Finally someone other than me on UA-cam talking about how much grease these Ferris spindles hold🤷 Everyone can't believe that I pump nearly 100 pumps of grease in each of the spindles of all our Ferris mowers every week during peak mowing season. I also had an issue with the front fork bearing on our ISX 2200. It was bone dry from the factory. When I pumped grease in it for the 1st time, water pushed out and it was all rusted on the inside 🤦 thanks for sharing 👍
Man yes, it is crazy how much they throw/consume! I do the same...and I am only a private mower. I have since bought a Dewalt grease gun because of the crazy amount of pumps...now I just lay there and hold the trigger until I see it coming out the bottom. Hell, I do not even wipe the spindle afterward...just hit the yard, fire up the blades, and go!
this is very useful - some of the things that get easily overlooked, especially for someone new to these topics (me). Thanks for the effort! guys "like" this video if nothing else but for the effort.
if you run stens 340-099 blades cut quality it better vacuum stronger and does better in wet thick grass its the only super high lift blade you can get I've tried them all. only negative is may have sharpen more often
I have a 3300 and the spindles have holes on the spindles under the deck but all my spindles the grease comes out between the top of the deck and the bottom of the pulley.
Love the mower. Was looking at the 800 but was sold the 2200 when I actually went in to look at them. Cut quality is top notch! That said I did have to tighten the spings to help with dive when cornering fast. I am 250lbs so that probably effects this dive issue but now that I have adjusted the springs no dive and cuts true. I will check the blade tips today and circle back.
how many times have you sharpened the blade? It looks very worn. you need a different style grease gun also- lever action or power grease gun. just my opinion. Ferris ZTM owner here.
Luckily the manufacturer uses some grease initially. Mine was dry as a bone too. Too easy for big dealers to short cut this step. I think overall the small dealers are best imo.
Hello, I greased my ISX800 until the grease came out of the hole under the deck it was a lot of grease like everyone agrees. After greasing mine though it has vibration when I engage the blades, it wasn’t there before greasing. It goes away after a few minutes I presume after the grease warms up a bit. I’m just wondering what if any damage it’s doing to to the belts and parts involved. Should I try pumping a thinner grease in there if so what would you suggest. Thanks
No vibration can be caused by greasing the spindles. Make sure your engine is at full throttle before engaging the blades. Also, you may have a blade that is off balance or damaged. That can cause vibration. Especially true, if you sharpened and did not check for the balance of the blade before you reinstalled. Last, you may have a spindle that is failing. You seriously have to grease these before every large job, or if you are a homeowner and have a small yard- say less then 2 acres - you can get like 5 mows before you need to grease. Running the spindles dry will cause damage. I never mow more than 10 acres without greasing.
@@arboyd81 like I said the vibration began immediately after I greased the spindles until the grease squirted out of the vent holes in the spindle housing under the deck. I used the same grease as used on the chassis that is called for by Ferris. I know it’s not a blade or spindle that is bent because it’s a new mower and I haven’t hit anything. If it were a problem in that area it would not stop vibrating after it warmed up. Mine will gradually stop vibrating after some minutes of running the deck. I tried what you said and did try it at full throttle and I thought the belt was going to fly off. I’ve tried it at every throttle position and the only way I can minimize the vibration is to engage the deck at the lowest speed. The only thing I can determine is the grease is too thick for the spindles and causing resistance from the tackiness of it. I’m just wondering what grease I should try on it, or maybe I need to get in touch with Ferris and see if they have dealt with this. Thanks for your reply
@mikebrown618 Ferris suggests Red and Tacky #2, and it is just not possible for grease to cause blade vibration. You definitely have something out of balance or installed improperly! Have you measured your blades to make sure they have the same height from the ground? Have you taken your blades off and checked for level in the blade by laying them on a flat service or using a long straitedge. You also need to use a nail in the wall to check for balance by hanging the blade and making sure it does not have a heavy spot. It's possible you have a bad spindle. You can check that by taking your belt loose and feeling each blade spin and / or using a small prybar to check for bearing looseness. It's pretty easy to find a balance issue. You just need to check everything! You should be able to engage the blades at full throttle with just normal start-up vibration. I.e. you have to be able to turn the blades on and off while operating at full throttle for everyday use. If you think there is so much vibration that the belt can jump, my guess is you have a bad spindle. They are a manufacturer part for Ferris, so it's possible you have a defective part! Last, if you are fortunate to have a thermal image gun, you can go mow and then check the Temps of each part and look for heat variations from bearing drag. A handheld Lazer thermometer can also work, but they are not very sensitive like a thermal cam.
@mikebrown618 One more point... these mowers have a warranty, and if you can not find the blanance issue, you absolutely need to take it in for a professional to evaluate. Deck vibration will cause spindles to fail extremely fast. I also wanted to mention that I had a bent blade on mine brand new. I thought it was due to loading it on a trailer or demo/store use at some point before I bought it. Or maybe at the factory it got hung up or hit will moving or loading. It was a difference of about 1/4 in over the run of the blade. Which, I did have vibration, but I was able to see the problem just by spinning the blades by hand until the tips lined up and it was very clear. Those blade are thick, but they can be bent when you consider how heavy the mower is, and if it got hung up on a trailer loading deck, as in, the apex of the trailer ramp. Then, about a year after I had it... I caught a blade on my trailer and bent it about 1/2" while I was unloading. For me, if I don't push my lift pedal all the way down when loading and unloading, I can strike a blade on my trailer deck/ramp apex.
What kind of jack is that? I have the same mower. My front wheel yoke bearing were bone dry. Dealer prep on these machines is joke. Deck completley out of wack, no way they used the book for any pre- sale service. The small dealer that I bought my first ferris from went out of business. I bought from a large farm supply dealer, they don't give a crap abouth the little guy. Quality control has ceased to exist anymore..
That is a J&S jack...which is for big dresser motorcycles that weigh over 1000lbs. That is total overkill for what you need. You can grab a Chinese copy from harbor freight that will get you done, I just would never lift my extremely expensive motorcycles with a Chinese copy. Just search for UTV/motorcycle jack. They even make zero turn Jack's but they cradle the wheels, and you need to work on your yoke. Also if you get a nice low pro rolling floor jack that will work. Also a normal height rolling floor jack will work. You just have to use a block of hardwood under the front of the frame where the tierods connect in the front. You will see a nice flat area there that you can lift from without and damage.
Just make sure you do not roll the unit with the hydrostatic engaged...i.e. do not force the hydrostatic drive to turn unless you have disengaged them. Make sure you use wheel stops if you do disengage the hydrostatic drives as they will then spin freely. This is know as the pull and tow mode. If you get stuck, make sure before you tow or pull the machine, you disengage the hydrostatic drives. There are little levers on each drive.
Finally someone other than me on UA-cam talking about how much grease these Ferris spindles hold🤷 Everyone can't believe that I pump nearly 100 pumps of grease in each of the spindles of all our Ferris mowers every week during peak mowing season. I also had an issue with the front fork bearing on our ISX 2200. It was bone dry from the factory. When I pumped grease in it for the 1st time, water pushed out and it was all rusted on the inside 🤦 thanks for sharing 👍
Man yes, it is crazy how much they throw/consume! I do the same...and I am only a private mower. I have since bought a Dewalt grease gun because of the crazy amount of pumps...now I just lay there and hold the trigger until I see it coming out the bottom. Hell, I do not even wipe the spindle afterward...just hit the yard, fire up the blades, and go!
this is very useful - some of the things that get easily overlooked, especially for someone new to these topics (me). Thanks for the effort! guys "like" this video if nothing else but for the effort.
I have the same mower it's a beast love it
if you run stens 340-099 blades cut quality it better vacuum stronger and does better in wet thick grass its the only super high lift blade you can get I've tried them all. only negative is may have sharpen more often
I have a 3300 and the spindles have holes on the spindles under the deck but all my spindles the grease comes out between the top of the deck and the bottom of the pulley.
How do you like your 2200? How’s cut quality? Also out of curiosity are your blade tips level with each other? Thanks
Love the mower. Was looking at the 800 but was sold the 2200 when I actually went in to look at them. Cut quality is top notch! That said I did have to tighten the spings to help with dive when cornering fast. I am 250lbs so that probably effects this dive issue but now that I have adjusted the springs no dive and cuts true.
I will check the blade tips today and circle back.
why Is 3300 spindles different?
how many times have you sharpened the blade? It looks very worn. you need a different style grease gun also- lever action or power grease gun. just my opinion. Ferris ZTM owner here.
Those were "new"...I think they used the mower for their business yard and turned off the hour meter.
Luckily the manufacturer uses some grease initially. Mine was dry as a bone too. Too easy for big dealers to short cut this step. I think overall the small dealers are best imo.
I completely agree with the small dealers being the best!
Hello, I greased my ISX800 until the grease came out of the hole under the deck it was a lot of grease like everyone agrees. After greasing mine though it has vibration when I engage the blades, it wasn’t there before greasing. It goes away after a few minutes I presume after the grease warms up a bit. I’m just wondering what if any damage it’s doing to to the belts and parts involved. Should I try pumping a thinner grease in there if so what would you suggest. Thanks
No vibration can be caused by greasing the spindles. Make sure your engine is at full throttle before engaging the blades. Also, you may have a blade that is off balance or damaged. That can cause vibration. Especially true, if you sharpened and did not check for the balance of the blade before you reinstalled. Last, you may have a spindle that is failing. You seriously have to grease these before every large job, or if you are a homeowner and have a small yard- say less then 2 acres - you can get like 5 mows before you need to grease. Running the spindles dry will cause damage. I never mow more than 10 acres without greasing.
@@arboyd81 like I said the vibration began immediately after I greased the spindles until the grease squirted out of the vent holes in the spindle housing under the deck. I used the same grease as used on the chassis that is called for by Ferris. I know it’s not a blade or spindle that is bent because it’s a new mower and I haven’t hit anything. If it were a problem in that area it would not stop vibrating after it warmed up. Mine will gradually stop vibrating after some minutes of running the deck. I tried what you said and did try it at full throttle and I thought the belt was going to fly off. I’ve tried it at every throttle position and the only way I can minimize the vibration is to engage the deck at the lowest speed. The only thing I can determine is the grease is too thick for the spindles and causing resistance from the tackiness of it. I’m just wondering what grease I should try on it, or maybe I need to get in touch with Ferris and see if they have dealt with this. Thanks for your reply
@mikebrown618 Ferris suggests Red and Tacky #2, and it is just not possible for grease to cause blade vibration. You definitely have something out of balance or installed improperly! Have you measured your blades to make sure they have the same height from the ground? Have you taken your blades off and checked for level in the blade by laying them on a flat service or using a long straitedge. You also need to use a nail in the wall to check for balance by hanging the blade and making sure it does not have a heavy spot. It's possible you have a bad spindle. You can check that by taking your belt loose and feeling each blade spin and / or using a small prybar to check for bearing looseness. It's pretty easy to find a balance issue. You just need to check everything! You should be able to engage the blades at full throttle with just normal start-up vibration. I.e. you have to be able to turn the blades on and off while operating at full throttle for everyday use. If you think there is so much vibration that the belt can jump, my guess is you have a bad spindle. They are a manufacturer part for Ferris, so it's possible you have a defective part! Last, if you are fortunate to have a thermal image gun, you can go mow and then check the Temps of each part and look for heat variations from bearing drag. A handheld Lazer thermometer can also work, but they are not very sensitive like a thermal cam.
@mikebrown618 One more point... these mowers have a warranty, and if you can not find the blanance issue, you absolutely need to take it in for a professional to evaluate. Deck vibration will cause spindles to fail extremely fast. I also wanted to mention that I had a bent blade on mine brand new. I thought it was due to loading it on a trailer or demo/store use at some point before I bought it. Or maybe at the factory it got hung up or hit will moving or loading. It was a difference of about 1/4 in over the run of the blade. Which, I did have vibration, but I was able to see the problem just by spinning the blades by hand until the tips lined up and it was very clear. Those blade are thick, but they can be bent when you consider how heavy the mower is, and if it got hung up on a trailer loading deck, as in, the apex of the trailer ramp. Then, about a year after I had it... I caught a blade on my trailer and bent it about 1/2" while I was unloading. For me, if I don't push my lift pedal all the way down when loading and unloading, I can strike a blade on my trailer deck/ramp apex.
@@arboyd81 ok I will check that out
Front casters are probably way under greased also.
Yes, they actually had water in them. Check out my other video on them!
I think wheel bearing grease would be best for this 🤷♂️
It would work but remember the blade bearings turn a hell of a lot faster than wheel bearings.
@@sunnybeech74 gotcha! Thanks
What kind of jack is that? I have the same mower. My front wheel yoke bearing were bone dry. Dealer prep on these machines is joke. Deck completley out of wack, no way they used the book for any pre- sale service. The small dealer that I bought my first ferris from went out of business. I bought from a large farm supply dealer, they don't give a crap abouth the little guy. Quality control has ceased to exist anymore..
That is a J&S jack...which is for big dresser motorcycles that weigh over 1000lbs. That is total overkill for what you need. You can grab a Chinese copy from harbor freight that will get you done, I just would never lift my extremely expensive motorcycles with a Chinese copy. Just search for UTV/motorcycle jack. They even make zero turn Jack's but they cradle the wheels, and you need to work on your yoke. Also if you get a nice low pro rolling floor jack that will work. Also a normal height rolling floor jack will work. You just have to use a block of hardwood under the front of the frame where the tierods connect in the front. You will see a nice flat area there that you can lift from without and damage.
Just make sure you do not roll the unit with the hydrostatic engaged...i.e. do not force the hydrostatic drive to turn unless you have disengaged them. Make sure you use wheel stops if you do disengage the hydrostatic drives as they will then spin freely. This is know as the pull and tow mode. If you get stuck, make sure before you tow or pull the machine, you disengage the hydrostatic drives. There are little levers on each drive.