Getting Your Farm Machinery Spring Ready

With spring just around the corner, it can be a very busy time on a farm, day to day activities are continuing, and preparation for new growth is important to get right to ensure an efficient year. Part of this preparation on many farms is maintenance checks on the farm machinery to ensure it is ready for another busy season. Regular maintenance checks on all farm machinery are critical to ensure efficient running and prevent unscheduled downtime which can be very costly if your machinery breaks down when you need it most.

Part of any farm machinery maintenance check should be a rigorous check on the lubricant and coolants to ensure levels are correct and there is no sign of leakage. It is also important to remember when checking these levels to consider when was the last time these fluids were changed as opposed to just topped up. Most years, some operators consider just topping up fluids as opposed to a full change and in some cases, where usage is low or where good quality lubricants are being used this might have looked to suffice. To some, this is seen as a way of reducing maintenance costs, however, these perceived savings are false, as continued topping up without a full change at the recommended intervals (500 hrs for engine & 2,000 hrs for backend/transmission) can lead to more costly issues long-term (Always follow OEM recommendations). As;

• Once a lubricant has been run through an engine/backend and returns to the sump, it will have cleaned all the parts it ran through and collected particles of dirt, metal from wear & tear and many other particles that can become dislodged internally. Lubricants are designed to continue to perform even with particles in them and indeed high-quality lubricants will perform longer. Still, all lubricants will get to a point where the amount of particles/contaminates will decrease the effectiveness of the lubricant which will lead to increased wear and tear. (Consider a chip pan, topping up does not remove the dirt from the oil and the oil gets very dark with dirt the longer it’s left, only a full drain will remove the dirt.)
• For operators using any equipment that requires connection to your tractor’s backend, regularly changing is even more important as your backend oil flows from the tractor to the equipment and back again resulting in the oil mixing with any oil left in the equipment from the last time it was used which carries several risks.
  • The equipment may not have been used in a long time and so the oil in it could be old and may have lost its properties.
  • Dirt on the connections getting into the system when linking up.
  • Where you have mixed fleet using the same equipment or sharing equipment with others, there is a risk of mixing with oil from another machines that used the equipment before you, which may have contaminations of its own or a different lower spec oil due to some manufacturers having different requirements or other operators using inferior cheap lubricants.
• Grease, like the oils will collect any dirt caused by wear & tear but in a lot of cases where grease points are not sealed the grease also catches dust and dirt externally to prevent it getting into the points it is protecting. By continuing to top up the grease instead of changing regularly, this dirt has been kept in the system and when it builds up the grease will no longer prevent it from getting to the machine parts and causing damage.
• Coolant/Antifreeze does so much more than just preventing your engine from freezing during colder weather, it cools your engine down by removing the heat caused during operation to protect the engine from overheating and ensure its efficient operation. Topping up with water alone will reduce the properties of the coolant in your system and reduce its effectiveness.