Wheel Bearings

[Racinbob 10,805]

I've been using sealed front axle bearings for my non-workers for some time now to avoid the grease mess. About 3 years ago I switched my workers to sealed and it's working out very well. The 854 I purchased at the 2018 big show still had the regular sealed on one side only. I was given a pair of 23-8.50's for it and the past few days I got them repainted and ready to go on. Then I decided to pull the fronts and repaint them as well as replace the bearings to fully sealed. My bearing stash was depleted so I looked for more and came across these.

 

 

They are promoted as lasting 'twice as long' as standard bearings. Note the steel seals. I had never seen these before so I decided to give them a shot. The 854 with the sickle mower won't get the mileage as the other workers so I suspect they will be just fine. 

[squonk 40,659]

They should work well Bob. We ain't runnin the Indy 500 with  these tractors. 

[WHX?? 47,854]

We were just yakin about this in another thread. @RichJ wanted to know about the early bushing style and @oliver2-44 turned him on to the wheel barrow style we all use. 

Those look to be what's called precision bearings whereas the the wheel barrow styles are... well .... ya never know how sloppy they are gonna be 'till you open the box. Low speed only which is fine I guess for what we do.

I found the high speed ones in 1 1/38x3/4x flanged once but CRS where. 

Got a source Bob? How did they fit in the hubs....goodentite? 

Edited March 25, 2022 by WHX??

[Racinbob 10,805]

1 hour ago, WHX?? said:

We were just yakin about this in another thread. @RichJ wanted to know about the early bushing style and @oliver2-44 turned him on to the wheel barrow style we all use. 

Those look to be what's called precision bearings whereas the the wheel barrow styles are... well .... ya never know how sloppy they are gonna be 'till you open the box. Low speed only which is fine I guess for what we do.

I found the high speed ones in 1 1/38x3/4x flanged once but CRS where. 

Got a source Bob? How did they fit in the hubs....goodentite? 

 

Sent a PM Jim. 

 

ye, I say the fit is just right. I'll just have to tap them snug. 

 

[Racinbob 10,805]

2 hours ago, squonk said:

They should work well Bob. We ain't runnin the Indy 500 with  these tractors. 

 

Ya just burst my bubble Mike. I had plans....................

[JoeM 7,870]

the last outer PTO bearing I changed had those steel seals. 

They seemed pretty smooth to me.

 

[lynnmor 7,216]

Rubber seals protect from water and dust better than the steel shields.  You make your choice depending on the conditions, for example if you wash your tractor the steel shields may not be for you.

[pfrederi 17,490]

19 hours ago, lynnmor said:

Rubber seals protect from water and dust better than the steel shields.  You make your choice depending on the conditions, for example if you wash your tractor the steel shields may not be for you.

 

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Guess i can order steel seals.  I keep my horses out the water.  Once and great while i may use a bit to rinse the dust off the hoods. 

[Racinbob 10,805]

1 hour ago, pfrederi said:

 

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Guess i can order steel seals.  I keep my horses out the water.  Once and great while i may use a bit to rinse the dust off the hoods. 

 

In any case I'm sure you'll be fine. I'm sure they keep contaminates, including water, out as well as any. 

[Lane Ranger 10,820]

Just keep running them until the wheels fall off!  
 

 

[pacer 3,160]

On 3/25/2022 at 10:04 AM, Racinbob said:

using sealed front axle bearings for my non-workers for some time now to avoid the grease mess

 

Now theres a guy after my own ... thinking! Not to long after I got bit by the WH 'bug' and had removed 2-3-4 of the front wheels and saw that .... awful MESS of globbed up, hardened, nasty grease, I say to meself - there must be a better way!! And sure enough I changed to the sealed bearings .... well, a long time ago. And off hand I cant recall ever replacing one. Soooo much nicer!!

 

I still use the sealed ones, I'm on my second batch of 10 pieces off the bay for $20/25ish I think, and no, they are not top line bearings, but as already mentioned, we arent running the Indy 500 and have served me fine. I will add though that last time I looked I had quite a search for the flanged type - another reason to get 10 at a time.