Grease - is there no better way? Can we talk about this?

[HamishMacCheap]

I think Kubota recommends the FEL on my LX2610 be greased every 10 hours. I follow their recommendations.

 

[jrsavoie]

I think Kubota recommends the FEL on my LX2610 be greased every 10 hours. I follow their recommendations.

How do you like that machine?

I hate my wife's

 

[LHF2019]

That's all well and good until you rent a skid steer and the track pops off. Try refilling the grease on that with a manual grease gun. Your hands/forearms will hate you.

Different equipment different needs. A one off nobody can plan for. If I was in construction it would be a different story.

I used to think about getting new grease in my 5 gallon grease bucket that refilled hand grease guns. Wish I had done it years ago.
Easier and faster than changing a tube of grease. Best used with a grease gun that the rod comes out as the grease gun is filled
Never have an air problem.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a good quality pistol grip grease gun?

Mine are old and failing
I had 4. One for each shed. I'm down to one. And it's leaking past the plunger. I'm wishing I had looked into fixing the others.

The guns I have bought since, suck
A lot of squeezing and not much grease pumping.

Sad to say, my wife had done all of the greasing this year.

Lock and lube yellow gun.

I like to grease my skid steer and excavator bucket pins every 1/2 tank of fuel and the rest of the pins every tank of fuel. I’m not sure what you’re greasing every 100 hours.

How does that equate to hours? My skidsteer I do them every 10 hours. Over kill but if I forget or get busy I'm still good and do them at next 10 hour. Newer tractors are 50 hour fittings, older Tractors are 10 hour. I do them at 25 hour. All are done per hour meter on equipment. Still overkill because obviously there is running but no movement.

 

[mikester]

+

 

[dodge man]

JD says every 10 hours for the FEL. I always remember a contractor, who I assume their maintenance people got tired of fixing stuff, had stickers all over the equipment that said “I NEED GREASE TO LIVE”.

 

[jyoutz]

I always wondered if the recommendation is for 10 engine operating hours or 10 hours using the loader.

 

[HamishMacCheap]

jrsavoie -

It is actually a LX2610SU which means it does not have the mid-mount PTO. There may be other differences between it and a Kubota LX2610 that I am not aware of but I bought mine because it doesn't have the mid-mount PTO, something I would never have any need to use. I bought it because I needed a FEL with a 3rd function grapple.

I find it to be quite easy to transport, fuel efficient and being a Kubota, reliable. That said, I now only use it to take advantage of the grapple and a 4' rotary cutter on pine plantation roads and food plots. I used the tractor and the rotary cutter a couple of times to maintain the field around the residence but no longer do so because it took too long and more importantly, it was a very uncomfortable ride. A very uncomfortable ride. I guess it is a result of small, R4 tires and light weight.

It's paid for and it's mine so I will keep it but I use a L3302 with a 5' rotary cutter to maintain the field around the house.

 

[rScotty]

You're right! But at the same time, 24 zerks on a zero turn seems kinda ridiculous. Didn't anyone tell Kubota the rest of the world switched over to sealed bearings for most applications, 40 years ago?

Even the idlers on my 2007 Deere mower deck are all sealed bearings, the only greasible things there are the three main spindles. Everything else that gets greased on that machine is a non-bearing pivot, such as mower deck trailing arms and brake linkage.

Most sealed bearings have a service life that's many times longer than the lifespan of a commercial zero turn mower, so they're an ideal application case.

Sealed bearings ought to last longer, but I cannot help noticing that in the last 50 years or so I've replaced a lot more ruined sealed bearings than I have greaseable ones.

So I'd say that sealed bearings are OK in the short run, but for durability over decades I'd rather have greasable bearings.

rScotty

 

[CH4Ohio]

Here is a used grease gun I found online. Only $200. Looks like it's had a pretty easy life and been well taken care of . . .

I've observed that grease is messy and greasy. I just keep plain old cheap paper towels next to the grease gun and use as needed. Buy yourself a can of those GOJO or Fast Orange hand-wipes to help final cleanup -- they're worth every penny.

PS -- Decided not to buy the grease gun . . .

 

[LHF2019]

I always wondered if the recommendation is for 10 engine operating hours or 10 hours using the loader.

10 operating would be my assumption. I grease loader as I feel it needs done. Just like all my implements I guesstimate the hours it’s run. If handling round or square bales. Loader gets done every day otherwise whenever I feel it needs it