The 10 hour rule

[o2l]

When I (new guy) took delivery of 'her" 2920, I was told that the 10 hour rule about greasing the FEL was holy writ, to the point of stopping all work to grease the pivot points before continuing. Is this rule inviolable? If not, what leeway do I have in extending the 10 hour rule. We have 8.5 hours on the clock and about 3 hours of work to do. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[neilbedwell]

I pretty much squirt a little grease into my FEL after every use. Now, mind you, if all I do is run the bush hog or tiller then there's no point in greasing the FEL, BUT I've been known to do it anyway. Why not just go ahead and grease everything right now, BEFORE you perform the 3 hours of work and call it good?

 

[Mathias NY]

Most fuel tanks will give you enough to last for an 8-10 hour work day. With this in mind, I try to grease the loader and PTO shafts every time I fill the tank. if you can get into the habit, it's not hard to remember.

 

[k0ua]

When I (new guy) took delivery of 'her" 2920, I was told that the 10 hour rule about greasing the FEL was holy writ, to the point of stopping all work to grease the pivot points before continuing. Is this rule inviolable? If not, what leeway do I have in extending the 10 hour rule. We have 8.5 hours on the clock and about 3 hours of work to do. Thanks for all the help so far.

11.5 hours of work on the FEL between greasing is certainly not going to hurt anything. Just grease it when your done, but another question would be why not grease it now? That won't hurt either.

James K0UA

 

[kevinj]

When I (new guy) took delivery of 'her" 2920, I was told that the 10 hour rule about greasing the FEL was holy writ, to the point of stopping all work to grease the pivot points before continuing. Is this rule inviolable? If not, what leeway do I have in extending the 10 hour rule. We have 8.5 hours on the clock and about 3 hours of work to do. Thanks for all the help so far.

I doubt the whole 8.5 is on the loader. Of course you greased it before you started:thumbsup:

 

[s219]

If you weren't using the loader heavily the first 10 hours, then I think you'll be just fine skating past 10 hours a little bit before greasing. I wouldn't worry about it, but don't procrastinate once you get on the other side of 10.

My practice is to check the hour meter when I am loading the tractor on my trailer for work, and if I am within 1-2 hours of the 10X multiple, I will grease it right there while I'm at home. Just seems better than dealing with it on the job somewhere else, especially since I don't always pay attention to the hour meter when I am busy with other things.

 

[Deano]

I doubt the whole 8.5 is on the loader. Of course you greased it before you started:thumbsup:

Agree. Sometimes I use my BX24 for 10 hours and do not use the connected backhoe. I do not grease it if it was not used.
But, same thought, greasing more won't hurt anything!

Deano

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

You've heard from the OCD guys that follow the rules.:laughing::laughing: You probably won't hear from the other 95% of us that may do it every 50 hours or so more or less.

 

[Agrantina]

8-10 hrs thats alot!!!- My FEL starts to make alot of nosie after 3-4 hrs of work I have to stop and feed them!...:confused2:

AndyG

 

[ruren]

Remember that this is a guideline that someone came up with as a good average for how often to grease the equipment across all of the working conditions it can encounter, not a precise operation. I do it every time it hits a 10 hour mark on the meter, but would never stop the middle of work to keep from going a half hour or an hour over. You are not going to damage anything.

On the other hand I will hit it with grease in between the 10 hour marks if I have only been using it an hour or two at a time over a long period to push out any water etc. and sometimes if it has been worked in nasty mud or such and I feel it needs to be freshened up. If it makes you feel better to grease more often you won't hurt anything.

 

[k0ua]

Someone said it was a pain in the rump to be getting up in the middle of the night to grease the FEL, every 10 hours but if it was just considerd all a part of tractor ownership he guessed he would go ahead and do it.

James K0UA

 

[TripleR]

You've heard from the OCD guys that follow the rules.:laughing::laughing: You probably won't hear from the other 95% of us that may do it every 50 hours or so more or less.

Well, I do about the same John unless it is ten hours of continuous FEL use which hasn't happened yet.

It seems like there is a pretty long thread on this.

I know we will be chastised for our FEL negligence.

Even my manual states when the "service" light comes on every 50 hours to finish the job then service.

I am not advising anyone else to emulate my tractor abuse, just stating what I do.

 

[Deano]

Someone said it was a pain in the rump to be getting up in the middle of the night to grease the FEL, every 10 hours but if it was just considerd all a part of tractor ownership he guessed he would go ahead and do it.

James K0UA

You ARE funny!!!:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[jmanatee2]

I would bet that I have yet to go 5hrs... Grease is cheap. Pins are not.

Also if you grease often you only have to do one or two pumps each fitting takes all of 5 mins to do my entire tractor, loader and backhoe.

 

[PILOON]

The 10 hr rule is a standard in the heavy equipment trade.
Those guys generally work 10 hr shifts so that translates to daily lube.
It is not really a lube rule as much as it flushes out any grit/grime from the bushings.
They even now have a central grease point and some are even powered central lube.
Our city equipment is all central lube equipped to make it easier for the operators, however as they think lubing is beneath them (like not my job) the generally get damaged beyond repair. (accidentally of course)

 

[powerpace]

I would bet that I have yet to go 5hrs... Grease is cheap. Pins are not.

Also if you grease often you only have to do one or two pumps each fitting takes all of 5 mins to do my entire tractor, loader and backhoe.

If I know I'm going to use the FEL or the Backhoe I Grease before I start and at the end of the day.

When I was living on the farm (years ago), it was the rule, hit every fitting before you use a piece of equipment and after lunch. If it was going to be sitting for awhile (weeks) grease before disconecting and coat all exposed hydraulic rams. I still do that.

 

[CurlyDave]

When I had the land for my house cleared and the driveway put in, all of the operators greased at the end of the the day, no exceptions.

Of course the contractor's rules were that each man is assigned a machine. If his machine goes down, he takes time off until it is fixed. A lot of incentive to keep that machine in good condition.

* * * *

I have taken that philosophy to heart. Now I don't get paranoid if I go 11 or even 12 hours, and if I run the hoe 50% of the time and loader 50%, I go 15 hours or so.

 

[Combustix]

I used to do all sorts of abusive things to my poor tractor, Until I started reading TBN and learned about all the things I shouldn't do anymore. I probably shouldn't have joined TBN. :laughing:

 

[o2l]

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I especially liked the hints about greasing with every fuel fill up and at the end/beginning of the day. Since this 2920 is The Wife's Valentine's Day present, I will err on the side of caution and grease up since I plan to top off the fuel tank before the next job.

 

[Deano]

I used to do all sorts of abusive things to my poor tractor, Until I started reading TBN and learned about all the things I shouldn't do anymore. I probably shouldn't have joined TBN. :laughing:

That is a good one!:laughing::thumbsup: