Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Driveway Erosion Control, ETC.

Peaceful

 

I’m replacing my straight shaft trimmer head and I’m wondering if I should grease the gear drive or what. The manual doesn’t say anything about grease and not many things are serviceable anymore, just wondering if I should pop out the retaining ring on the shaft bearing and gob some grease in there.

 

Is it a sealed bearing? Or can you pack it with grease?

 

It is a sealed bearing. A quick search I found this. I guess I was overthinking it. I just need to pop off the Philips head on the side and add grease there, seems like a helpful little un-documented feature.

 

The bearing is "just a bearing" if it needs to be replaced you can just match up the numbers.
The right angle gears should be greased, that is a hard application for a grease.

At the old job I maintained/repaired/resurrected a large fleet of pneumatic and electric tools that the workers were absolutely dedicated to giving the roughest treatment possible...

I spent many hours working (and gabbing) with my IR tool rep, one of the most well rounded Wrenchman I ever had the pleasure of meeting, he had forgotten more about equipment than many folks ever will know.

The grease I standardized on for tool applications was Ingersoll Rand #67, although this is called "right angle grease" it was also recommended for planetary gear sets in pneumatic tools. I also used it in greased ring and pinion and roller bearing applications with uncounted thousands of hours of trouble free service.


To follow:

It is nice to know nothing has changed with IR... I tried to pull up a data sheet from their product library and got:

HTTP Error 403.503 - Forbidden
You do not have permission to view this directory or page.

For the most part my IR tools were good performers, the ones I had trouble with my excellent Rep made right -- IR as a company however is the biggest p-i-a to get information, parts, lead times or a even price quote that I have ever encountered. It got so frustrating that I put "10 days to six months" on the delivery date for any purchase order delivery date.

My Rep had connections, he started with them in 1979 -- even he was constantly thwarted, stymied, stone walled, blown off and otherwise hampered from doing his job by corporate policies and practices that changed with the phase of the moon it seemed.

As an example, this grease is used in the factory for every new tool, at one point IR parts discontinued it...

 

I'd be leary of running that Trufuel in your saw, or anything else for that matter. Here are a couple of YT videos reviewing Trufuel and other premix fuels. The Trufuel was a pretty poor performer in both videos. If you're going to run a premix fuel, I'd stick with the Stihl or Husqvarna brands.

https://youtu.be/UDuKE26G2mo?t=510

https://youtu.be/1JEXR-d6Z_Q

 

I do my Sthil at least once a year. And yes screw is where it goes. Mine looks like the 1 in the video though.

 

I’ve run it in a Stihl BR380 blower and in the MS290 for 2-3 years now, never had any problems. At least not yet…

 

I’ll have to watch the videos as well. I’m running it now without issues.

 

My afternoon. My JD LT180 shredded its 2nd hyro belt at about 500 hrs. It's my yard cart/leaf vac mower.

It's a pita to change that belt, but it's done, again.



I windrow my leaves with an Echo backpack blower and then vac them up. I tried hooking to the deck when I first got the Agri-fab unit, but couldn't really get the rpm's to match. The mower ran faster and I got a cloud around the mower, like pigpen on Charlie Brown.

My pex handle and a rake work pretty well for directing leaves into the vacuum tube. Rarely have to get off the mower. Rest my elbow on the padded bar and direct the tube where I need it.

 

I don't think I've ever added grease, let alone these designer blends mentioned above, in 25 years to both my Stihl string cutters.

Been using last year's 2 stroke boat fuel to run the things for about that long as well. It also fuels the chainsaw and leaf blower. I don't think I've ever changed a spark plug on any of them, either.

I have no idea what brand of 2 stroke oil I'm running...Silver something from Walmart.

 

I ran it in my weed eater for a while too, but after seeing performance issues, I went back to mixing fuel myself. It's a lot cheaper and that trufuel stuff runs too dirty. As seen in that second video where he took the heads off. The head from Trufuel looked like it had been on there for year's after only running two gallons through the saw.

 

very good question. i asked too. mine cant be greased. ive got a stihl 460 brush saw. just use it til its busted, which will take a while. its a monster.

 

Something isn't right... Usually they last just about forever.

The hydro belt isn't doing much compared to a deck belt, it sees a fairly smooth application of load and no shock loads like engaging the deck at full rpm.

 

I had one of those trac vacs, it worked but I spent a lot of time unclogging the hose when using it with the mower.

 

I still keep this old girl around for leaves, It shreds them to little pieces and you just back up and dump them without ever getting off it. I can do a LOT of leaves in a couple of hours.

 

I feel pretty much the same about fuel. I don't get the rabid compulsion to buy Stihl brand fuel when Rec90 and the little silver bottles from Wally World work just fine.

 

Good friend of mine has the same mower. I think it's 4 years old now. He keeps going thru belts just as often.

I've been trying to get him to grab one of my ZT project mowers and go thru it. it will last him the rest of his life.

But, he too stubborn.

He's a Harley Davidson guy, they can be slow.

 

That explains it: I just sold my Harley last year! Had one for most of my life.

I have a 48" Scag ZT I bought for $2000 with only 180hrs. Guy had it up for sale and said needs repair. I went to look at it and he said the local dealer told him needed about $5-700 work(new carb, plugs, etc).

It was running really smooth, but only on one cylinder ... yeah, needs new carb, sure.

Bought it and found nut had come loose and the intake valve wasn't opening. Been running perfect now for almost 300hrs.

On my John Deere, the original belt lasted about 400hrs, and the Rural King replacement belt <200. A friend warned me their belts (forget brand, I'll edit later) don't hold up well.

I may not have kept it tight enough. Could have been slipping a bit.

 

Come on now, ya gotta have the box in back of a Tacoma since this is a Tacoma forum after all...