Greasing the Bearings
Service Interval:
Every 50 hours
The main working bearings of the aerator are sealed and
require no maintenance or lubrication. This drastically
reduces the maintenance required and eliminates the risk
of grease or oil being dropped onto the turf.
There are grease fittings that must be lubricated with
an SAE multi purpose, high-temperature grease with
high pressure (EP) performance or SAE multi purpose
lithium base grease.
The lubrication points are:
PTO Shaft (3) (Figure 39)
Figure 39
Roller bearings (Qty. 2 or 4, depending on model)
(Figure 40)
Figure 40
O-ring chain —
Do not lubricate the chain.
Important:
Bearings rarely fail from defects in
materials or workmanship. The most common
reason for failure is moisture and contamination
working its way past the protective seals. Bearings
that are greased will rely upon regular maintenance
to purge harmful debris from the bearing area.
Sealed bearings rely on an initial fill of special grease
and a robust integral seal to keep contaminants and
moisture out of the rolling elements.
The sealed bearings require no lubrication or short term
maintenance. This minimizes routine service required
and reduces the potential of turf damage due to grease
contamination. These sealed bearing packages will
provide good performance and life under normal use,
but periodic inspections of bearing condition and seal
integrity should be conducted to avoid downtime. These
bearings should be inspected seasonally and replaced if
damaged or worn. Bearings should operate smoothly
with no detrimental characteristics such as high heat,
noise, looseness or rust weeping.
Due to the operating conditions these bearing/seal
packages are subject to (i.e. sand, turf chemicals, water,
impacts, etc.) they are considered normal wear items.
Bearings that fail due to other than defects in materials or
workmanship are typically not covered under warranty.
Note:
Bearing life can be negatively affected by
improper wash down procedures. Do not use
high-pressure or high volume spray directly at the
bearings.
It is common for new bearings to purge some grease out
the seals on a new unit. This purged grease will turn
black in color due to collection of debris and not due to
excessive heat. It is good practice to wipe this excess
grease from the seals after the initial 8 hours. There may
always appear to be a wet area around the seal lip. This
is generally not detrimental to bearing life, but keeps
the seal lip lubricated.
Inspect the coring head bearings every 500 operating
hours and replace as needed.
Checking the Gearbox Oil
Service Interval:
Every 50 hours
The gearbox is filled with 80W–90 gear oil or equivalent.
Allow the gear box to cool before checking the oil level.
1. Clean debris from fill plug and check plug to avoid
contamination.
2. Remove the check plug from the gearbox (Figure 41).
Note:
If the gearbox has two check plugs, use the
bottom one.
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