FEL lubrication - has to be a better way

SylvainG · Mar 30, 2021

OMG, the OCD in me is having a heart attack LOL. Do you keep 4 feet away from the tractor? I seem to get grease on me by just looking at mine from afar!

grsthegreat · Mar 30, 2021

I used a pressure washer a few years back and cleaned all excess grease cause I was tired of it dripping on driveway, getting on the dog, on my clothes, etc.

i went as far as disassembling all the pivot points and cleaning them. Then just minor regressing.

buck12 · Mar 31, 2021

Peter 315 said:
I just grease that's all.............View attachment 692640

That is how a well maintained tractor should look. At least that is what I tell myself. I occasionally take a rag or paper towel and wipe away some grease before I toss the rag.

Shutesbury · Mar 31, 2021

SylvainG said:
How to do clean the grease? Do you remove the excess grease after greasing or later on? If later on, how do you scrape it off? My new to me tractor had loads of old grease in the zerks and over the joints. I'm currently using a flat head screw driver that I gently rubs against the joints and twist around the recessed zerks to get as much grease as possible. I avoid using degreaser there because well, it's a degreaser and I don't want any to seep in the joints so I simply rub a cloths around the joints to remove as much old grease as possible.

I use disposable wooden chopsticks to clean out old grease and packed dirt around the zerks.

Cycledude · Mar 31, 2021

Bought a Lock N Lube last week, wow I should have bought one a couple years ago when I first heard of them !
I wish they made a decent longer hose.

John0829 · Mar 31, 2021

Cycledude said:
Bought a Lock N Lube last week, wow I should have bought one a couple years ago when I first heard of them !
I wish they made a decent longer hose.

Go to your local hydraulic hose shop and have one made up as long as you want, I made one over 20 years ago that is 30" long and it sure made greasing a lot easier back in the day when you had ball joints and control arm bushing to grease on cars and pickups.

Cycledude · Mar 31, 2021

John0829 said:
Go to your local hydraulic hose shop and have one made up as long as you want, I made one over 20 years ago that is 30" long and it sure made greasing a lot easier back in the day when you had ball joints and control arm bushing to grease on cars and pickups.

Yes there is a very nice looking hydraulic hose place about 30 miles from here , maybe I will stop to see what they could do for me.
I did add on an extension many years ago but it’s one of those skinny plastic like types that you can’t grip decently. I am very surprised Lock N Lube doesn’t sell a decent extension, the one they sell doesn’t seem much better than the crappy one I already have.

Ddh1961 · Mar 31, 2021

Google extra long grease gun hose, there’s a ton of them on Amazon for reasonable prices & free shipping with Prime.

Cycledude · Mar 31, 2021

Ddh1961 said:
Google extra long grease gun hose, there’s a ton of them on Amazon for reasonable prices & free shipping with Prime.

Yes I have looked on Amazon, seems like all the grease gun hoses they carry are the skinny slippery piece of crap very Similar to the one I already own. But without actually seeing them in person it’s hard for me to be sure.

Amazon.com : grease gun hose 36 inch

RedNeckGeek · Apr 5, 2021

5030 said:
Like I said, quit greasing it entirely and when the pivot pins lock up, pound them out and replace with new ones. Issue solved. Some of my implements have dozens of grease fittings, they all get greased quite often. Grease is cheap, replacing worn components from lack of lubrication usually isn't so cheap.

I learned the hard way that the bosses and bores the pins fit into will wear just as fast as the pins. If the bores aren't lined with a bushing, you'll need to re-bore them and sleeve them to accept the factory pins, or turn custom pins. Now I go by the factory manual and regrease the FEL pivots every 10 hours of operation.