Bush hog oil change ?

(quoted from post at 16:51:41 01/09/15) I have a 10 year old Woods Brush Hog, didn't come with the manual.

I've changed the oil once. What's recommended ?

I have the manual on my Woods M5-4.

It says to remove the top plate held on by four screws and fill half full with 90 EP Gear Lube. Let set for 5 minutes to allow oil to seep down into lower bearing areas then refill as needed.

Nowhere in the manual does it mention anything about changing the oil.

You can get manuals on Ebay.
 
Thanks. That might be the one I have. Mine has a side bolt, you remove that and refill from the top until it comes out the side.

I guess I'll just check the level and make sure it's OK. I do less than 25 hours a year, 12 acres.
 
Might check around, some use John Deere or case IH corn head grease in their gearboxes.

This is an outstanding lube, I think it's far superior to just standard gear oil. Might keep the old gearbox running many years for you.

I know it says grease, but it runs out much like a heavy oil.
 
I use the JD corn head grease in my 'N steering column, good stuff. I will consider that in the brush hog, thanks.
 
(quoted from post at 21:52:54 01/09/15) I use the JD corn head grease in my 'N steering column, good stuff. I will consider that in the brush hog, thanks.

Charlie--I have a hard copy of the XT 172 manual and when I have time, will scan it. May be awhile, but if you need it, will be glad to share!!
 
I put Lucas gear oil in my new finish mower and I plan to never change it.--use it maybe 12 hrs each summer It'll way outlast me..
 
I was surprised to find that Caryc, below, is correct.

"Nowhere in the manual does it mention anything about changing the oil."

I have 3 Woods rotary cutters, BB720X, BB840X and MDS1260.

I bought all three new and have the owners manuals. The manuals do not include gearbox oil change among service items.

That said, the oil becoms water contaminated rather quickly due to condensation and I do change the oil in all every 3 years or so.

I change from the top when the oil is hot using a marine "topside oil changer" that I bought years ago when I had a boat with an I/O drive.

I probably get about 90% of the oil out and it does not take long.

Dean
 
(quoted from post at 12:07:11 01/10/15) is there a generic corn head oil

This is some stuff I found at the tractor supply which is equivalent to JD corn head grease. Need to look since I don't have any John Deere dealers anywhere near me.


mvphoto14832.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 07:03:27 01/10/15) I was surprised to find that Caryc, below, is correct.

"Nowhere in the manual does it mention anything about changing the oil."

I have 3 Woods rotary cutters, BB720X, BB840X and MDS1260.

I bought all three new and have the owners manuals. The manuals do not include gearbox oil change among service items.

That said, the oil becoms water contaminated rather quickly due to condensation and I do change the oil in all every 3 years or so.

I change from the top when the oil is hot using a marine "topside oil changer" that I bought years ago when I had a boat with an I/O drive.

I probably get about 90% of the oil out and it does not take long.

Dean

How do you figure that the oil becomes water contaminated rather quickly due to condensation?

Mine is a small sealed gearbox. It has seals and gaskets to keep it a sealed unit. Where does the condensation enter into it? There is no "breather" on it like an engine. If the oil can't get out how does water get in?
 
All three of mine, all others that I have previously owned, and all that I have seen are vented, intentionally or otherwise. This allows air to exchange with changing temperature.

The oil becomes milky within a year or so but I usually let it go for three or four years before changing it.

Dean
 
JD corn head grease is a nlgi 0 ep poly urea grease.

You can get 0 , 00, 1, 1.5, etc greases.

Stens and snapper both make a pourable grease as do many nh dealers sell a pourable grease. Its popular in lawn equipment lower ends
 
If it was truly sealed I'd expect an input or output shaft seal to
blow out when warmed due to thermal expansion.

Sure you don't have a vented plug, they have lil caps on them.
 
(quoted from post at 14:37:04 01/10/15) All three of mine, all others that I have previously owned, and all that I have seen are vented, intentionally or otherwise. This allows air to exchange with changing temperature.

The oil becomes milky within a year or so but I usually let it go for three or four years before changing it.

Dean

I'd sure like to see a picture of those vents. As I said mine is a Woods M5-4. It is a pretty old mower but functions just as well as a new one. There are no vents on my gear box.

It's not that I don't believe you. As I said mine is very old, maybe the newer ones are different. Although I don't see any reason to ventilate that small gear box.
 
(quoted from post at 14:49:24 01/10/15) If it was truly sealed I'd expect an input or output shaft seal to
blow out when warmed due to thermal expansion.

Sure you don't have a vented plug, they have lil caps on them.

Thermal expansion? Maybe that's why they say to fill the gear box only half way with oil.

I don't see any lill caps on my gear box anywhere. I just don't buy that about a seal blowing out due to thermal expansion. If you filled the gear box up with no air in it and the fluid started to expand, I would think it would slowly force it's way past a seal.

If a cherry bomb went off in there, I could see blowing out a seal by the sudden pressure. But, with a slow build up of pressure, I just don't buy that.

But, maybe there's something I"m missing. Perhaps you could explain further?
 
Best way I can describe it, without telling you to go to
engineering school ( like I did ) is to illustrate it by teaching.

Take your grease gun and find a tail wheel on an implement
with a sealed hub. Now start pumping.. but go slow.

Let me know what slow build up of pressure eventually
accomplished.


Now, that said, what you are looking at in a sealed sump, with
thermal expansion, and seals, is the retention friction of the
seals vs the lip seal integrity, vs the air pressure.

Strongest one wins.

If the air pressure is high, and the seals are tight fit of or have
retainers, then the lip will give, or perhaps a box lid gasket if it
has one.

If no retainer and good lip, the seal will push out.. etc

If good retention, and average lip, you will shed lube.

They might have engineered it as sealed sump with tight seal
retention and all, and that might be fine on book specs with new
SLS. However with worn seals, I see lube loss.

My personal opinion, without seeing the parts list and diagram
for your mower.

I HAVE seen sealed gear boxes on cone spreaders that were
"permanently" lubed with grease. Same with some mowers too.
Most of those fail due to lack of lube however...
 
(quoted from post at 16:14:27 01/10/15) Best way I can describe it, without telling you to go to
engineering school ( like I did ) is to illustrate it by teaching.

Take your grease gun and find a tail wheel on an implement
with a sealed hub. Now start pumping.. but go slow.

Let me know what slow build up of pressure eventually
accomplished.


Now, that said, what you are looking at in a sealed sump, with
thermal expansion, and seals, is the retention friction of the
seals vs the lip seal integrity, vs the air pressure.

Strongest one wins.

If the air pressure is high, and the seals are tight fit of or have
retainers, then the lip will give, or perhaps a box lid gasket if it
has one.

If no retainer and good lip, the seal will push out.. etc

If good retention, and average lip, you will shed lube.

They might have engineered it as sealed sump with tight seal
retention and all, and that might be fine on book specs with new
SLS. However with worn seals, I see lube loss.

My personal opinion, without seeing the parts list and diagram
for your mower.

I HAVE seen sealed gear boxes on cone spreaders that were
"permanently" lubed with grease. Same with some mowers too.
Most of those fail due to lack of lube however...

Thanks for the explanation which is pretty much what I suggested would happen. By the way, I'm going to sign up for engineer school on Monday.

I haven't added any oil to my gear box in the ten years I've had it. I did however remove the plug in the top cover and stick a pipe cleaner down there to see what the oil level was. No water just dark colored oil.

By the way if a tail wheel has a sealed hub why would it have a grease fitting? I'm asking because I've never seen a tail wheel with a sealed hub. I only have this one mower.
 
I own one of the less expensive rotary cutter made
House brand. My old cutter gearbox has a vent.

You better check your gearbox and find the vent,

it may be in the top fill plug, a small hole drilled
into the plug, anything to relieve the built up
pressure of the oil pumping around in the gear box.

Otherwise the pressure will blow out a seal and if
blows the lower seal to the blades it a real pain to
fix.

If someone has filled the gearbox with grease it
might not build up pressure, many old gearboxes have
run for years pumped full of grease, when they start
leaking.
 
I don't think I own a mower that doesn't have grease fittings and
grease seals on the tail wheels. And I have 5 mowers.


With no grease seal on the hub, the grease would just fly out
and the bearing or bushing would be contaminated.

Does your mower have oil in the box or pourable grease?

Not arguing with you, just telling you what I have experienced
on the ag equipment I have and our fleet of heavy equipment at
work.

I have seen throw away stuff with non sealed hubs.. but most
stuff meant to last usually has fittings and dust or grease seals
of some sort.
 
I wonder if a prev owner might have swapped a vented plug in the box with a standard one.

All my mower boxes have vented plugs, john deer, king latter, heavy duty and light duty hose and a ford mower. Come to think of it my serves mower has one too. I just realized I have 7 mowers not 5, also have an IH and a woods.
 
(quoted from post at 16:57:13 01/10/15) I wonder if a prev owner might have swapped a vented plug in the box with a standard one.

All my mower boxes have vented plugs, john deer, king latter, heavy duty and light duty hose and a ford mower. Come to think of it my serves mower has one too. I just realized I have 7 mowers not 5, also have an IH and a woods.

What exactly is a vented plug? Does is just have a small hole drilled through it from top to bottom?
 
The vented plugs on my various mowers all look a lil different.
Most have some sort of round or fitted cap on them, and if you
pried that off, you'd have a pipe plug with a thru hole, or a thru
and side hole.

My john deer has some 2 part plug that has a small shroud, but
looking at base of plug which is also the dipstick, there is a vent
drilled.
 
(quoted from post at 23:31:37 01/10/15)
(quoted from post at 16:57:13 01/10/15) I wonder if a prev owner might have swapped a vented plug in the box with a standard one.

All my mower boxes have vented plugs, john deer, king latter, heavy duty and light duty hose and a ford mower. Come to think of it my serves mower has one too. I just realized I have 7 mowers not 5, also have an IH and a woods.

What exactly is a vented plug? Does is just have a small hole drilled through it from top to bottom?

Lots of different styles.
and with the beancounter, bottom-liners in charge today....who knows...maybe none.
My cheapo finish mower has a plastic fill plug and a regular metal level pipe plug.
Looking at the fill plug with a magnifying glass...you can see the tiniest of vent holes on its underside....which promptly plug up.
Noticed on a walk around before use that the front shaft seal was pushing out and starting to leak.
Pounded it back in. Drilled the fill plug with a small hole. Used a piece of windshield washer tubing (the very small one for the sprayers.) Epoxied it into the fill plug, ran it down the side of the gearbox so water wouldn't enter. no more problems.
 
I agree they should have a vent somewhere, for the reasons stated - when the box gets hot it would push the oil out past the seals were it not vented.
Here's a photo of the vent on my King Kutter finish mower. This one is pretty obvious - it's the fill plug and vent both in one.

100_1932.jpg
 

Thanks for all the pics guys. All I see on mine is a regular four sided pipe plug on the top of the gear box.

I just went to the Woods Equipment site and used their "Ask Us A Question" form to email them and ask if my mower should have a vent.

I'll let you know if they respond.

However in the schematic drawing and parts list that I have, it does not show any vented plug. I think that if it was going to leak or push out a seal, it would have done so in the ten years that I've had the mower.
 
Sorry for the delay in responding.

My 3 Woods mowers are late models. The vent is built into the top filler plug/dipstick. Sorry, no pictures.

Other mowers that I have owned have had other types of "vents," e.g., interference fit filler plugs, fill plugs with small holes drilled through, and even gear housings with small holes drilled through.

There is no such thing as a hermetically sealed AG gearbox.

Dean
 
"Pipe cleaner!"

How many of you know what a pipe cleaner is?

My Father smoked a pipe all of his adult life.

Where would one find pipe cleaners today?

Regarding tail wheels with sealed bearings: I too have never seen a tail wheel with sealed bearings but it would not surprise me if such exist, as the manufacturing costs would likely be lower. I would not buy one, however, as I am OLD school and like to over-lube my equipment, pushing out dirt and old grease in the process.

Dean
 
(quoted from post at 12:40:08 01/11/15) "Pipe cleaner!"

How many of you know what a pipe cleaner is?

My Father smoked a pipe all of his adult life.

Where would one find pipe cleaners today?

Regarding tail wheels with sealed bearings: I too have never seen a tail wheel with sealed bearings but it would not surprise me if such exist, as the manufacturing costs would likely be lower. I would not buy one, however, as I am OLD school and like to over-lube my equipment, pushing out dirt and old grease in the process.

Dean

I think any dunce knows what a pipe cleaner is. You can usually find them in any craft store. Or a tobacco or cigar shop may have the scrubbing bristled kind of pipe cleaners.

I assume that you're referring to my sticking a pipe cleaner down the top hole to check the oil level. The fluid level shows up nicely on a white pipe cleaner.

I always have a pack of pipe cleaners around the house. They come in quite handy for lots of things.
 
(quoted from post at 12:29:53 01/11/15) Sorry for the delay in responding.

My 3 Woods mowers are late models. The vent is built into the top filler plug/dipstick. Sorry, no pictures.

Other mowers that I have owned have had other types of "vents," e.g., interference fit filler plugs, fill plugs with small holes drilled through, and even gear housings with small holes drilled through.

There is no such thing as a hermetically sealed AG gearbox.

Dean

The trick would be finding those holes that are plugged up with ten years of mowing dust and dirt.
 
One way to find it would be to remove the fill plug then wrap duct tape around the end of your blow gun on the air hose and slightly pressurize the gearbox. You'd probably hear or feel where the air is escaping from the vent.
Set your regulator to about 20 psi so you don't blow the seals out.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top