Greasing unsealed pins

   / Greasing unsealed pins #1  

cgraham

Silver Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
137
Location
S. Central NM
Tractor
Kioti LB1914
My 7-year-old Kioti LB1914 TLB (400 hours) has numerous unsealed pins without grease channels in them and the zerks are placed in the middle of the sleeve or cylinder trunnions surrounding the pins. Consequently, the grease takes the least path of resistance, eventually emerging at one or the other end of the pin, presumably leaving the other half un-lubricated. This is obviously not good, but I do not see a simple way around the problem, short of manually lubricating the pins which I am not going to do - I do not even know if the benefit would last long enough to be worth the effort. (I do not have the equipment to improve the pins, or time to remove them all.)

I have recently noticed build-up of old, hardening grease which prevents admission of fresh grease at one zerk and probably adds to the general unevenness of grease distribution at others. I suspect this build-up is due to the hot, dry S. New Mexico climate, but also to my use pattern. I tend to use the machine for two or three (usually light) jobs on my property after greasing it, and then it goes back in the shed for up to 6-9 months sometimes. I do not grease the backhoe or loader if I know I am not going to use one of them, so the greasing interval can be quite long for some pins. (Frankly, I hate greasing, and I am not going to do it more than I have to.)

Do I need to grease on a regular basis irrespective of use (if so, how often), or perhaps there is a grease that is not susceptible to drying out? I would appreciate your suggestions on minimal frequency and alternative grease to general purpose lithium.

A related question is whether it would be worth flushing the pin housings by pressure- forcing in Kroil via the zerks using a Grease Joint Rejuvenator, to soften the hardening grease before forcing it out with new grease. (I realize Kroil will seek the path of least resistance with the mostly horizontal pins, but I could tilt the tractor to each side in turn to help overcome that tendency). I have a few days while the tractor can sit absorbing Kroil before I must start the next job.

Thank you for your suggestions and advice.

C
 
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   / Greasing unsealed pins #2  
The norm is every 10 hours.
Daily for contractors (they do 10 hr days)
SO, simply guestimate every 10 hrs!
As to dry hard grease heating lightly with plumbers torch will soften and allow new grease to enter.
Also depressing the little ball (valve) at Zerk tip helps.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #3  
The norm is every 10 hours.
Daily for contractors (they do 10 hr days)
SO, simply guestimate every 10 hrs!
As to dry hard grease heating lightly with plumbers torch will soften and allow new grease to enter.
Also depressing the little ball (valve) at Zerk tip helps.

And always grease at the end of the day. Cause the machine and pins are warm to let the grease flows better. And you dont get clogged fittings as the dirt and grease does not have time to set.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #4  
I wouldn't bother with trying to flush the grease out. At this point, you are going to want to pull the pins, clean them out, then grease up and re-install. Doesn't take long.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #5  
If you dislike greasing that much, a pneumatic or cordless grease gun can take a lot of the "pain" out of it. Having to pull all the pins, clean and reinstall will also make greasing feel like a simple task. Grease often to push the old grease/dirt and replace it with new, clean grease.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #6  
Agree with Mechanos about the grease gun putting the "joy" back into greasing. Since I got my Lincoln pneumatic grease gun it has been a pleasure to grease - so much so that I bought three of them. You can hold down the trigger and it continuously pumps.

Lincoln also make electric cordless ones if you don't have a compressor but then you have to deal with the added weight of the battery and the inevitable battery problems.

Lincoln 1162 Air Operated Grease Gun : Amazon.com : Automotive

If you wear a pair of surgical gloves it make much less mess and requires much less clean-up.

Greasing with weight on the pin will sometime concentrate grease on one side. So if you can load the pin, grease, unload the pin, grease again this seems to distribute grease well.

Also, you can grease and then run the pin through its motion cycle (like a backhoe boom) and grease again. It spreads the grease around.

Lastly, use a top quality grease. I use C&C 880 ($$$) but Lucas makes a good grease, too. It is sticky and doesn't ooze out so much under use. It only takes a couple of pumps to re-grease. Go to your local tractor dealer and ask what they use for their grease service. Usually they use a quality grease.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #7  
A good de-greaser and pressure washer will take the old caked grease off the surfaces of the machine. Give it a good cleaning a few times a year and grease every time you use it. No need to flush, just keep fresh grease pumping through on a regular basis. Frequent greasing will distribute the grease around the pins upon use.

Greasing is like brushing your teeth. The more you do it (within reason) the better, and it becomes a habit after a while. A similar metaphor is that loose pins are like rotted teeth; a few minutes a day can prevent thousands in repair and a lot of pain!

For example, my 770 has sat all winter long. Before I move it out or do anything with it, it's going to get an oil change, cleaning and full greasing. The machine gets used once or twice a month after that and will get greased every time it's used.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #8  
As a kid on the farm it was grease everytime before you used the tractor. We used to fill the grease guns from a 5 gal bucket of grease. It was messy. Rubbing alcohol strips grease pretty well from your hands.
 
   / Greasing unsealed pins #9  
I have recently noticed build-up of old, hardening grease which prevents admission of fresh grease at one zerk and probably adds to the general unevenness of grease distribution at others. I suspect this build-up is due to the hot, dry S. New Mexico climate, but also to my use pattern. I tend to use the machine for two or three (usually light) jobs on my property after greasing it, and then it goes back in the shed for up to 6-9 months sometimes. I do not grease the backhoe or loader if I know I am not going to use one of them, so the greasing interval can be quite long for some pins. (Frankly, I hate greasing, and I am not going to do it more than I have to.)

Do I need to grease on a regular basis irrespective of use (if so, how often), or perhaps there is a grease that is not susceptible to drying out? I

My Kubota B3300SU has the Kubota LA504 FEL. In the FEL manual, page 19, Kubota specifies "High quality grease designated "extreme pressure" and containing Molybdenum disulfide is recommended. This grease may specify MOLY EP on the label".

Sounds exotic but this exact grease is $3.60 per 14-oz cartridge at Walmart, $3.99 at TSC, both for "store brand". I buy the TSC. FEL greasing interval is 10 hours, pretty standard. By greasing every 10 hours the fresh grease presses out some of the old, sometimes contaminated grease while it is still soft, so you have clean, functioning grease on the pivot pins.

You do not need gobs of grease oozing out of each pin. Grease is good stuff. Just a light film is sufficient, even though you cannot see into the pivot. Moving parts will spread the grease and 90% coverage is fine. Others have recommended greasing before and after loading a pivot with a recalcetrant zerk; this is a greasing "secret" now in the public domain.

You can purchase more expensive grease but I think it is a fallacy that more expensive grease will allow you to increase the tractor greasing interval. (As a retired Marketing Pro, I speculate more $$$ grease is purchased with expectation of increasing interval than any other reason.)

Using Kroil to soften congealed grease may have merit; Kroil is certainly a grand product, but it will be less work and less mess to motivate yourself to grease with whatever Kioti recommends at regular intervals, though you may have to pull the tractor out of storage only to grease.

I am no fan of greasing the FEL every 10 hours. However, I am less a fan of expensive tractor repairs and tractor down time; those possibilities motivate ME to grease.


THIS THREAD IS AN EXAMPLE OF EXCELLENT ADVISE AVAILABLE ON T-B-N.​
 
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   / Greasing unsealed pins #10  
For example, my 770 has sat all winter long. Before I move it out or do anything with it, it's going to get an oil change, cleaning and full greasing. The machine gets used once or twice a month after that and will get greased every time it's used.

I do the opposite - I always do a full service including fluids and a full greasing on whatever it is (tractor, attachments, dirt bikes, snowblower, etc) when I put it away. That way, when it is time to use something, I always know it is 100% ready to go. It's better to store things with clean oil and grease anyway.

Also, +1 on the Moly EP grease from walmart. It is dark grey (black), it stinks, but it works great for tractor pins.
 
 
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