corn head grease in gearbox

[Grey]

I remember reading from someone on hear that you can fill a leaky
gearbox with corn head grease instead of gear oil to keep from
leaking so much. I have a batwing rotary cutter that is leaking about
a quart in 24 hours from one of the wing gearboxes. I bought a
case of corn head grease at JD today and was going to give it a try.
My question is it still has maybe 3 quarts or so of gear oil still in it.
Should i drain all that out and then fill it with grease or can I put the
grease in with the oil?

 

[David G]

I think it is meant more for slow speed devices like steering gears.

 

[coonie minnie]

I've used it in a 709 cutter. It does work.

 

[gtx1967jewison]

Grease is just oil with a thickener added. Some thicker than others. Will work but I'd replace the seal, as that type of gear needs the special friction additives found in 80-90 gear line & not in grease.

 

[FBH44]

David G might have excelent point there. But I have blended up a 50-50 mix of wheel bearing grease and 90 wt. gear oil with a coat hanger in my drill, in a coffee can, it does wokr in a steering gear box.

 

[fixerupper]

It was designed for corn head gear boxes that run at much higher speeds than a 540 RPM brush cutter. Deere started selling it for corn heads because the stalk roll shaft seals weren't holding in the 90WT. I've overhauled so many of those corn head gearboxes I can do it in my sleep. An electric grease gun saves a lot of time pumping corn head grease into 16 gear boxes every morning. Jim

 

[tim s]

It seems that it works better when mixed with some gear oil, if it's all grease it tends to sling to the outer part of the gear box leaving the gear teeth dry, and that is where it's needed, yes it does work and gives you a little time to fix it when you have the time..

 

[Grey]

Tim and Jim thanks! That was the info I was looking for. We are trying to get finished a couple hundred acres and wanted to wait till winter to fix it. Gonna put the grease in today.

 

[Mike Aylward]

The input shaft of a John Deere corn head can run several hundred RPM's. The grease is designed to liquify as it heats up. It works opposite of Multi-Luber grease that is liquid and turns harder WHEN it's heated. It should work ok in your cutter temporarily but it would be better to just fix it. If you have a bad seal it will allow dirt to get into the gearbox and possibly cause damage. The corn head grease, in this instance, is just a "band-aid". Get it fixed. Mike

 

[jd40an]

What do you mean--Grease them every morning? My owners manual said grease once each season!! Maybe that's why you had to work on so many. If you didn't take the plug out of the top while greasing, you most likely ruined the seals with grease pressure!!!!!!!!