Machine is a 1991 in good shape. 13000 hours.One issue that's been around awhile is grease oozes out freely around the big swing or slewing bearing.Assumably seal is shot. I compensate for this by liberally greasing it every 20 or so hours.i attach a gripping grease gun fitting to zerk with long hose to gun and just spin machine while injecting grease Maybe 20 shots in one revolution. Is there a better solution? and is this enough to prevent catastrophic wear?
You could buy and install a new seal. They are fun to install .
The large inner rubber strip is universal across all models, while the smaller outer rubber strip has a different pattern depending on the model. It's priced around 15 USD.
This. I’ve done the replacement on CAT 300 series machines. What’s involved with this task on a JD 590D?
So it leaks to the outside of machine. Does that point to it being outer strip? This is likely a very dumb question,but can either of these seals be changed without separating the machine ie removing upper from lower?
Can it be done without lifting upper half. Not that I have seen, but maybe someone has a patch type fix for temporary repair. Simon C
I have experimented with cleaning and replacing the outer seal. I found the procedure posted above, and did something similar to that. I also found a more wordy procedure, which I will post below.
Are you sure that the swing reduction gear box isn’t leaking? That bearing will just pump excess grease out as you keep pumping it in.
Thank you all for taking the time to educate me on how these seals actually work. I did not realize that the lower seal was as accessible as it is.Sooo I went and scraped some grunge off and sure enough there's the seal and it looks to be ok I guess. And yes my swing box does leak,but not a lot. Maybe a top-up every 40 50 hours. Last year I accessed the pan and got a load of crappy milky grease out of there. Some water had got in. Added new red grease and of course I didn't get all the old stuff out.Since then I've been more careful about how I park machine so no water lays around on the deck and I think no water gets in but a bit of oil I guess. Basically I've got kind of cream coloured grease oozing out all around,below bearing. And as I said I grease a lot so I guess that contributes. I only do 200 hours a year and I'm kind of hoping to just keep on the way I am.Reasoning that lots of grease is a good thing...
The grease points by the outer seal do not want to be over greased, it will just blow by the seal and sometimes blow the seal out. One of the few places on a machine where you can over grease.
There is a plate on the house under the boom somewhere that give you access to the swing pinion tub. The swing gear box will leak into that tub and the ooze into the bearing races. That means the races are over full all the time and the grease is pushed out through the outer seal. Since the Deere is just a Hitachi it is also possible that the swivel is leaking into the swing pinion tub.
Yes I'd imagine that the swivel leaks too although hydraulic oil level doesn't seem to go down much.My question I guess is : is all.this worth my worrying about? As I see it the grease is oozing out mainly because it's diluted with hydraulic oil and some water. Meanwhile I'm greasing more than prescribed to add new thick grease to the mix.My mechanical knowledge taps out about here. If the bearing is well lubricated, but by a lower viscosity than designers intended,just what are the ramifications?
For the hours you’re using it, should be fine. Just keep an eye on fluids, if anything changes.