Help With refurbishing Ryan Lawnaire IV

[ochoada]

Hi,

I badly needed to replace the bearings and bushings on the aeration head on my ryan Lawnaire IV. It is of the 1990-1994 vintage model number 544881. I'm in the process of installing the replacement parts. I have the explosion and according to that the only thing keeping in the grease in is an open ended rubber seal and a washer which pushes up against that seal....Doesn't seem right. Has anyone out there done this and can offer some help?

Thanks!

[topsites]

Is this what you're speaking of?

[ochoada]

Yes,

That is the explosion diagram. You can see the v-seal and all that goes against it is a thrust washer. Seems strange that would be the setup to seal the system. Perhaps you don't have to worry since you keep positive grease pressure on the system and because of that the dirt won't migrate in.

[Jason Rose]

I've replaced the bushings (they call them bearings) and the whole shafts on mine, both on the drum and reel. I just reused what hardware was there, and I think I added a washer or two where it appeared there needed to be one. Yes, there is no 'seals' that hold the grease in. Just like any bushing you just keep them greased 'till grease is oosing out.

On mine the bushings were so far gone that it had worn the shafts down badly. It should have been fixed 10 years prior, but I got by, lol. When the drive chain kept rolling off I knew I had to do something.

When you order the parts, having the diagram is going to help. I ordered mine over the phone from a Ryan dealer, and because I referred to the items in question as "bushings" I received the wrong parts. Call me crazy, but I think of a bearing as something with little roller balls in it, and a bushing as usually being bronze and solid. I guess some people think differently.

[GravelyNut]

.... Call me crazy, but I think of a bearing as something with little roller balls in it, and a bushing as usually being bronze and solid. I guess some people think differently.
Same here with the definition being solid without rotating parts are bushings. Can be metal or plastic. Bearings contain rotating parts (needle, ball, or roller) except for ones made of babbit, Al, teflon, or oilite.

[Jason Rose]

Same here with the definition being solid without rotating parts are bushings. Can be metal or plastic. Bearings contain rotating parts (needle, ball, or roller) except for ones made of babbit, Al, teflon, or oilite.

Like I said, you can argue with Ryan on that one... :laugh:

I had another instance of this same situation on a mower last summer. The manufacturer reffered to them as "bearings" when they were nothing more than bronze bushings. WTF? Makes it hard to tell the dealer what I need when I'm describing a bushing and he can't find any such part on the diagram... :dizzy:

[pugs]

If you have the diagrams in front of you why not just order by part number instead of trying to describe what it is?:confused: