Do all dealers try to soak you?

[Badlildoggy]

So I take my new HDI in for a pre-winter inspection (had a little noise I didn't like) and being it is still very much on warranty I figure why should I mess with it. Anyway the guy calls me a couple days later and tells me that I have like 6 shot bearings due to over greasing and that will be $1000 to repair if I want it done. I promptly tell him to eat his hat (those weren't my oh so polite words) and that there is no way a new Argo would have that many shot bearings with only 70hrs on it and that I would see for myself. I expect that possibly I was overzealous with the grease gun and maybe blew out some of the bearing seals but come on..... Mamma didn't raise no idiot and I grew up on the farm, wrenching and fixing my whole life. These guys really chap my arse.

[Rock Doctor]

Interesting,.................I've seen LOTS of bearings that never made the 35hr mark, but I don't think any of them failed due to overgreasing. In my opinion, it's very hard to overgrease an assembly that simply allows grease to ooze out around the bearing at will. I just greased mine yesterday, and stopped pumping when I could see a bit of grease start to squeeze out between the Outer bearing race and the Outer bearing carrier (It was quite cold out though). I have seen the outer shield on the bearings bulge out a bit when pumping grease in, but only when pumping it in fast (maybe an 8th"), and they were easy to push back. Do you use a pnumatic Grease Gun by any chance?

Anyway, I agree, that's something I would want to scope out for myself.

And NO, not all Dealers are like that...............SOME ARE WORSE and some are GREAT guys to deal with

RD

[AlaskaGrizzly]

It is a fact that you can overgrease a bearing. I have heard of it in the work enviroment were equipment runs on a 24/7 basis. I beleive its got to do with the fact that overgreasing does not allow the proper ball to race contact which leads to shortened bearing life. That's a guess on my part. I'll go out there on a limb and say I do feel strongly that 70 hours of use on an "overgreased" bearing would not make it fail. I probably "over grease" my machines as I do it at least twice a year. Along the sames lines I probably also "over lube" my chains. I do it because I don't want to take chances of having bearings contaminated with mud and grime.

When I bought one of my machines I replaced 2 outer wheel bearings because they were loose. The machine had 180 hrs and did not appear to have had many encounters with a grease gun. Two years later & probably 100 hrs of use I found that those same bearings (3rd tire back on both sides) were loose again! I wanted to replace them until I realized they were the same bearings I had already done. All the nuts and bolts are in place and tight so the slop is not in the bearing holders. I decided to just continue with my "over greasing" program if they continue to get looser I'll replace them.

As RD said, scope it out for yourself.

[Rock Doctor]

It is a fact that you can overgrease a bearing. I have heard of it in the work enviroment were equipment runs on a 24/7 basis. I beleive its got to do with the fact that overgreasing does not allow the proper ball to race contact which leads to shortened bearing life. That's a guess on my part. I'll go out there on a limb and say I do feel strongly that 70 hours of use on an "overgreased" bearing would not make it fail. I probably "over grease" my machines as I do it at least twice a year. Along the sames lines I probably also "over lube" my chains. I do it because I don't want to take chances of having bearings contaminated with mud and grime.

When I bought one of my machines I replaced 2 outer wheel bearings because they were loose. The machine had 180 hrs and did not appear to have had many encounters with a grease gun. Two years later & probably 100 hrs of use I found that those same bearings (3rd tire back on both sides) were loose again! I wanted to replace them until I realized they were the same bearings I had already done. All the nuts and bolts are in place and tight so the slop is not in the bearing holders. I decided to just continue with my "over greasing" program if they continue to get looser I'll replace them.

As RD said, scope it out for yourself.

I absolutly agree with you that it's possible to overgrease a bearing.........IF it's in a sealed assembly. Argo Bearing assemblies are ANYTHING BUT sealed. Couple that with the fact that these are "slow speed" bearings, and I think you're pretty safe. I grease mine about every 2 to 4th trip, that means I grease about 12-20 times a yr (1 or 2 shots) and I would put money on the fact that I've never had a bearing fail due to to much grease.

Being a Millwright, I've seen my fair share of bearings, and if I had to say one way or another, My guess would be that most bearings on AATV's fail due to contamination (dirt/water)

AG, I also find it interesting that your 3rd Brng back is failing more often than the rest. In my experience, I find that the second Brng back fails more often than the rest. I attributed this to the fact that the Second Axle Back drives the last 2 Axles......efectivly loading it up more than the rest. Hmmmm
Oh well, I'm still waiting for my first HDI Brng to fail (The ones I put into my Conquest....All look OK so far)

Peace
RD

[plott hound]

all good points fellers!cant see a bearing failing because of to much grease unless the seal was popped out and the tub was full of water.the bearing would get contaminted with lots of nastyness.sounds like you better find another guy to deal with.

[MaxRules]

It is definately something to check out for yourself but trashed bearings are all too common. I see Argos with maybe 200 hours that have most axle bearings tight, but one or two very loose. I've seen vehicles with the same care / abuse when it comes to maintenance yet a few bearings decide to wear out before the others. It really comes down to the main problem, and that is the fact that these bearings are designed to be used on farm equipment, not an amphibious vehicle. There is really nothing wrong with running a vehicle with loose bearings (just about every Max I've ever rode had six totally trashed bearings) but it lets water in the machine when floating. The real shame of all this is the fact that quads and side x sides don't have worn out bearings at 200 hours.

[North Country Tough]

All very confusing and alarming,I just ordered the H.D.I upgrade and will have a meltdown if these things fail in that time frame,I have ran dual wheels on my last 5 machines and get 800 hrs out of my brgs,yes I have replaced the bearing plates they start to "egg" not much support them pressed tin plates but I grease plenty,I dont get it this sounds absolutely ridiculous to me,I must be blessed (not cursed) LOL.N.C.T

[Badlildoggy]

Thanks guys, glad I'm not crazy. Perhaps I wasn't so overzealous with greasing, much like you Rock Doc, I am religious about every third or fourth trip or after extensive water exposure, I hit it with 2-3 squirts. After reading and hearing about how much better the HDI bearings have been, I just found it hard to swallow that 6 of 16 bearings were bad.

[North Country Tough]

Thanks guys, glad I'm not crazy. Perhaps I wasn't so overzealous with greasing, much like you Rock Doc, I am religious about every third or fourth trip or after extensive water exposure, I hit it with 2-3 squirts. After reading and hearing about how much better the HDI bearings have been, I just found it hard to swallow that 6 of 16 bearings were bad.

I would in a heartbeat pitch off a call to O.D.G,that is total BS,keep us informed as to how you make out the big whoop about HDI was the much more durable axles/brg I just got to know or I will stick with the old style.Cheers

[reichstall]

ok from some one that has spent alot of time in the mud my answer with this style bearing is no you can not overgrease but you can use a poor grease that will break down in litttle time.the guys out there buy the cheapest thing they find 1.99 at the corner gas store and use it and wonder why the thing dies in a short time.now if we had a seal on this and no i did not see one when i did mine .i say they were soaking it to you.

[micmac]

I'm curious about something. I think I remember from Rock DR video that the new HDI doesn't use an enclosed outer flange like the older style is that right? If true doesn't that expose the bearing to more contaminants like with a Max bearing?

[North Country Tough]

I'm curious about something. I think I remember from Rock DR video that the new HDI doesn't use an enclosed outer flange like the older style is that right? If true doesn't that expose the bearing to more contaminants like with a Max bearing?

True no outer double seal flange.It was some concern to me but they claim a much higher quality brg that its a non issue,my reasons for looking at this were the brg holder on the four center axles at least are now up against the frame(more support)as opposed to mounted on the outside of the body with a bunch of cork gaskets,of course the front and the rear are in the bearing extensions and fairly rigid,gone are the press tin plates that supported the brg for a much heavier duty brg holder,this for me was big, with running duallys and excess loads them tin plates do not stand up it looks far stronger,the axles speak for themselves no issue there super heavy duty.

[lewis]

Yes, you can over grease a bearing. I have seen it before. What does happen is the grease can and will actually drop the RPM on a electric motor temporally. To much grease creates more friction because the clearances are removed, but the grease will be forced out(we have a relief dump). Our electric motors run 24/7 and require frequent greasing. One machine has nearly 400 bearings and we have 12 machines so we work with a lot of bearings. Now, i have NOT seen a bearing that was destroyed from over greasing, even with the seals blown out. I have seen bearings that were BAD that someone has tried to get more life by adding more grease. We have used them all sealed, unsealed, shielded. Probably the most deferential item to bearing failure is incorrect installation not grease. Temperature that the bearing operates in has a effect on the grease which can breakdown and cause a dry bearing failure which is not the case, I too would be a little suspicious of the 6 bad bearings.

Just my opinion.

[JoeMeg]

I've sat in on a few bearing servicing discussions among mechanics at work. One of the topics that has stuck with me is,the more often a brg is serviced,the more often it's likley to have some form of contamination introduced,with considerable force, from outside. I always try to clean the zerk and surrounding area as best as possible before popping the coupling from the grease gun on.

Joe.

[reichstall]

there in fact is another issuse you can buy zerk cover for like 1.10 for ten of them i have them every fitting.back to quality of grease just go to any parts store and look at range if you like buy a couple of them .not get them cold some will just turn to putty others will hold. next apply pressure if you notice on the tube some will say extreme pressure some will just flatting out and be gone others will leave a film which is what we are looking for.In the end you do pay for what you get there are plenty of ads online saying this is the greatest thing since slice bread.so can i tell you the best to use no i myself use a marine grade grease this is what we use on anything that will be in water. we do not use this if the equipment will not be in water. By the way you will notice that they mention a drop in load when grease that would be the case in any grease cond. unless the grease was not getting where it needed to go.On my hdi install to early to tell but i am not holding out hope for this style bearing i just cant see any form of protection from the elments and fine sand should find its way in .but time will tell.