Deck wheel lubrication

[MalMac 1,328]

Have always had trouble keep deck wheels lubed for the entire mowing of the yard. They start squealing loud enough to here over the engine. I have to make a pit stop to grease and continue on. I have used all types of grease. It's not just this deck, it happens on all the decks. They all have the standard deck wheel that comes on the deck form the factory. Years ago when we were a dealer I remember some people came in with the same issue and all that was recommend form the factory was use appropriate grease at recommend intervals. We just recommend more frequent greasing. Well years later it's still a pain. So what does the Red Square crowd say?

[doc724 924]

I have not had too much trouble of late.  In the past, I found that once the bolt gets worn, all bets are off. 

[MalMac 1,328]

I  had one apart the other day and it did have a worn bolt. There is one lube that worked just a little longer than grease. For the heck of it I tried Slick 50. It actually worked just a little longer, but made a mess.

[daveoman1966 3,637]

OPTIONS:

1...Take the muffler off of the engine...then you wouldn't hear (here) the squeak.

2...Have spouse or kids do the mowing.

3...Ditch the Wheelhorse and pickup a good push mower.

4...Use hard plastic (nylon? ) wheels with new shoulder bolts. 

5...Pour 2" concrete slab over entire mowing area.

6...Just don't do it.

 

I chose option # 4.

[tunahead72 2,347]

A very good answer, Dave, but you forgot option 7... Turn the stereo up louder.

This option works well in my cars and trucks, but I still can't find the stereo in either of my Wheel Horses. And of course, it comes with its own narsty little long-term side effect, a high-pitched whine that persists long after the tractor and every other noise maker in your life has been turned off. But what the heck, we only live once.

Or you could replace the bolt and see what happens.

[squonk 39,210]

I had the same problem until I pulled the wheel off and greased the wheel with it off. Well it's a good thing I have one of those cordless grease guns. You have to pump half a tube of grease into those things until the grease gets to the bolt area. I think the wheel is hollow and you have to fill it up. Since (cense or sense) I did that nor more squeaky wheels.

[jdleach 525]

Your right Mike. These wheels are as hollow as the leg of a hungry teenaged boy. Looked them over very carefully when I got a new set for my 312 about 6 weeks ago. The construction is very good, but you have to about empty an entire tube of grease into both wheels to fill the cavity. After the initial greasing, just a pump or two usually suffices to lube the bushing.

The problem with greasing any bushing, is that grease, like water, takes the path of least resistance. If one bushing is slightly larger than the other one, or the bolt is more worn on one end, the grease will more readily flow to that side, leaving the other side high and dry. You can ameliorate this to some extent by either pulling or pushing the wheel to either side while greasing, so as to block the flow one way or the other.

One thing I noticed about these wheels, is that they are advertised as having a "special" type of bearing material for long life. I looked at the wheels closely, and could not discern anything special about the bushings. They looked to me to be some grade of Leadloy (a leaded steel alloy). Leadloy makes an OK bearing, but is certainly not in the class of a good grade of Ampco bronze.

[Don1977 604]

I drilled my deck wheels out and added oilite bushings and new bolts. That was a number of years ago. Might need new bushings and bolts now.

[jdleach 525]

Oilite would work quite well, and is a good repair. There is a reason why most manufacturers use self-oiling bearing material in blower motors, fans, and other small motors. In the application of a deck wheel, the slow rotation should equate to a quite long life span.

Another work-around, is to use a Dremel with a small burr, and cut a left-hand spiral groove in the outside bushing, and vice-versa for the inside one. These grooves will help to channel the grease from the inside of the wheel to the outside. Such "grease grooves" are used extensively in industrial applications. Just made a couple of large Ampco bronze bushings this week for the pivot arm of a press at a local forging company. Had to grease groove them after boring to size. Will last a long time, as long the the maintenance idiots remember to squirt some lube in them occasionally.

[KC9KAS 4,741]

On a recent purchase, I found that the deck wheels actually had a grease zert on them.

So that is another option, making it # 8....But I did like the options Dave posted.

[Rich Gilbert 1]

I replaced my deck wheels with some wide plastic ones I found at Lowe's.  They have them on their bigger rider mowers and since they are plastic, they seem to work well and skid across the turf when turning the tractor tightly.  Also used lithium grease on them plus new houlder bolts and jam nuts with large washers so they are not too tight against the deck height adjuster.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Rich Gilbert