The 10 hour rule

[LD1]

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.

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So If you get up in the morning to start your day of work and grease everything, and then pull it in the garage at night and grease everything, what do you do the next morning????

I am not one of the 10 hour fanatics. I just grease it whenever I think about it. Sometimes thats 10 hours, other times it maybe 30-40. Never really pay much attention. But I'd say I grease probabaly 2-3 times a year. Ad since I have 350 hours over 6 years (~60/yr), I'd say I'm averaging 20-30 hours.

But as others said, we do a lot that we dont use the FEL for.

So to answer the OP's question, NO it isnt a live or die rule. Your loader isnt going to fall appart if you go 10.00001 hours before greasing.

When driving your car down the freeway and it hits 3001 miles, do you pull over and do an oil change?

 

[kevinj]

So If you get up in the morning to start your day of work and grease everything, and then pull it in the garage at night and grease everything, what do you do the next morning????

I am not one of the 10 hour fanatics. I just grease it whenever I think about it. Sometimes thats 10 hours, other times it maybe 30-40. Never really pay much attention. But I'd say I grease probabaly 2-3 times a year. Ad since I have 350 hours over 6 years (~60/yr), I'd say I'm averaging 20-30 hours.

But as others said, we do a lot that we dont use the FEL for.

So to answer the OP's question, NO it isnt a live or die rule. Your loader isnt going to fall appart if you go 10.00001 hours before greasing.

When driving your car down the freeway and it hits 3001 miles, do you pull over and do an oil change?

My grease schedule varies by what the loader is doing.

Moving firewood is way different than digging in the mud.

 

[Locoweed]

If I am doing hard work I grease at 5 hrs. or less. Light work gets the 10 hr. schedule.

 

[kcender]

I do a lot of heavy work with my FEL.I pay special attention to the bucket and linkage pins when greasing as they have a much higher wear rate than the rest of the loader.I grease these about every five hours of use. Some may say this is excessive but they still show quite a bit of wear.The rest of the loader pins get greased when I think they need it.If you look at the loader as you raise and lower it you can see that some pins hardly rotate.It is this rotational movement which is what causes a lot of the wear.I have already replaced my bucket and linkage pins but the rest are almost like new.

 

[newbury]

I grease it about every time I read a new long thread about greasing my FEL.

I've probably greased about 6 times since 2009 and am ashamed to say I've put on only about 40 hours on the clock since bought in 2009.

But I RARELY run at PTO speeds. I moved mulch today for about 20 minutes and only put 0.1 hr on the clock.

 

[RoyJackson]

I normally grease between 10 and 20 hours...not a hard and fast rule, but I keep it pretty close to that.

BTW, IMHO, it's most important to regularly grease the front axle pivot and tie rods then the loader.

 

[Deano]

I grease it about every time I read a new long thread about greasing my FEL.

Waaaaa Waaa Waaa :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I grease it about every time I read a new long thread about greasing my FEL.

I've probably greased about 6 times since 2009 and am ashamed to say I've put on only about 40 hours on the clock since bought in 2009.

But I RARELY run at PTO speeds. I moved mulch today for about 20 minutes and only put 0.1 hr on the clock.

Waaaaa Waaa Waaa :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Not saying this is me.....but it could be.....but not saying it is. Well, I may give a more me thought. If I'm working I don't have time or energy to be doing no greasing. If I've read a thread and the weather is nice (not to hot and not to cold) and I think I might need to do something worthwhile I'll go turn on the air compressor and start greasing.

 

[jtdiesel65]

My experience with greasing is that I'm much more apt to grease if I have a air grease gun. It makes it so the job is just a few minutes.

 

[gwdixon]

My experience with greasing is that I'm much more apt to grease if I have a air grease gun. It makes it so the job is just a few minutes.

No kidding on the air grease gun. It is almost a joy to grease.

I'd have to agree with Roy on this one. 10 to 20 hours is reasonable depending on the type of work. Oh, and if you pressure wash do a grease job immediately regardless of the hours. You'd be surprised at how much water comes out of the pins.

One last comment: If you have a backhoe, grease that sucker every chance you get. Those pins take a tremendous amount of force and grinding - a lot of it in the dirt. I've been known to grease after 2 - 3 hours when working it hard. The grease seems to just disappear.