Adding grease to bearing housing

[WildCatFan54]

My previous boat (16 AR240 ) had a grease fitting visible on top of the bearing housings behind each engine on the rear wall of engine compartment. Other than being VERY hard for an old man to contort his body and attach the grease hose , I knew what needed to be done . My new boat (19 Limited LSE) has what appear to be the same bearings (pics attached) BUT with a tube coming where the fitting nipple was on previous boat up to a bracket attached to rear engine block ? It has what looks like a valve stem cap on top the bracket. Does this simplify the process of adding grease to the bearings ? Sorry for the blurry pics.

 

[Cambo]

Looks like they went back to the hose, on the MR1 motors that's how it was and you would pump the grease gun until you felt the hose expanded then give one more pump. That hose looks like it's a heavy gauge hose can't tell . With that set up not many members blew the seal out with no hose it's impossible to know how much grease was being forced in from the gun .

 

[Cambo]

The other benefit to the hose some grease eventually thins out and runs . Any one that has a grease gun knows that they weep out and what weeps from the hose lubricates the bearing . But with age that hose gets clogged up every other season you need to pull the hose off the pump clear out the fitting on the pump then pump some fresh grease through the hose the old junk will push out then reattach the hose and pump the hose until firm. Mine were still good from a 2005 that was used in salt water . When I was looking at newer model used boats a few had the bearings replaced from leaks . They blew the seals out over filling it

 

[WildCatFan54]

No, it’s not very heavy? It’s more like conduit than hose. So you would just attach your grease gun at the top by the engine? So I guess there’s no grease fitting down on the bottom at the housing?There wouldn’t be enough pressure to force grease in since it’s just gravity feed.

 

[Cambo]

Under the little rubber cap should be a zerk fitting pump grease while holding the hose you should feel it start to fill pump it until it's kind of firm then it's good your bearing is lubed up and ready to spool at 7000 rpm

 

[WildCatFan54]

Thanks, 10 hour maintenance coming up soon !

 

[Cambo]

My next mod remove the zerk add the "nipple hose" with a clear hose attach the zerk to the end of the hose easy way to grease the bearing and know that the proper amount is being added the clear hose may even help to identify a failing seal if the grease looks cloudy, Im not sure if it would back flow up the hose but its possible

This is the part from the newer model boats this was in the back of my mind to set it up like the older model but sourcing these nipples with the correct thread pitch is difficult, they are on order and don't see why they would not work



this is the parts fiche from the 2005 AR230 showing the same part number Item 9 nipple hose it also shows item 19 the clamp




Below is the parts Fiche from the 2019 242 limited se same part number 9 but this shows part 10 the rubber cap ,10 is obviously incorrect from the pictures that @WildCatFan54 posted it should show the clamp and hose

 

[WildCatFan54]

Great idea with the clear hose ! So in my case , just need to hope that the barb on nipple at housing (#9) is the same size as upper zerk fitting barb? I wonder if there is a parts fiche for that area of engine compartment ?

 

[jamesk]

Interesting....I just asked a dealer about the 10 hour service.
He told me they don't grease the bearing....in fact he told they they never grease the bearings at any point in time.
I know the guy deals with a lot of boats, not saying what he does it right or wrong but he was pretty firm about it.

 

[WildCatFan54]

@jamesk , that does not surprise me ! I have seen very knowledgeable members on here indicate similar views. Some have indicated the grease is not actually going into the bearing as it is a sealed assembly ? My dealer even said never more than 3-4 pumps as you risk blowing out the seal. For sure you can't tell where its going or how much.

 

[Cambo]

Dealers would probably have more success not pumping grease due to easily pumping to much grease and blowing the seals out . Last year I backed the zirk out and put a slurry of grease mixed with 2 stroke oil to thin it filled it up reinstalled the zirk I didn't want to take a chance of blowing the seals .

 

[rkim808]

Wow interesting, wonder if can just order the hose, bracket on the engine for the newer ones and modify my 2015 AR240. It’s a pain in the Butt to grease it lol.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

For what it's worth I now get 650 hours on my intermediate bearings because I figured out the grease gun was blowing seals and separating the rubber from the housing.
I posted this in the past but it's your boat do as you wish.
Adding gear lube or grease or a combination of both as I do is fine as long as you do not build up pressure doing it.
By injecting the gear lube into the bearing housing with a plastic dental syringe you avoid pressurizing the seals.
This has served me well with both the pumps that now have over 750 hours on the original seals and bearings in salt water use. and the intermediate bearings.
I replaced The intermediate bearings last year at 650 hours . Getting proper lubrication without harming the seals is not always easy an easy access to the bearing housing however changing the intermediate bearings is a hell of a lot harder and more expensive .


Took some of this from my original post

If you need to add any grease to your intermediate bearings you just pull the inside out of the syringe , then pump some grease in and return the inside part , air won't matter because as you push in the grease the air escapes out the same opening that you are accessing. I do the same to the pump bearings.

 

[drewkaree]

@Cambo please take some pictures of your setup and how you did it

 

[Liveto99]

I thought that was a sealed bearing that is permanently greased and the only reason we are adding Grease was to form a water seal.

 

[Ctheodores]

When should you add the grease. Is it 10 hours because the manual does not state it should be done as a part of the 10 hour service.

 

[Compatico]

When should you add the grease. Is it 10 hours because the manual does not state it should be done as a part of the 10 hour service.

No it's checked every 100 hours.

 

[BeauSko]

When should you add the grease. Is it 10 hours because the manual does not state it should be done as a part of the 10 hour service.

In the AR210 manual, it mentions this in the “care and storage“ section to do it at 10 hours. But you’re right, no mention of it in the maintenance section.