Do backyard tractors need grease?

[PILOON]

I guess the way marketing is headed the next grease gun will be computerized with digital read out and a friendly reminder option that will talk to your smart watch.
Also offshore clones will be available @ $9.99 plus $49. shipping.
Warranty 1 hour or 40,000 kms.

 

[k0ua]

I

It’s not a Milwaukee M-18 but it gets the job done.

That is one of the early models with the crank instead of the finger hole in the bolt.

 

[tree grower]

The guy who said grease is cheaper than parts is spot-on. Years ago I bought a little Ford 1700 w/ FEL that had been used hard by a guy who built patios and stone walls. There weren't too many hours on it, but you could measure the slop in the pins with a yardstick. My little 1210 has 2500 hours, the FEL has been greased regularly and the pins are nearly as tight as when new.

 

[rScotty]

Do home and farm tractors not need grease? Do these tractors come with sealed pins and bushings? Or do farm and home guys just not bother?

Enquiring minds want to know.

We talk about grease a lot! In the last month there was a long thread about the various types of grease and how they interact. Things like as clay based, synthetic, lithium, cadmium base...It gets somewhat technical, but you need to read it. Also we sort of talked about moly, hi film strength, and water resistant greases. Frequency and grease guns get some coverage too.

And more recently we had a thread on the different types of grease zerks. The Kubota has several different thread types, our 310 only seems to have one. But again, it's something you need to know about if you do a lot of greasing.

Yep, we talk about greasing a lot. Glad to have you.
rScotty

 

[jdmeth]

On our farm we had a 1981 JD 510 backhoe, we bought it used in 1987. I would spend several weeks cleanng drainage ditches each year. I would grease it once a week except for the bucket fittings, thoses I did each day. I quit farming in 1995 but kept it for use around my home. Pins are still as tight as new.

 

[Jchonline]

My dewalt doesn’t have that ability but I see no use for it. Some pins are squirting out with 2 pumps and some pins take 10 pumps. What’s so hard about holding down the trigger until you have the amount of grease you want?

I didn’t say I bought the Milwaukee for all of the extra stuff. Someone with a Dewalt said the Milwaukee didn’t have variable settings and I was just answering with a clarification. I bought the Milwaukee because I have mostly Milwaukee tools and therefore lots of batteries. I am sure the Dewalt is a great tool as well.

 

[rScotty]

At the shop we always kept several different hand lever-actuated grease guns loaded with different greases.
Having several grease guns ready to choose from is still good for using different greases for different purposes - or if there is a variety of zerk types to deal with.

It might just be my imagination, but manual guns give a "feel" for how the joint is taking grease that I don't get from the powered ones.

The powered ones do have one advantage. Now that cordelss guns are popular, there are good quality used manual grease guns at used tool shops for a pittance. Those good manual guns used to be expensive.

Say, where do you keep your grease guns & kit? Has anyone come up with a better system than guns in one 5 gallon plastic pail, & cartridges, gloves, & rags in another.

 

[big bubba]

why would a manufacturer include a grease zerk if it was not necessary to grease a given machine, backyard or commercial use? don't understand the question

 

[RickB]

why would a manufacturer include a grease zerk if it was not necessary to grease a given machine, backyard or commercial use? don't understand the question

Because people are lazy and want to expend the minimum amount of effort to get barely acceptable results.

 

[dodge man]

I remember doing some work at an automobile dealership and there was a newer full sized JD backhoe that had never been greased. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. If I had a grease gun with me i would have made them stop and let me grease it even though it had nothing to do with the construction stakes I was putting in.

 

[Torvy]

why would a manufacturer include a grease zerk if it was not necessary to grease a given machine, backyard or commercial use? don't understand the question

I hear you, but to be fair, my cars have nuts all over the place. Only a few are really intended for user maintenance. If you don't know, ask the question. I tell students this a great deal...they don't listen, ergo they don't learn as much.

 

[78WHALEYVILLE]

This past year, I bought a John Deere, full-sized backhoe instead of a backyard Deere, Kubota or New Holland.

Knowing nothing about them, I had to jump into the deep end of the pool, to learn about operating, maintenance and repair.

The first thing I learned was that grease was the center point of backhoe ownership. My unit has nearly 45 grease fittings on the front end loader, the backhoe arm, the drive shaft, and the steering. And those fittings have to be greased every 8 hours of use. If you are using the unit for 8 solid hours, experts even suggest greasing every four hours. If the unit sits, unused, you still need to grease regularly to get the water out of the joints. I ended up buying a Milwaukee electric grease gun, and two cases of mining grease. It takes an entire tube of grease to do the entire 310.

I've never heard backyard or farm guys talking about grease though. My friends who own Kubotas or Deeres never grease them when they have been working around my property, and I've never heard the obsessive grease talk that occurs on heavy equipment forums on tractor forums.

Do home and farm tractors not need grease? Do these tractors come with sealed pins and bushings? Or do farm and home guys just not bother?

Enquiring minds want to know.

When compared to the cost of machinery, grease is CHEAP.

 

[Tinhack]

Not all Zerks are for grease. My Bridgeport mill has Zerks all over and NONE are for grease--They're used to inject Way Oil.

 

[Martin Roper]

This past year, I bought a John Deere, full-sized backhoe instead of a backyard Deere, Kubota or New Holland.

Knowing nothing about them, I had to jump into the deep end of the pool, to learn about operating, maintenance and repair.

The first thing I learned was that grease was the center point of backhoe ownership. My unit has nearly 45 grease fittings on the front end loader, the backhoe arm, the drive shaft, and the steering. And those fittings have to be greased every 8 hours of use. If you are using the unit for 8 solid hours, experts even suggest greasing every four hours. If the unit sits, unused, you still need to grease regularly to get the water out of the joints. I ended up buying a Milwaukee electric grease gun, and two cases of mining grease. It takes an entire tube of grease to do the entire 310.

I've never heard backyard or farm guys talking about grease though. My friends who own Kubotas or Deeres never grease them when they have been working around my property, and I've never heard the obsessive grease talk that occurs on heavy equipment forums on tractor forums.

Do home and farm tractors not need grease? Do these tractors come with sealed pins and bushings? Or do farm and home guys just not bother?

Enquiring minds want to know.

YES. Most people coming to do a job grease the machine before leaving their yard so they can do any other jobs that turn up that need doing at the same time. Yes grease it or wear it out prematurely.

 

[ljjhouser]

My Kubota says grease every 10 hours. So I do that. I think in commercial business, this is a big problem, most contractors use a mobile lub service to make sure it is done. Cheaper that having a equipment operator mess with it. The machine is ready to go when the operator shows up.

 

[redman135]

Hello rogersmithiii, you will hear stories by the dozen anbout worn joints that died of grease stavation, you won't hear about a joint dieing of grease poisoning.

Cost of down time and repair vs cost of grease = no brainer.

 

[Andrew007]

This past year, I bought a John Deere, full-sized backhoe instead of a backyard Deere, Kubota or New Holland.

Knowing nothing about them, I had to jump into the deep end of the pool, to learn about operating, maintenance and repair.

The first thing I learned was that grease was the center point of backhoe ownership. My unit has nearly 45 grease fittings on the front end loader, the backhoe arm, the drive shaft, and the steering. And those fittings have to be greased every 8 hours of use. If you are using the unit for 8 solid hours, experts even suggest greasing every four hours. If the unit sits, unused, you still need to grease regularly to get the water out of the joints. I ended up buying a Milwaukee electric grease gun, and two cases of mining grease. It takes an entire tube of grease to do the entire 310.

I've never heard backyard or farm guys talking about grease though. My friends who own Kubotas or Deeres never grease them when they have been working around my property, and I've never heard the obsessive grease talk that occurs on heavy equipment forums on tractor forums.

Do home and farm tractors not need grease? Do these tractors come with sealed pins and bushings? Or do farm and home guys just not bother?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Just give each nipple two pumps prior to use, that will be fine for whatever you do. Just make sure both pumps go in

 

[Sidney71]

They pot those Zerk fittings there for a reason- . If you don't the grease in the fittings will get hard and you can't push it out with a conventional grease gun. You will then have to replace the fittings. As someone else said in an earlier post- grease is cheaper than parts .

 

[Sberry]

Sticky black bear shat for pins and bushings and pretty pink for stuff goes round and round.

 

[Greench]

Lock n Lube should be a law. Those are awesome, especially the long-reach ones. I too have extra fittings to reach something the locknlube can't. The first thing I taught my boys was that you are never lucky enough to finish greasing a tractor, bush hog or backhoe on the last pump. That grease gun better not be empty because that means two things. One, you left my freaking grease gun empty. Two, you did not finish greasing what you were greasing.