Dealer and/or Manufacturer Misses

[cdaigle430]

Did my first lube job today and found 4 grease fittings on the backhoe that were never greased (underneath). 2 of the zercs where blocked, and one was lose. Also had one heck of a time getting the to the zerc on the front side of the cylinder for the boom swing. Next time I will unmount the backhoe first.

I used Lucus grease (green) and I was wondering if anyone else uses this, if not, which grease do you recommend?

Also found a couple of brackets just hanging there like the link for the mid mount PTO shaft.

One more question, how do you guys clean any exess grease? I went through a whole role of paper towel just cleaning off the excess crap from the dealer.

 

[Mike476]

They do like to put them in locations that make it a challenge, unavoidable sometimes unfortunately.

There are many different types of grease, but for my tractor I use something similar to what you're using. No need for high speed bearing grease, which is usually more expensive. Good quality general purpose is adequate, what is important is that you do it fairly often to remove dirt and moisture from friction surfaces. It takes 6-8 of us the better part of a day to lube up an aircraft (and that's with pneumatic guns), and we do that every 30 days for corrosion prevention and extend the life of bearing surfaces. It's also an excellent opportunity to inspect / make sure freedom of movement. Safety first of course but it also prevents costly repairs if left unnoticed.

No better way to remove the excess than rags, and it is imprtant to do it to prevent dirt from making its way into the bearings / bushings. Great way to get a close look at your machine too, as you've discovered having noticed your mid-PTO coupling issue. Using high pressure water would defeat the purpose and force moisture where you don't want it.

Apologies if I seem to be going on, I'm a strong believer that anytime you use your machine hard or in less than ideal conditions, show it a little love and make sure to get all the crap out of the bearings.
:thumbsup: