How often should you grease a tractor for light duty?

[Rockbadchild]

Greasing it once a year, or every oil change is fine for the axle pivot. It isnt under near the stress that loader and backhoe pins are....its typical alot larger diameter, and doesnt have near the amount of rotational movement. It doesnt need greased ever 10 hrs like loader and backhoe pins. And its not neglect to do it less frequently. Neglect is only doing it a few times in 20 years

I know I should take you word for it because I know you know what you are talking about, I agree with the loader and backhoe required more grease per hour of usage then the axle but I greases my front end every fuel tank, I admit that most of the time it only take one pump but my axle pivot usually takes 3 or 4 pumps every times although I was moldboard plowing so I had lots of axle oscillation ... I guess I am over doing it but I ratter be safe I guess plus I am no mechanic so if I can extend the life of these component a few tube of grease is worth it for me and there is nothing wrong with that. I will have to double check what is the greasing recommend intervals in my owner manual but I wont be surprise to see that you are right.

 

[Xfaxman]

LockNLube also sells grease guns: https://locknlube.com/pages/grease-gun-charts

If I need to get a new gun this would be it:

 

[LD1]

I know I should take you word for it because I know you know what you are talking about, I agree with the loader and backhoe required more grease per hour of usage then the axle but I greases my front end every fuel tank, I admit that most of the time it only take one pump but my axle pivot usually takes 3 or 4 pumps every times although I was moldboard plowing so I had lots of axle oscillation ... I guess I am over doing it but I ratter be safe I guess plus I am no mechanic so if I can extend the life of these component a few tube of grease is worth it for me and there is nothing wrong with that. I will have to double check what is the greasing recommend intervals in my owner manual but I wont be surprise to see that you are right.

Nothing at all wrong with the way you are doing it.

Too much or too frequent greasing is alot better than the opposite

 

[Reddogs]

To the OP's original question....you have to be more specific than just "how often to grease tractor"

A typical tractor has grease fittings at the front axle pivot, kingpin, ball joints, and possibly wheel hub if 2wd. Then underneath it may have fittings for things like clutch and brake linkage pivots, or steering joints, etc.

Then there is a loader and backhoe.

Once a year, every oil change, every 50h or whatever (infrequent) is fine for most of those things.

However a loader and BH....yup, 10hrs of use.

Im surprised you mentioned the "old" tractor had a backhoe (which usually means loader too). And that you only grease it a few times in 20 years. If you used it much at all I'd be surprised if pins and bushings are real sloppy and make quite a bit of noise while in use

Thats why I still have it, the backhoe is tight and the tractor itself has no issues, but the FEL has been a constant issue and even greasing it every 10 hrs would not have done much as the design for the joints was not very good. It just had a straight bar for the pivot pins at all the points, and was grinding from the start. By the time I figure it out, all the joints were worn and in addition to the coming off issue which I talked about on one of the other threads, it groaned pretty loud when picking up and did not drop in correctly when taken off and put back on, real royal pain in the rear to say the least...

 

[hube2]

I'm in the camp of probably does not grease as often as I should and knows better. Quite honestly, some of the grease points are a PITA to get to and get neglected while others are easy and get plenty of grease.

Examples:

• FEL - very easy to get to, gets grease every 10 hours or less while I'm warming up, probably over greasing
• The ones under the tractor - I can't get to most of these with the mower deck on. I try to grease the ones I can get to, but I'm not going to take the deck of to do the others. I do these if I happen to need to take the deck off for some reason. They may only get grease spring/fall when I am switching from summer use to winter use.
• Mower deck - This is just like the other under tractor points. I do the ones I can get to without removing it and do the others when I do take it off.
• Snow Blower - There are points I can get to easily and others not so much. The one thing that worries my about this is the PTO shaft. I don't lnow about others, but it's impossible to do this without completely removing the PTO shaft. Can't even get to the joint zirks without removing it. I hope for a nice Saturday that is not too cold and I don't need to move snow but I'm sure I'm usualy going more than 10 hours on it. I will probably regret not greasing shaft more often.

 

[LHF2019]

LockNLube also sells grease guns: https://locknlube.com/pages/grease-gun-charts

If I need to get a new gun this would be it:

View attachment 740569

Get the yellow pistol grip. It’s awesome. I was able to grease fittings the battery operated one couldn’t as well as ones I had to jack up tractor to do.

 

[jjeff]

A kit like this helped me with hard to reach fittings.

 

[ericm979]

I don't see why people need a battery grease gun for one tractor. If you are greasing lots of equipment or have bad hands or wrists then sure. But squeezing the handle a few times takes only a second. Nearly all of the time I spend when greasing is cleaning the nipples before and after greasing them, and wiping up any excess grease that squeezes out.

 

[D2Cat]

I don't see why people need a battery grease gun for one tractor. If you are greasing lots of equipment or have bad hands or wrists then sure. But squeezing the handle a few times takes only a second. Nearly all of the time I spend when greasing is cleaning the nipples before and after greasing them, and wiping up any excess grease that squeezes out.

That's probably why you don't have one! You really don't need air conditioning in your home, car or work either. Relax, let folks spend their money however it suits them.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I don't see why people need a battery grease gun for one tractor. If you are greasing lots of equipment or have bad hands or wrists then sure. But squeezing the handle a few times takes only a second. Nearly all of the time I spend when greasing is cleaning the nipples before and after greasing them, and wiping up any excess grease that squeezes out.

it not a need it’s a luxury, it save time and it’s practical … but for me there is nothing other then inserting grease by hand in my tractor ( i call her princess ) it’s a mutual consent she like it as much as i do.