A little stumped
 

Good day all.

So, I'm a little stumped. Couple weeks ago when I started up my 1211 and pulled it out of barn I felt a wobble in the front tire. I pulled the retaining bolt and washer and immediately saw rust on the bearing. I didnt do much further inspection at this point. I just put it back in barn and ordered the bearings for both sides.

New bearings came in. I jacked it up. Popped off the wheels, replaced the bearing on one wheel and put it back on the tractor. At this point I start looking for a zirk fitting to grease it.. Can't find one.. Scratch my head for a second.. Ok maybe for some dumb reason its on inside of the wheel I think to myself. Pull wheel. Nope, not in there. There appears to be NO hole where one would have been. Unless someone welded shut and painted over theres no hole. For now i just packed the bearing and hub with grease the best I could and put it back together.

After this I went in the house to see if there were rims with grease fittings on them on ebay. I could not find my exact wheel on there but similar ones had grease fitting. I also looked on parts tree and theres has a grease fitting but I am wondering if that is an upgrade? Anyone else ever have a similar wheel or wheels with no grease fittings?? Neither of my front wheels have them. It would appear that I could add them easily enough. Just curious as to why none would be there.

You're not losing your mind. I had a 682 and now have an 1811 that neither have/had those grease fittings. My newer tractors like 1641, 1864, etc. all have them. The rims also look a little different between these two eras, the older ones have a grove for the tire bead and the newer ones are just smooth.

Ah.. Thank you for the response. Well. I'm NOT gonna buy new ones for a little hole that I can drill myself at 75 bucks a pop. Just glad I caught the problem before it damaged the spindle. Bearings fell apart coming out..

It's not a problem, old cars didn't have grease fittings for the wheel bearings and they held up just fine. Pack the bearings with hi temp grease and they will be fine.

Or do like I do. I buy those bearings pre-lubricated and sealed (PP suffix). A tad more to buy, but way less Pain in the a$$.

That’s the way to go. Less mess too!

what he said

Thanks for the input. I understand your point.
However, Even the oldest cars had very tight grease cap covers on the outside and seals on inside of hub keeping dirt, crap , and most importantly water out. If it had a zirk, pumping a little new grease in would in turn push out some of the old along with dirt...

I don't mind wiping down the rim every so often after putting a few pumps in so I think I will drill in some zirks.

I went to sealed bearings on all my stuff as well and I have zero regrets. I still smear some grease on the shaft though just to keep the bearing from sticking to it

Me thinks you are going to use a LOT of grease to fill up the cavity in that wheel. Yes greasing them is a great idea. However, most older Cadets get 20-40 years on a set of quality bearings like the factory installed. Now if you are buying $5 bearings, well lets just say that ain't what IH made in the West Pullman plant. Anyway, just rambling. If you install grease fittings I'd do the ones with 1/4-28 thd or a drive in--I'm not really certain there is enough meat there to hold in either.:bigthink: