Schedule for greasing FEL

   / Schedule for greasing FEL #41  
teg said:
So you say that it should be greased MORE than once every ten hours? BTW, You can wipe that excess grease off the loader ;) :)
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I do if I'm using it. If not, it doesn't need grease. If I was just pulling a rake or something and the bucket was just riding around on the front, I could drive around for 1000 hours w/o needing to grease the thing.

And I do wipe off the grease. Unfortunately, it's usually by accident with my shirt...

So do you grease every 10 hours or not... I'm a little confused here. Maybe this is why your loader is a bit loose? Not to mention snow gets packed into every nook and cranny, you let that snow melt to water and let that sit in the pins until it evaporates?
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My loader is a bit loose because it has 2600 hours on it (PTO hours), and the PO (about 300 hours use) had a grease gun with a broken tip. It just squirted grease out w/o putting anything in the fitting. Evidently, it was like that for quite a while. He gave me the gun when I bought the tractor - first time I used it I was like, "uh oh". I pulled every pin on my loader and backhoe, cleaned the pins, bushings, grease fittings, and pin grease channels, then manually lubed each one before reinstalling. Lots of the pins were dry with the grease channel filled with solid gunk. Most of the pins were fine after cleaning up, however, with the exception of the lower pins on my bucket - they were worn about halfway through. I've since over-greased and haven't experienced any substantial additional wear on any of the pins/bushings. I'm even still running the half-worn pins in the bucket (they get grease every hour or two of use - 10 pumps to fill them up) - I finally got replacements after 6 years of forgetting - they are sitting on my bench ready to go, as soon as the weather climbs above freezing. Speaking of freezing, I'm not worried about melting snow - firstly because nothing has had a chance to melt yet, and secondly because a little water at the joint won't penetrate the grease. Even if it does, any metal will be well protected by grease, and the water will evaporate long before it has a chance to do any corrosion. It's surely not as bad as leaving it out in the rain, which I don't do either.

Whatever works for you. Every time my meter hits a "0"... I grease and my pins already have too much play, IMHO (6 yr/300 hrs) :confused2: even with greasing it a bunch with EP Moly.
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Play at 300 hours? Really? That's odd. As for your 10 hour schedule, nothing wrong with greasing when you don't need it, however, if you are doing heavy loader work, even your 10 hour schedule may be inadequate - and if your pins are getting sloppy already...

I recently started using the Moly grease. Up until this year, I used regular HD (red) grease. If memory serves, I had to grease less often with the red grease, but I stopped using it mostly because it is not waterproof - turns a sickly light-brownish color after exposure to water. The black stuff doesn't wash off, but looks a lot worse when smeared on a shirt.

JayC
 
   / Schedule for greasing FEL #42  
Something I just thought of is that I try to grease at the end of the day when the parts are warmer and the grease can fill in a little better.
Mostly I do this with my mower spindles and wheels but also the loader as well.
Just a passing thought to this helpful thread.
 
   / Schedule for greasing FEL #43  
CompactTractorFan said:
You have ODC...;)
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Thats OCD. And yes - I do. But I'm a Civil Engineer, and we are trained to be"detail oriented". AKA OCD. :)

But there is a method to my madness. My machine sits so long (only run about 6 hours this year), that I'm afraid the oils will separate from the grease and leave the base soap, clogging up the grease fittings and lowering the lubricating properties of the grease left behind. By greasing it when its used, I get fresh grease in the pins and bushings as well as relief of any clogging.
 
   / Schedule for greasing FEL #44  
crashz said:
Thats OCD. And yes - I do. But I'm a Civil Engineer, and we are trained to be"detail oriented". AKA OCD. :)

But there is a method to my madness. My machine sits so long (only run about 6 hours this year), that I'm afraid the oils will separate from the grease and leave the base soap, clogging up the grease fittings and lowering the lubricating properties of the grease left behind. By greasing it when its used, I get fresh grease in the pins and bushings as well as relief of any clogging.
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Darn, I did say "ODC"...Oops...:ashamed:
 
   / Schedule for greasing FEL #48  
b2910 said:
My Kubota FEL, LA402, says to grease every 10 hours. I was thinking that meant 10 hours on the tractor meter but that really seems very often even in my limited usage. I can't imagine an owner using their tractor for several hours a day greasing the loader every other day so I now am questioning what that every 10 hours means. I tried a search but without knowing the right keywords to include I didn't have much luck. I never take off the FEL but only really use it, changing positions, less than 10% of the time it is running so I would not expect the bearings to need greasing very often. When I do grease it the grease oozes out of the joints immediately so it appears to be full. What is the schedule you recommend?
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1st Pins and bushings are far more expensive then grease.

2nd Pins are not like wheel bearings (Once grease is squeezed out to where you can see it, it is useless. You need grease where the pin contacts the bushing. And it squeezes out quickly.) Also wheel bearings are in a protected environment. Sealed from dust and dirt. Your pins are not. They are down in the dirt and water and rain.

3rd if you do it often (read daily) you will only need to do one squirt per pin. also you will get fast at doing it. I can grease my Kubota L39 in 10 to 15 mins. (MUCH faster then my case 680) Kubota puts all the grease fitting very accessible.

Its your machine, Do as you want. But as someone that has priced pins. I will grease often.

JMHO
 
   / Schedule for greasing FEL #49  
Heck I'll jump in here..... I grease the loader before any repetitive use.

When its been just a front end ornament along for the ride, maybe.

I too have priced pins and I have no issues with over greasing, like it was said earlier, grease is so cheap and so easy to replace.... unlike pins and bushings.

Lithium grease, usually power punch or chevron ultra-duty, NGLI#2
 
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