Best way to remove that extra oozing grease?

[fried1765]

Take the tractor to a car wash and wash all of the grease off. When you are done grease each grease zerk to push the water out and start all over again.

My "car wash" is my Hotsy pressure washer.
Hot water does a good job removing old external grease!

I wash my tractors maybe once every two years.
Or when they get very dirty looking (I don't use them much).
Too much washing can actually create problems.

 

[rademamj1]

Over greasing is a necessary evil for great tractor ownership. It keeps all the zerks well lubricated, and pushes out any dust and debris where it can be easily cleaned out.

Cleaning a zerk is an art, and best done with liberal use of paper towels. 1st pass with paper cleans 90% off and then into trash with that, and using a scientificly required 2nd pass finishing paper towel removes remaning grease on that zerk, and then this finishing towel is rotated as 1st pass for next zerk. So on and so on until all zerks are cleaned.

 

[fried1765]

Over greasing is a necessary evil for great tractor ownership. It keeps all the zerks well lubricated, and pushes out any dust and debris where it can be easily cleaned out.

Cleaning a zerk is an art, and best done with liberal use of paper towels. 1st pass with paper cleans 90% off and then into trash with that, and using a scientificly required 2nd pass finishing paper towel removes remaning grease on that zerk, and then this finishing towel is rotated as 1st pass for next zerk. So on and so on until all zerks are cleaned.

That is pretty much the method that I use.

Not a good idea to put oily/greasy rags/paper towels in trash stored indoors.
Spontaneous combustion!
Ask me how I know!

 

[hube2]

The farmer in me says "it's a tractor." been working on farms since I was 12 and I'm thinking about when I will retire. I don't think I've ever seen anyone clean off the excess grease and I have never cleaned off excess grease, with one exception. My one exception is if I really overdo it because I missed seeing it start to squeeze out and there is a really big glob, I remove the really big globs so that they do not drop on my shed floor for me to walk in and then track into the house. I would hear about it for a month if tracked grease into the house. Someone else said it, the extra grease is an extra barrier to keep moisture and crap out of the joints.

 

[ctgoldwing]

LOL! Thanks for all the entertaining responses
I'm the 1st one to say 'it's a tractor'. In fact I say that to the buyer of my last one. Unfortunately no matter how careful (careless) I am I sometimes manage to get grease on me - and its always going to be something I wish I had changed from. I've gotten used to putting on my bib overalls whenever I think there is even a chance I'm going to do something on it. The downside is I work from home and do a lot of office zooming. I get a lot of cracks about my bibs
I guess I will try that degreaser and pretty much use rademamj1's method which is about what I do now.

Thanks to all & be safe!

 

[ADKMax26]

I wipe down my zerks before and after greasing. After the zerk I wipe off the extra old grease oozing out of the joint. A little excess here and there is fine snail trails down from the joints seems to be a magnet to clean clothes eventually. It always seems like I have to just use the tractor to move just one thing with the forks and walk away with grease stains if I don’t. I do my own laundry and do not like to try to get rid of more stains. Our old tractor at work was the worst. The new one I try to wipe down here and there. I just use paper towels or a semi clean rag. Probably not the best for the paint but water near the joint probably isn’t good for the joint.

 

[smittydog]

I wipe down with used blue towels....then save/store until I need a fire starter for my cardboard trash fire.

 

[buck12]

I wipe only before greasing. I figure the old grease on zerks offers some protection from grit during operation.

 

[Jim Nelson]

"Awful" is an interesting comment about WD-40.
I completely agree, but many think it is great.
Different strokes for different folks.

WD40 was never intended to be a lubricant, it was developed as a "Water Displacement Formula" by a company in San Diego during WWII specifically to protect equipment being shipped overseas. Somewhere along the line someone who saw how well it performed it's intended use decided to call it a rust penetrant. This was never it's intended or advertised use yet people continue to claim that is what it is for. It works very well in it's intended use. Recently ,after some ownership changes they have started putting a small amount of lubricant in it. Use it for what it was intended and it is fine, but not a miracle cure all.

 

[TimP]

I use paper towels and several of those Hobby craft Popcycle sticks, like tongue depressors.

They are narrow enough to fit into some of those skinny places the goo seems to ooze into.

Use the sticks to push the paper towels into tight areas as well.

They are disposable too.

I can't remember where I bought mine. Look on ebay or Amazon. It was pretty cheap for 100-200 sticks.

Oh... I always wear some disposable rubber gloves to help with clean-up.

Grease is a necessary evil, but my local shop mechanic gets over zealous and I have found globs of it on my tires and frame.

When it gets onto the garage floor or driveway, I always manage to step in it and track it into the house... NOT GOOD !