What do you know about Deere's Never Grease Pin joints on their bigger K-series loaders? Who makes the bushings for them, life expectancy, and actual in the field durability?
Hell, I thought those never grease pins had been around for YEARS!! Just ask any gypo logger or old farmer and they will tell you, "once you start greasing them things you have to do it every day!":Banghead Ahh the good times! Jason
My experience has been extremely good with them. They are covered under the standard structure warranty for 10K hours. I don't know if any other loader manufacturer will cover their greased joints for any period of time, let alone 10K hours. Field life has met and exceeded that in some cases. Its has been an option on 744 and larger machines since mid 2007. In fact all loaders receive this greaseless joint in the steering cylinders. Here are a couple of pictures showing the difference in wear between a greased joint and the NG bearing joint on the boom to bucket pin. Nevergrease joint didn't have any measureable wear at 8,000 hours and the greased joint was well beyond useable at about 3,500 hours. Pretty amazing stuff. The return on investment is a no brainer if you ask me.
Are these sealed, oil filled roller bearing pins similar to what Cat has run on the larger wheel loaders for years? Are they in every location, or just at the bucket hinge pin?