I bought a stick of a comparable grease at Tractor Supply but haven't gotten to it yet.)

After spending a good amount of time clearing my blades of nylon? mesh that I believe came from round bales the former owners pushed out for their livestock I've really gotten to know my blades and have changed them once already. The no longer spin as smooth as they did day one but I haven't been able to find a single thing wrong. I'm recovering from major surgery and just cannot deal with the maintenance myself just now but I will rig up a way to jack up and clean my machine after each use before putting back in the barn.

Scag is the only mower that I haven't had spindle seal damage on from picking up stringy crap. The Blade spacer is a good buffer for preventing damage. Several weeks ago I mowed an area at the customers request that I didn't normally mow and picked up plastic line around two of the spindles. I had to remove the blades to get the plastic stuff off, but no damage to the lower seals thankfully. I had even walked most of the area before mowing 20" tall what looked like grass. After mowing this area, I raked thru a questionable part and pulled up barbed wire and about 50' of short pieces of re-bar, now I can mow this area without concern, but the customer wants me to do another area so I know what to do first.

When you do grease the spindles on your Tiger Cat do you squeeze until grease shows at the vents?

clay45 said:

When you do grease the spindles on your Tiger Cat do you squeeze until grease shows at the vents?

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Yes

Thanks!