You need to pump them full of grease until grease is coming out. That is how you force grease into the bearings. If you just give it a couple pumps of grease you are just pumping grease into the void between the shaft and housing.
The top bearing is RS (rubber side) on both top and bottom because as the grease heats up it will be less viscous and those seals help keep it in place. The bottom bearing only has a seal on bottom. I just tore my Deere version apart and confirmed the same construction. Keep the seals and pack it with grease and the units will work fine. It may not be the exact same but it will last longer than a broken one and maybe not as long as a branded version.
I think a better option is to clean the original JD bearings and if after cleaning inspection they are smooth with no roughness, wear or pitting then just reuse them. Since they are open bearings cleaning is super easy. I'm curious how many pumps of the grease gun are needed to get the grease into the actual bearings? (ie does that inner cavity require much grease before it can reach the bearings?) How many mowing hours would you estimate between spindle rebuilds?
Oh my god, I just checked the prices for spindles from JD. Spindles for the 54” deck are $103.70 and spindles for the 60” deck are $361.60 😳 I’m glad I don’t need spindles 😂
I think you got ripped off, looks like a cheap cheap China junk counterfeit put in another box. eBay is notorious for garbage counterfeit. Who sells 4 iridium spark plugs for $12 ? eBay does. Any reputable auto parts store they're $12 each. I just finished a complete mower deck rebuild for my John Deere x320 cost $700.00 replaced everything with OEM John Deere.
The pulley on my John Deere mower separated. I called the local dealer, it would cost $47, they didn't have one in stock, 7 to 10 days to get it. Amazon had one for $12. It is stamped made in China. It fits and works like new. I wonder if the replacement John Deere pulley would also be made in China? I support American made but needed it in a hurry and my local John Deere dealer never seems to have the parts I need. It is easy to change, so if it fails I may try to find a John made one.
To be fair, if the aftermarket used sealed bearings, then the other seal being trash is not really an issue, just don't expect to be able to re-grease the spindle with the zerk...
there's a vid called "don't trust the experts grease your mower deck spindle bearings common sense maintenance" that seems to prove that the sealed bearings will be packed by greasing the zerk .
Always buy from an AUTHORIZED dealer for either John Deere, Stens, Rotary, etc. Save yourself a lot of headaches. Same goes for bearings......buy from a reputable manufacturer. It isn't worth your time to go thru the rebuilding process to use junk.....but then you'll only do that once. The next time. Remember the Fram saying.......Pay me now or Pay me later!
just bought a driveshaft connector for my 62in deck, 236 bucks Canadian with tax, absolutely outrageous, would be afraid to see what a spindle would cost. Price you paid seems like peanuts to me ( OEM spindle)
The more I read and watch about the engineering of these deck spindles, the more confused I become. The first prime question is why would they install sealed bearings that can't get grease?
They get grease. There's a RU-vid video proving it. There is a lot of guys questioning grease not getting to the bearings with seals. IT WILL GET GREASE! IT WILL NOT HURT YOUR SEALS.
I bought a 425 last year and I replaced the belt the other day now I have a grinding sound when I turn the blades on assuming it's a bearing bad do you know the whole assembly part number from John Deere
The JD spindle assembly PN is AM121342. It's more than likely one of your pulleys; either an idler or the tensioner. Check those first, as they're easier and cheaper to replace. They go bad a lot too.
The rebuild parts are not worth rebuilding compared to the JD complete assembly. Good to know cause I buy the complete spindle bc with the worn out bearing it eats away at the housing making it unusable from the little time the blade was wobbling. The grease can through the bearing seal covers. You need at least 80 pumps. A RU-vidr tested using a different color grease and when he took it apart the new grease fillled that bearing. When I buy spindles for my X300, it doesn’t come with a pulley or nut. But I’m in Ontario Canada. USA may differ. Maybe we get ripped off. BTW I’ll put $ on it that the eBay’r bought the spindle and put it in a Stens box. What a crook. I got asked once if I’d sell a Crane Cams Z28 valve spring empty box. Of course I said no. I know what he wanted it for.
God bless you man you just saved me from buying a piece of junk ! I’m going to buy a new John Deere spindle, then rebuild the old one for when the other one goes.
Well when you go with aftermarket you get what you pay for $90 versus 40 now you would have to go out and buy another bearing from John Deere now you're out the 40 and you got a good bearing from John Deere for 90
Great question. Don't assume that because a deck is stamped, that it's no good. Comparing Deere decks to cheaper brands, the steel is much thicker and noticeably heavier. I feel fabricated decks are overrated for general residential mowers. They're better suited for commercial or ag use. Also, with all the straight edges and corners, they have to be heavily baffled in order for the air to flow well and grass to be discharged (or mulched) adequately. A well-designed stamped deck will not require that much attention. The rounded shape and intentional curves will allow the deck to do what it's supposed to do.
Very informative! ...Appreciate the quality of information on your channel. Regarding the JD spindles, since there are sealed bearings inside, it seems there's nothing to lubricate. Why do suppose there is a zerk fitting on the spindle?
Thanks for the feedback! The OEM JD spindles do not have sealed bearings inside. The aftermarket one I took apart does. Sorry, I guess I failed to mention that in the video. At around 19 minutes I hold up the JD bearing and if you look closely you can see it's packed with grease, but has no seal.
@@FoggyTinkering Since my original JD spindles do not seem to have a weep hole, I'm very concerned about over-greasing. Is there a risk of creating undue pressure? (I'm not getting any overflow through the zerk, in fact, I'm not even able to squeeze the grease gun which tells me the cavity may be under pressure already. (I welcome any comments from readers as well).
This video explains it. When the cavity is full and you keep pumping grease it forces the grease past the seal into the bearings. Most bearings fail because people don't pump enough grease to actually grease the bearings. The proper way is to pump grease until grease comes out of the spindle. Then you know it is full. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PwObkilFXN0.html
wow! I never saw such garbage in my life. Why do people even buy this crap. I would be returning it right away and if they dont accept it I would dispute the charges with my credit card company. This thing is completely unusable and should be scrapped immediately
@@FoggyTinkering but if they are cheap and dont last you keep buying it again and again. This cost more money over time. If you keep doing this you are spending more money and you will never have a reserve of money and your bank account remains empty. Spending less over time allows you to put money in a bank account and now you dont have to buy the cheapest one just to have it. You will actually end up having more money.
