Ransomes Disc Harrow Bearings

[Bensdexta]

Below is a pic of one of the original bearings (less spool) from my 'new' Ransomes disc harrow, with 1" square axles.
On this bearing you can see remains of chrome plating on the journals. It has a grease nipple and is supposed to be greased according to the original FR manual.


Unfortunately some of the other bearings are not in such good condition so I've been looking for a replacement bearing. However, the only replacement bearing I've found thus far is from Westlake see below. But it's a bit bigger, for a 1.1/8" axle, so unless I can find another orginal size bearing, looks like I'll have to use two of the larger bearings on one of the disc gangs.

Strangely these have no grease nipple and no evidence of chrome plating.

Should I fit a grease nipple and grease them, or are they meant to run dry?

BTW anyone know where I might find another bearing apart from Westlake?

[tom lad]

my instinct would be plenty of grease
re greasing will push out the dirt and lubricate .

the bearing on my MF are wooden I believe they have two grease nipples on each hub .
on some things the books don't recommend grease / lube so they run dry , I think the grease will attract dirt / abrasives , I'd grease those bearings if it was mine .

I think my discs are mf 722 mate sorry for delay.

[tom lad]

ur photos didn't show when I first read ur post
my mf bearings look very similar with removable inserts / shells.

[Brian]

As far as grease goes if you grease them you have to push the old grease out to flush out the grit every time you use them. Most manufacturers recommend dry or sealed bearings for use in gritty conditions, most soil engaging parts on the potato harvesters and planters I work with are dry or sealed bearings.

Slightly off topic but when the '000nd series came out they had front wheel bearings that needed no grease according to Fords. You took the hubs off and cleaned and repacked them every 300 hours. Problem was, here in Norfolk, we could only get 40 to 50 hours out of a set of bearings and hub. We fitted a bearing cap with a grease nipple and the operator pumped grease through until clean grease came out of the hub, every morning and our warranty work on front wheel bearings and hubs went away.

[Bensdexta]

As far as grease goes if you grease them you have to push the old grease out to flush out the grit every time you use them. Most manufacturers recommend dry or sealed bearings for use in gritty conditions, most soil engaging parts on the potato harvesters and planters I work with are dry or sealed bearings.

Slightly off topic but when the '000nd series came out they had front wheel bearings that needed no grease according to Fords. You took the hubs off and cleaned and repacked them every 300 hours. Problem was, here in Norfolk, we could only get 40 to 50 hours out of a set of bearings and hub. We fitted a bearing cap with a grease nipple and the operator pumped grease through until clean grease came out of the hub, every morning and our warranty work on front wheel bearings and hubs went away.

Thanks All for your comments, very helpful.

My 'new' bearings still have paint on the inside so I'm guessing they are new old stock. Aside from having no greae nipples, I notice also that there's quite some play in them about 1/8", so perhaps they're designed to run dry, unlike the original bearings which are clearly designed to be greased. I wonder which is the later design?

However I think I'll fit a nipple and remember to grease them every morning.

Ref dry run bearings, I note that the ball joints on the lower hitch arms aren't supposed to be lubricated.