Hi my name is Hammick and I'm an over-greaser

[Budweiser John]

I grease frequently. 2-4 pumps on most loader and backhoe pins. Sometimes may see some new grease start to ooze out while greasing but mostly when I start working the joint. Grease outside the joint is money lost. Use black moly grease on pins, red on bearings and U-joints. My opinion is better to use a little frequently than too much at once. Rarely have to wipe away excess. Joints do develop a “cuticle”of old grease and dirt that might help keep joints cleaner?

That’s pretty much my mode of opperendry too.
I try to leave a little dollup of grease on the zerk as I feel it keeps water and dirt from entering the fitting. When greasing I wipe the zero off first then grease.
My grease of choice is Lucas Red and Tacky, it’s got great staying power and holds up well. I also love my Lincoln pneumatic grease gun.

B. John

 

[GeneV]

But often grease just comes out one side and not the other until you keep going. Then you have a big glob on one side and just a little on the other. Do you feel just seeing a little grease on one side is enough? It's a brand new tractor so I'm trying to be better about maintenance than I was with my old used tractor.

Hi my name is Hammick and I'm an over-greaser "Hi Hammick", replies the group at the GA meeting.

I take it you mean all the pivot points on the loader or backhoe or whatever, right? Ok when you see some grease ooze out of one side, that means the inside cavity is so packed with grease already, there's no more room for more and some has to come out...basically, that tells you to stop greasing.

 

[cdaigle430]

i pump until i see movement

 

[Shredcini]

I can't help it. Two pumps ain't enough. I don't feel comfortable that I have properly greased a zerk until I see lots of red grease on both sides of the pin. My 18v Dewalt grease gun make this easy.

What do you over-greasers do with all that grease? Leave it to collect dirt? Spend an hour cleaning it all up with a roll of paper towels? Or power-wash the excess grease off? My concern with power-washing is that it will force the grease out of the pin and allow water into the pin.

OK, I was laughing right out of the gate on this one!

I usually dab up the extras with my finger and look for good places to smear besides under my eyes...3 point area always needs grease.

 

[hammick]

Hi my name is Hammick and I'm an over-greaser "Hi Hammick", replies the group at the GA meeting.

I take it you mean all the pivot points on the loader or backhoe or whatever, right? Ok when you see some grease ooze out of one side, that means the inside cavity is so packed with grease already, there's no more room for more and some has to come out...basically, that tells you to stop greasing.

OK. That makes sense. I'll stop when I see the first signs of grease coming out. Thanks.

 

[hammick]

i pump until i see movement

No movement on my LS tractor FEL. The loader pins are bolted.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Thanks for this post cause it reminded me that the M is overdue for some lubing

 

[5030]

That’s pretty much my mode of opperendry too.
I try to leave a little dollup of grease on the zerk as I feel it keeps water and dirt from entering the fitting. When greasing I wipe the zero off first then grease.
My grease of choice is Lucas Red and Tacky, it’s got great staying power and holds up well. I also love my Lincoln pneumatic grease gun.

B. John

When I was younger I had great staying power myself. Now, not so much.....:laughing:

I use Lubrication Engineers Red synthetic grease, it has excellent staying power, unlike me..

Pretty expensive too. $1500 bucks for a 150 pound open head drum. I find cartridge grease to have 2 distinct drawbacks. One is, you have no idea how much you have left in the cartridge and two, they are messy to replace.

I have a couple grease guns besides my air greaser They all have clear polycarbonate barrels so I can see how much I have or don't have and I bulk fill them from my air greaser. No mess. Air greasers aren't for everyone because of the expense but for me it's perfect.

 

[5030]

Thanks for this post cause it reminded me that the M is overdue for some lubing

Keep your loader pins greased. You don't want to know about replacing wallowed out bushings and new pins. Most all smaller loaders will have steel pins and bushings and lack of grease will quickly oval the bushings. Just did the loader on my second hand 2002 M9. If I didn't have the machine tools to line bore the old bushings and then weld in new ones, it would have been super expensive. As it was, I had to completely take the loader apart to do it.

 

[johncanfield]

Like someone else mentioned, I like to see grease coming out of both sides of a pin. My excavator takes almost a full small grease cartridge (20 something Zerks) but it's cheap maintenance in the long haul.