At least it held up long enough to get the wood moved

The x530 on it's first day in its new home. It has had a lot of wear since then.

It never fails. I’m mowing the yard and the lawn tractor starts making a loud noise. Not clanking, more like it’s normal sound but a lot louder. I shut down the blades and get stopped. Just about then it shudders hard a few times and spits up a rather large pulley. I mean it just freaking rolls out from under the tractor.

As best I can tell, that pulley is where power for the PTO is pulled off the engine. The “permanently lubricated” bearing is toast. You spin it and it feels rough and dry. And whatever holds it on its shaft is nowhere to be found.

This is not a part that gets lubed or serviced, although perhaps it should have been engineered so. I despise anything that is “permanently lubricated”. Hey, if we don’t put a zerk on this we can save $0.02 cents/unit! And cause endless headaches to the owners. We will engineer and beancount ourselves into the scrap head. Of course, that may well be the point.

Normally this happens just after I have bought something rather expensive. This time it’s happened when the only other thing I have that can pull trailers and help with yard work, the Honda ATV, is also deadlined. I guess since all that yardwork I was going to do needs something to pull a trailer, I now have time to fix the ATV while the tractor is in the shop. While I might be able to fix it myself, the number of trips to the Up and Coming City plus chiropractor bills will more than pay the shop labor. I hope.

I’m going to get a shower and go see Wicked with Mrs. Freeholder, Old Friend and his wife. You guys go lubricate something expensive.

9 thoughts on “At least it held up long enough to get the wood moved

  1. You and I are likely the only folks who would use that Zerk fitting and actually grease a part.

    Most people don’t even OWN a grease gun, much less know how to use one. Especially folks who think that a lawn mower is a “Tractor”..

    Just as an aside, your choice of colors makes it difficult to comment as it is hard to read black on dark gray.

    1. On my screen, the text is white on dark grey back ground. Doing comments, the text is black on the same grey back ground. On my well used 2003 Husky, the out side blade bearings are zircked. The center blade/drive pulley is the perma lubed type. Almost all problems like that are Bean Counter induced. Worse than bean counters are lawyers.

  2. Down in the right bottom corner there is an on-screen ‘button’ that changes the background from black to white, with black letters. I had the same problem a few weeks ago. That solved the problem for me.

    1. Thanks SNH, I guess not all New Englander’s are Damned Yankees. Tree Mike from Tennessee, escapee from So. Cal.

        1. Freeholder, In case you were talking to me, Tennessee is purty darn good, BUT, you wanna pick your county carefully. We lucked into a county that has few and rarely enforced building codes, low registration rates, low population, low diversity, nice folks. Any city big enough for diversity types is gonna have city problems, Nashville is full of out of stater’s, just like San Diego. Even out here in the boonies, there’s too many tweaker thieves, but at least they look the part. I won’t use the em word, but the neighbor hood watch is xlnt. Lot’s of great places in many states are good destinations. Good luck.

  3. Well it depends on the weather you can stand. NH is cold in winter and humid in summer, at times. Southeast NH is too populated. Parts of NH are okay. Parts of Maine are okay. Some acquaintances say Tennessee is good, or Arizona, or the mountain states. But weather is a factor in all places. Access to medical care is a concern as we get older too.

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