Deer Whisperer 66 #1 Posted December 16, 2014 Putting my 48 inch deck away I found a broken grease fitting on the center spindle . The E Z out snapped off .Tried a left hand drill but no luck. Whats your thought of putting a grease fitting under the deck into the side of the spindle housing. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc724 924 #2 Posted December 16, 2014 The only reason there is a grease zerk is if the bearings are open on one side. If you are nervous about having a zerk fitting, I would not tap the side of the spindle housing. They are magnesium alloy (or maybe aluminum) and are quite thin. You could easily strip a tapped hole and then what would you do? My solution would be to either buy a new spindle or get two sealed both side bearings. The later is the cheapest way to go. A good bearing (machined, not stamped cup bearing) will run about $10 each Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
daveoman1966 3,612 #3 Posted December 16, 2014 Before the spindles with the top grease zerks there was a 'Double D' type spindle that didn't have grease fittings anywhere. The top end of these had a one-side open ball bearing and the lower end had a 3/4" ID roller bearing with only a rubber seal. There was no way to grease these. Therefore, I decided to drill and tap a fitting into the side of the housing as shown here. This worked out very well and out of 50 or so that I did this to, only one failed when I stripped out the threads. Even that was an easy fix....just drill & tap a larger size fitting in the same hole. The only drawback is...when you drill into the housing, you need to remove the spindle shaft to get all the way thru the housing. Secondly, some minute drill shavings will undoubtedly remain on the inside of the housing....got to clean them out somehow. Next, the grease zerk should be on the 'down-wind' side of the housing or it'll be subject to clippings and debris fouling it....unless you can find a secure fitting cap for it. I've not had to do this with later style housings so you are in the experimental arena. You could, of course, just get a replacement spindle shaft and I probably have one available. If you want to go that route, send me a private email to me here: daveoman@windstream.net Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
