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Post by kevlar on Jul 11, 2023 13:08:49 GMT -6
We have a Sakundiak grain auger and I need to change all the wooden bushings that hold the shaft from the gear box up to the chain at the top. I’ve never greased them then one day my brother did, then the next load they started smoking and you could smell burning wood. We’ve had it for a few years but it’s not like it’s been used a lot, had a much older auger that we used more and it had moved 10x the amount of grain as this one and the bushings were fine. So I’m wondering if it’s better to leave them dry? At 60 bucks apiece and not so pleasant of a job, I don’t want to make a habit of changing them.
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Post by snapper22 on Jul 11, 2023 14:13:56 GMT -6
Good question. I’ve always felt guilty about never greasing those wood blocks on any of my augers but now I feel kinda good about myself. I remember wood block bearings on old versatile swathers on the reel or the straw walkers of older Deere combines we would grease but didn’t seem like there was much point. Many of those wood bearings are oil impregnated anyway so maybe greasing isn’t necessary but for you to do your due diligence and have them go is odd. Speaking of which the older combines with the wood bearings for the straw walkers were a lot less trouble than those stupid aluminum things which required a tube of grease in the morning and god knows how much half way through the day and still the most catastrophic damage I ever seen to straw walkers was from one of those stupid things going out.
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Post by Beerwiser on Jul 11, 2023 14:53:40 GMT -6
I always used old motor oil on them. As Snapper mentioned they are oil impregnated, although I am not sure why grease would be a problem. Maybe the grease holds the heat or doesn't allow for the air flow? I do know they last way longer than the nylon stuff.
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Post by northernfarmer on Jul 11, 2023 15:08:32 GMT -6
I would have thought that the bushings would have worn enough that there was a gap but perhaps not. With whatever auger I've had that has a bushing of whatever type and that includes the Sakundiak, I've always greased them and never noticed a problem. Got a new Meridian not too many years ago and assume that is also wood bushings and made sure to put grease into them off the start and only feel I need to grease the unit once a year given the lack of grain that goes through it ( getting dried out helps that out ... ) . Never had a unit I didn't grease so have no comparison. I wonder if it had rained or had been humid and the wood swelled because the initial lube had dissipated and although tight and would run hot, putting grease in showed up that friction. I've never had reason to take the wood bushings apart but here's an idea if its too tight, is it possible to take them out without damaging them and sand the friction surfaces to remove just a little bit of wood and test fit around the shaft or a shaft of the same diameter. After all the issue isn't that they are worn out, its that they are tight. Try doing one bushing set and see if it is worth the hassle. I assume they are two halves as per my next comment ?
To make sanding easy you would take the half bushings and either hold them lightly in a vice together or run some tape around the two halves to hold them as a unit and then hold it in your hand for the sanding procedure. You take a length of 3/8 round shaft as a decent size that will fit into a 3/8 or 1/2 drill ( a section of longer bolt will work ) , cut a slot from one end with a slit disc to something over 1 inch in length, however wide your roll of emery cloth is, and that the actual slot width is wide enough for two thicknesses of the emery cloth strips. Then you take a length of emery cloth and fold in half so that you have the grit showing on both sides and slip that into the slot of your drive tool you made. Pre curl the emery cloth around the shaft so you can fit it into the hole of the bushing halves and then spin the drill to sand the hole larger. This is a trick that also works slick on holes that are large enough in steel as well to enlarge the hole as long as its not some precision fit item.
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Post by kevlar on Jul 11, 2023 15:26:11 GMT -6
Definitely not too tight, the second one up had a 1/4 inch slop in it, the top two weren’t too bad but I changed them anyway. They had never been greased before the time my brother did it, so had run dry for a few years and they seemed fine. The old auger didn’t even have a grease zerk so they were never greased.
The new bushings are dry wood, I would think they aren’t oil soaked.
I was young but remember the swathers and combine had wooden tensioners, and they never seemed to wear out. Maybe even wood has gotten worse in quality? lol.
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Post by northernfarmer on Jul 11, 2023 15:33:22 GMT -6
Hmm, that is odd as I would think there must be enough side load on the shaft that its able to bear down that hard to get the wood/grease hot. 1/4, that sounds like a lot of wear. You may be onto something, they are using Chinese wood  |
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Post by Beerwiser on Jul 11, 2023 16:45:35 GMT -6
Just a shot to left field, but if you think of where grease is used compared to oil. Grease is used in roller bearings(mostly) and oil is used in engines with gaps as bearings.
Not to mention grease is meant to stick to a point compared to oil.
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Post by kevlar on Jul 11, 2023 17:00:44 GMT -6
How would you oil them though?
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Post by northernfarmer on Jul 11, 2023 17:18:46 GMT -6
How would you oil them though? Its called grease, no that's not a joke as part of the makeup of grease is being the carrier for the actual lubricating oil it contains, to be able to hold the oil where it is required. Of course in cold weather the grease ( the carrier for the oil ) becomes thick depending on the grade of grease but oil on its own also becomes thicker, but not like grease. I guess the question remains, to lube from new or not and can only point to the factory assembly on your auger as having provision to grease, yet you've proven it can work without ( although that one bearing sure had a lot of wear ).
By the way I grease the top chain on my auger, smear it all over the chain once a year and that seems to do a good job. Remember to grease both top bearings or assume yours are both greaseable but my older Sakundiak did not have a greaseable upper drive shaft bearing, only the flighting shaft bearing had a zerk.
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Post by Oatking on Jul 11, 2023 18:26:15 GMT -6
How would you oil them though? Its called grease, no that's not a joke as part of the makeup of grease is being the carrier for the actual lubricating oil it contains, to be able to hold the oil where it is required. Of course in cold weather the grease ( the carrier for the oil ) becomes thick depending on the grade of grease but oil on its own also becomes thicker, but not like grease. I guess the question remains, to lube from new or not and can only point to the factory assembly on your auger as having provision to grease, yet you've proven it can work without ( although that one bearing sure had a lot of wear ).
By the way I grease the top chain on my auger, smear it all over the chain once a year and that seems to do a good job. Remember to grease both top bearings or assume yours are both greaseable but my older Sakundiak did not have a greaseable upper drive shaft bearing, only the flighting shaft bearing had a zerk.
Meridian augers are similar with two greasible bearing on the top. This spring I had the shaft snap off about 4 inches from the bearing holder. I first thought the shaft was solid but nope it was 1/4 inch pipe. To fix it I slid another pipe over the 1/4 pipe to make it stronger. Welded it up and painted so looks like new. I think I must of had the chain too tight but I could have sworn it was loose or just right when I checked the tension. |
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