Noticed on my Volvo EC210C yesterday a ton of grease coming out the swing bearing. I haven't greased the swing bearing in at least 50+ hours but I did just add about 15 tubes to the swing gear because it was really low. Is there a seal somewhere that might be gone causing the swing gear to leak the grease out? Last spring I put like 5 tubs in and checking it this winter it seemed to have disappeared and I filled it 3x with about 5 tubes, and each time I turned the house a few times it like disappeared but it did raise it a fair bit. Before I filled it recently I pulled the bottom cover and nothing came out and it looked empty in there. I'm just worried that much grease coming out is going to blow the seal out and why it's coming out.
I'm thinking you don't have to worry about the seal you all ready got it. Bob
3-5cc every 250 hours. That's it. Let's be clear, you pumped 5 tubes into the rotation bearing? Using the grease nipples? That's enough for replacing the grease in the slew bath. The garter has most likely been pushed out. You can try and reseat it once all that grease stops purging. Not many folks have had success.
Do you know the swing bearing and the swing gear are two different parts Right? Bob
Holy cow! That’s a lot of grease. I’m always up for a good Saturday night grease thread. I’ll make the popcorn. So, looks like we got some EEe-PEe, Moly-B action going on.
That's the point. He used enough for the slew bath, in the rotation bearing.
Step away from that grease gun, good sir.
You might want to reread the original post before jumping to wrong conclusions . Bob
That's why I asked for clarification.
The grease was not pumped into rotation bearing. The grease was put into the cover beside the batteries. The fitting around house haven’t been touched in at least 50 hours and I just do a few quick pumps. That grease has to be coming from the cover of battery box, I just don’t know how they are connected? I didn’t check oil in the swing motor but it doesn’t look like any oil just pure grease.
The bearing has a seal on the inside that's higher than the swing gear so if the gear case is over filled the gear will push grease thru the bearing. Bob
Good day Not unusual to see the cause often has been that the seal has been displaced by over greasing, its tricky to replace the seal attached is the information that may help. Another cause has ben swing transmission lube leaking in the cavity however this normally thins the grease which doe's not appear to be the case in this instance. kind regards Uffex
What do you consider "really low"? I think the proper level is half the depth of the ring gear teeth is sufficient?
I see some love blossoming here
Its been so long since I've dealt with excavators but I seem to recall you only want the grease level to be slightly higher than the bottom of the swing pinion. Maybe like an inch of grease total? Like I said been a really long time and don't have any service manuals kicking around.
The grease in that compartment should be just high enough that the swing pinion just touches and makes “swirls” in the grease as the machine swings.
That was what I suspected, Nige. Just enough that the grease can squeeze its way up the tooth face for lubrication.
Low enough when I pulled the bottom cover nothing came out. Prior to putting the last 2 tubes in the grease was just up on the gear a bit, I didn't check it after those. Only thing I could think of is the grease is bulked up at the cover and when getting pushed from spinning the house it got into the swing bearing overflow instead of just spreading out? Considering the size of it, 2 tubes would do like nothing. I'll take a look once i've got the hoe back at my yard hopefully I can reseat the seal.
How cold was it when you added the grease ? Was the machine setting level? Don't know about this one butt most seal are glued in . Bob
Maybe 20F out but grease warm and machine level. Although I didn't spin the house until the next morning which was like 0F, never thought about it but totally makes sense the grease would be fairly stiff. I just thought that compartment just had the swing gear and didn't think anything of it. I didn't look at the back of the track frame to see if the grease was as bad, and of course I haven't used the machine in last 2 months but now it's on a job and using it 3 days this week so I can't do anything with it right now.
The grease will reach its own level at some point so won't hurt anything to run it. Bob
Got machine back to yard and to cleaning off the grease. No sign of seal being pushed loose, but no sign of the seal being there at all! Here's two pictures, i'm pretty sure that groove there is where the seal is suppose to be but there's nothing there?? I look at 4 spots around the machine and nothing anywhere. The grease for the swing gear now is maybe 1/4" up on the gear.
Have you seen my latest video project?
Yes I did and it was quite helpful. From the looks of your video the seal on mine is totally missing.
Thanks for watching! The guy I was with is trying to find out if you can buy a new seal. I'll send him and text in the next couple of days to see what he found out.
I've replaced a couple of seals but I don't remember on what machines . The seals were ordered from the dealer and came with the glue to put them in with. The biggest pain was cleaning the grove the seal snapped in so the glue would work. Good luck Bob
Called dealer and they can get a new seal, well it's 2 pieces but i'm pretty sure it's made out of gold, $425 EACH so $850 for a rubber seal. Does anyone know if there is any other options?
Ouch!!!
Good day That does seem rather steep, may I suggest you explore other machines the sealing must be similar if not the same, you could also make a search for rubber dealings in your locality, you only need to establish the required length. It appears that they are giving you a price for both inner and outer maybe you only need the outer seal. It would be strange to have a replacement seal in two parts. Kind regards Uffex
Getting a seal is the easy part. Splitting the machine apart to get the seal in is the hard part. Maybe there is some sort of 2 piece seal. I saw a video where a guy cut the seal and super glued it together after pushing it in around the turret.
Grease leaking from last few weeks. Any one knows abt this?
Good day As Muti pointed out it is possible to replace the outer seal gluing the ends together, internal seal requires splitting the machine superstructure from the undercarriage. It is not so easy and having a helper along with a plastic spatula can be a great help. The golden rule is not to cut the seal short it will contract and spit the join, prevention from failure is always do not over grease. If you have a local SKF agent the can obtain those seals for you, please see attached.Maybe living with a leaking internal seal is a possibilty. kind regards Uffex
Someone is putting too much grease in the bearing. You should only put a couple of pumps from a grease gun in each fitting and then swing the house both ways. Repeat greasing no sooner that once a month or when you change engine oil. The bearing will accept what it needs and expel the rest.