Lubricating

[JCA]

This is a dumb question, but hey.

In the manual for the FELit says to lubricate the 12...I forget what they call them, but the points that rotate on the FEL. But it doesn't say how, exactly, to do it. Do they mean to use a grease gun to add grease to the grease fittings at those locations, or something else? Also: how do you know when you've added enough grease?

Jim

 

[MadDog]

I'm no expert on this, but I add grease to each zerk (grease nipple) until I see old grease starting to come out of the seals. I use an air-powered grease gun because, with 12 zerks on the BH and about 20 on the BH, you'll get quite a bit of exercise with a hand-lever gun.

Hope this helps.

 

[btolle]

MadDog does it the same way I do except I have found that a pair of nitrile disposable gloves and a roll of paper towels helps me get some of the old grease and dirt off the zerks before I grease them (so I don't push dirt in with the new grease) and to clean up some of the old grease that is pushed out.

Even though I don't push much out it will build up over time. Besides, my wife spends a lot of time spraying "Spray N Wash" on the black grease spots on my pants and shirts so I try to help by not getting any more on me than necessary.

Bill Tolle

 

[frank_f15]

USE A GREASE GUN, wipe the fitting clean, add grease till some old grease comes out, and then wipe the grase off the fitting and clean up the excreted grease as best you can. have lots of disposable shop rags when you do this /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[andrewimbrogno]

If you've never greased before i suggest just using a hand powered grease gun. If you dont know what your doing an air powered one may cause a lot of damage. Well thats what i was told, dont know if its true but i guess if you dont know what your doing with nething you can cause damage. Greasing is easy and the guns can be inexpensive. I grease up the forklifts we use at work so i use a professional hand pump that develops 16,000 psi or something around that where the conventional ones just have 6000 psi. My numbers could be off...been awhile since i've been shopping for a new gun. 1 tip if your buying a grease gun get urself a flexible end...whatever they are called. THe flexible tubes that replaces the stock piece of tubing which goes onto the zerk. It is really nice when working in tight spaces.

 

[andrewimbrogno]

oops my grease gun develops 12,000 psi

 

[txdon]

This cordless grease gun makes it a joy to grease. It make a weezzz sound for each hand pump. It usually takes about three weezzzes for a little grease to come out of the pivot areas.

I have had it for a year and have charged the battery about four times. I highly recommend it.

 

[v8dave]

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1 tip if your buying a grease gun get urself a flexible end...whatever they are called. THe flexible tubes that replaces the stock piece of tubing which goes onto the zerk. It is really nice when working in tight spaces. )</font>

I've found the opposite to be true. Here is what I wrote in my B7610 25 hour report I posted quite a while ago. "Lubricating the tractor after each ten hours of operation uses up the grease. Each fitting takes at least two pumps. There are around 20 fittings on the backhoe and 12 on the loader. It’s a minor thing but you need to plan ahead and have some spare cartridges available. Because some joint pins are tight it’s necessary to hold the grease gun coupler on the tractor Zerk fitting to get the grease in. My grease gun has a flexible hose between the gun and the Zerk coupler. It’s awkward to use at times because you need to use both hands to work the pump and a third hand to hold the coupling on. A grease gun with a rigid connector would be easier to use, that way you can still force the connector on the Zerk while working the pump."

I now have two grease guns, one with each type of coupler. I need the flexible coupling on some of my cars to get to awkard places. But, on the tractor I've found all the zerk fittings to be accessable straight on and the rigid connector works better. Of course your mileage may vary as did the previous posters. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I use a moly based grease because it coats the metal and hopefully provides more protection. My dealer used general purpose lube at first and recently also switched to moly lube.

Be prepared for some fittings to be "tight" and require a lot of force to get the grease in others to be so easy you think there is nothing happening until the grease falls off. You may also find a few missing zerks fittings. In five services, I've replaced two missing fittings and swapped out one plugged fitting. Another fitting I took off, ran a wire through it to clean it out, and put it back on the tractor and it then worked fine.

 

[JerryG]

Needing three hands is why I use a pistol grip gun with a flexible hose. That way you only need two hands and can still get in the tight places.

 

[Youare]

Make sure you have an extra tube or two or grease. It never seems to fail I grab the grease gun get half way through the routine and the gun is out of bullets.

This never seems to happen when i have an extra tube of grease on the shelf. Better yet is to have two grease guns one rigid line and one flex line.

Randy