Switched from chain lube to grease gun on my cutterhead, night and day difference

Ran my cutterhead for 8 years using the spray lube everyone swears by. Last month the bearing started whining on a job near Galveston, so I tore it apart and saw the grease passages were basically clogged with dry film. Switched to a proper grease gun with the right NLGI 2 marine grade, pumped it every 20 hours like the manual actually says. The whine disappeared and the cutterhead runs cooler after a full 60 hour week. Has anyone else made that swap and noticed their bearing temps drop? Curious if I was just under-lubing this whole time.

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1 Comment

the_charlie5h ago

Wait, you ran it 8 years on spray lube and only now the bearing whined? That sounds like the grease gun fixed a problem that was barely a problem. Those spray lubes are meant for light duty stuff, not cutterheads running full weeks. Marine grease is thicker and holds up better in heat, sure, but I doubt the passages were clogged enough to cause real temp issues. More likely the bearing was just wearing out anyway and the fresh grease masked the noise for a bit. Check your temps again in another 200 hours, then see if you still think it was the lube.