Hartzell grease fittings
 

Hi ya'll,

Today I followed the lubrication instructions for my Hartzell prop. I removed one fitting from each side of the prop, made sure the openings were clear with safety wire and then squirted some grease in via the remaining fittings.

The Hartzell manual was very clear to not over fill the grease inlets - just six squirts on each side of Aeroshell #6. That all worked fine, but I didn't see any grease come out the opposite side.

Did I do this correctly? I presume so - but it would make me feel better if someone who has already done this can confirm this is expected behavior. I searched the archives, but no joy.

As long as you know that the pumps were solid with grease and you just didn't pump air into the prop, you should be fine. I made sure that my gun was pumping solidly and counted the number of pumps to get the 1 oz. of grease. Did you notice the note on lubricating new or overhauled props after 1 or 2 hours of operation?

Roberta

More..
 

Kevin,
I have a three bladed prop on my turbine Air Tractor and every hundred hours we grease the prop with the same Aeroshell 6. Grease until the old grease (and sometimes water) squirts out the back hole where you removed the nipple. This way you also know that all sides have the same amount of grease and no imbalance,

Maybe wrong.......
 

I may have spoken out of turn. If the manual tells you not to overfill, then go by that......sorry,

Ambigous
 

The Hartzell instructions for lubricating their prop are so ambiguous that the choice is left up to the person doing the lubricating along with the responsibility for the results. I'm sure they were wordsmithed until the legal department and non-user engineers were satisfied. I guess that puts me in the position of not being able to tell you what I did.

Bob Axsom

Kevin:

Take the plug out and pump till some of the old grease comes out. Do this on both blades. It just wastes grease, but I typically pump till I get some clean grease coming out.

RV-6, O-320 Hartzell, 1,888 flying hours SoCAL

I agree with the above as well
 

I agree, just pump and slow and easy so as not to force it past the seals. I also prefer to flush a little of the old grease out this ensures both sides are filled and any impurities have been replaced with clean fresh grease.

Thanks for all the good advice.

I'll give Hartzell a call on Monday, but unless they say its a bad thing - I'll add a bit more grease until I see some come out. I'll post an update if Hartzell has anything to add.

An update after talking with Hartzell tech support (for future searchers :) ).

They concur with Roberta and the manual. They recommend putting in just six full squirts of grease per side. Frequently this will not be be enough to cause any grease to come out the opposite side. The tech rep said this is normal and he would not recommend 'filling till full.'

My local prop shop says pump till it comes out. Which for me was way more than 6 pumps the first time.
Best,