G'day folks,
I am wondering about lubrication of these reel bearings as they are oil fed but also greased?
That's a good question.
I'm hoping Glo Mod Gadge can offer insight on that.
Well, the grease packing performs one function, and the oil another, in this case.
Remember that the ancestry of these machines is the muscle-powered hand mower! So low bearing drag in use is required there - just as it is with sweatwheels [an old mate's term for pushbikes
].
These are open [i.e. unshielded and unsealed] bearings, and won't retain any lubricant for very long. The function of the grease is to provide initial lubrication, and more importantly, corrosion protection in the period between manufacture and entering field [or lawn] service.
Oil is the in-service lubricant, and of course it will slowly wash the grease out [
and the dirt that inevitably gets in]. Older greases also had a tendency to set solid and block lube nipples [I've seen plenty of examples], where these were fitted. Ransomes warn about this in some of their literature. They supplied an oil gun, not a grease gun, with their machines that were so fitted.
In the day the expectation was that oiling was required every use.
On bicycles I believe we were told they should be pre-packed with light
grease - but there were no oil caps on many bicycles ...?
Gadge, help!
No worries, Jack.
Well, I'm not familiar with the current generation of bicycles at all. My last one was a 1971 vintage Aussie-made Hallmark, a present on commencement of high school...
Anyway, with these older treadlies, the steering head bearings were grease lubricated, and the bearings in the front and rear axles and crank were oil lubed in service. This was when only serious racing bikes had Derailleur gears; run o' t'mill bikes had fixed or freewheel single speed rear hubs, or Sturmey-Archer 3 speed hub gears.
On my old Hallmark, there was a flip top oil cap on the crank housing, an oil hole covered by a spring clip in the centre of the front hub, and an oil nipple on the rear hub. That one had a freewheel rear hub, with 'back pedal' hub brake. All 'loose ball' uncaged bearings. Of course the initial grease packing had another vital function - to hold the balls in place during assembly.
