Dirt Moving proper care with grease

[SDAnnette]

Hello,
I have read(and practice) cleaning zerk points before greasing my tractor. As a person new to tractors, do you clean the joints where the grease exits as well? Does the old grease protect the joint, or act like a scouring agent since it is dirty? I bought my Case 45 used and in this condition, see attached photos. I use it in a very fine dirt environment leveling roads and moving dirt. I never cleaned the old grease because the prior owner hadn't. I have attached pictures for clarity. I am doing the maintenance of blowing out air filters, checking oil etc. in the manual, but I can't find any info about how clean to keep things that are habitually dirty.

thank you,
Annette

 

[4570Man]

That’s way too much effort to clean for me. I leave it there as does pretty much every construction crew and farmers.

 

[SDAnnette]

That was kind of what I thought.... I didn't want to "make a clean spot", but some people on here have tractors and garages that are pristine. I have a shed covering here in CA, gravel and dirt.

thanks for the reply,
Annette

 

[Roadworthy]

If you wipe the grease that exits that just leaves that much less surface for the dust to stick to.

 

[Thomas]

I wipe grease fitting of first also any extra gobs but not to point showroom condition.

 

[txdon]

I like to keep the excess grease that oozes out the side to a minimum, not showroom clean, just clean enough to see the new grease bead appear when greasing.

 

[big bubba]

like everyone said.
occasional power washing a time or 2 during season wouldn't hurt. & do it where you won't track the excess grease in the house, etc

 

[TomIre]

I give the zerk fitting itself a quick wipe before greasing but other than not overdoing the grease that comes out of the joint that's about it.

 

[Captain Dirty]

Being a tight old yankee, I use the exuded and usually dust-contaminated grease as a source for grease on exposed applications where contamination is of little concern. I'll take a popsicle stick or similar and scoop any gobs of grease off the machine and store the contaminated grease in a wide mouth plastic jar. Then I'll spread the grease on the pins of the 3 point hitches of implements that are seasonally unused (e.g. snowblower) as a rust preventative or use it as a lubricant on turnbuckle threads, the wedges of feathers and wedges for stone splitting, etc. I am certainly not "cleaning" the grease away, but reducing the amount of grease one might casually contact.

 

[deezler]

I do a quick wipe of the fittings off before applying new grease; wouldn't want to try to force sand/dirt into the fitting. As for extra grease, it's a tractor so I just let it stay greasy.