some things that make or break a short easy preventative maintenance for me.
cold freezing weather were you almost require to wear gloves or your hands go numb within 15 minutes. or extreme hot weather. were just standing in front of a fan, you still can not see due to sweet dripping down into your eyes.
oil filters, air filters, and nuts / bolts / screws. some folks tend to way over tighten some of these things. and then it requires a cheater bar, and some grunts to undo things.
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having the correct tools for the job. oil filter wrench. personally have a
regular rubber strap wrench that goes around and snugs in back at handle. and is normally enough, though i do have a couple regular large metal sockets per say that hook up to a socket wrench or the breaker bar, and just fit over the end of the oil filters. ((the little indents on the filters are for these type of sockets i am referring to)) i gave up on the old metal teeth oil filter wrenchs that slip over the oil flters, never held worth a darn. and ended up scratching up the oil filter while putting on. or denting it while taking them off.
having a descent setup for an oil pan, not just what ever you can find laying around. but a good size pan that is shallow and easy to put even under a car that is not jacked up much if at all. and the oil pan can handle the entire amount of oil being drained.
the other thing for me, i tend to use 30 gallon drum. with a i want to say 1.5 diameter funnel going into the bunge / hole of the drum. so it makes it easier to dump old oil into the drum. and i keep a small metal trash can with lid, beside it. to toss some oily paper towels into.
for refilling oil (engine oil to hyd oil) i have a few funnels i use, from a simple small diameter funnel for say a weed-eater or chain saw or push mower, to little bit larger, to about diameter of a milk jug size funnels. to a long bendable hose like funnel. i have a couple not round / circle funnels but more oval shape errr egg shape i guess. for a couple things as well.
to me, a good old funnel and having right size that will stay in place without much worry of it falling over is well worth a few bucks. also pending on what it is, i may have either 5 gallon bucket of oil, to 1 gallon containers to 1/2 gallon containers to the little quart bottles. and being able to have funnels with a much larger diameter to make it easier to pour from say a 5 gallon bucket is very nice.
if i had a shed large enough for everything to be put in and be able to setup a gravity flow oil setup ((drums of oil up on a shelf, with like a little gas pump nozzle)) i would be set!!!
to note it, some times if i know i might need to add a quart of oil. i will bring it inside the house and let it warm up. so it is not as thick when i take it out and pour it. before it gets cold from the freezing temps.
PESKY OIL PLUGS! i hate them, i truely hate them. i can put them in just barely snug with fingers. and come back a few days later and they are stuck solid in place and require a cheater bar.
some times a pipe wrench is needed vs a straight 6 box end wrench or socket. and if pipe wrench is used you can easilly scuff up the oil plug, and make every time there after even harder to get them out and tighten back up.
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some times folks do a quick patch job, for example replace say a butterfly nut / finger size spin off nut. with a cheap little 6 sided nut. this alone bugs me. due to half the time i am unable to either get a wrench, socket with ratchet or perhaps socket with screw driver like handle on it OR not thinking / paying attention and grab wrong tool for what will fit in area easily.
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air filters, does not matter if push mower, riding lawn mower, the old allis chalmers CA or the ford 555c TLB. for me i normally end up in dust situations. and need to double check things. and most likely use compressed air to blow them out and clean them up.
having a good size air compressor, makes life easy. when using the air nozzle, you can quickly empty the tanks on air compressors if you do not know how set the regulator or you do not have one on them. that or you need that higher blast of pressure to get some stuff out. this can take a good amount of time just waiting for air compressor to pump back up to pressure.
speaking of compressed air. i use it to blow out a good amount of crud, from mowing decks to around entire tractor. this also can be rather time consuming little job, if you have a little air compressor. i normally do not pressure wash things off. and will just use air compressor. pressure washing is lots of extra water, and lots of extra time and work. if i had a spray gun setup like a car wash. and the pressure washer was say hooked up inside shed, and pipe ran to outside of building / shed. with a descent amount of hose plus a hanger or 2 outside. ok. but for me that is not an option. and normally requires pulling out garden hose or 2, pulling a long extension cord out. finding and filling soap bottle up if need be. and then wrapping everything back up. putting a tie wrap around hoses and cords and putting them back were they belong.
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radiator flushing, i honestly do not like doing it, due to animals around and possibly poisoning them. but this is one of them yearly things. or less i notice for some reason things are running hotter than normal. this can be a time consuming job, start with a cold tractor drain the fluid, refill with water, turn on tractor and let the thermo stat open up ((this part alone can take 10 plus minutes)) shutting down re draining, and if need be refilling with plain water and repeat till thermo state opens back up. ((possibly another 10 minutes just for thermo state to open back up)) refill with 50/50 water/antifreeze.
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greasing things, i still use the old "hand pump" style grease gun. ((a couple months old thread, it would seem many of us *including myself* did not realize you can twist the end of a grease gun hose to help get the nozzle on the grease zerts easier or take the nozzle off the zerts easier)) before i struggled on some zerts randomly. also having to carry a few paper towels around to wipe off excess if nozzle didn't get put on tight enough or nozzle got at to much angle and some grease squirted out. to cleaning a little bit up around stuff if it squirted out of a joint.
my skill level with a grease gun is way down there. i still get the stuff some how on what ever i am wearing. half the time i end up using a tube up part way through greasing and about that time i get some grease on fingers which makes it more time consuming / difficult to undo end of gun and take out old cartridge and put in a new one, even if using a rag to help keep a grip on things.
i do my best to keep up on greasing, and it has taken a few good many times of greasing on some of the used tractors i have had. to work out the old crusty black grease from certain joints and get to a point were i can see descent almost new looking grease start showing up. there be a difference in response times and how smooth things move with proper greasing.
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to be honest while i love cab tractors, i also hate them come cleaning time. it is much easier to track mud into them. and you really do not want to take garden hose up into a cab. so you are forced using rags and like to clean things up inside. its no fun trying to use a small bucket of soap and water. and most cabs i am guessing you have very little room to begin width. but to top it off, you are normally up off the ground standing on a small foot step or small ladder or barely hanging on while cleaning things up. and in corners end up upside down, turned 90 degrees one way 90 dregess another then one foot up in air. other foot almost tangled in steering wheel. * ya get the picture *
windows on cab tractors can also be a down right pain to clean. it is nice and easy to climb up into the cab and get into seat and get back out. but trying to clean the outside of the windows (((gggrrr)) ya stepping on fenders, hoods, etc... and many times you may not be able to. and need a ladder or a long reach squigie *ughs*
open station tractors ((no cab tractors)) can be rather nice and easy to clean, everything for most part can handle taken some water due to possibility of being left out in the rain. so you can bring that garden hose around and go like crazy shooting mud off of parts and places.
remember tractors are not like a car were you can just drive some place to a car wash, and have everything right there or go through automatic car wash. i actually tend to see many car washes have ""NO TRACTORS ALLOWED"" signs. to much mud clogs up there system and can leave there place looking like a pig stall.
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you also have that normal "eye checking" / double checking of everything to make sure all is good. along with checking air pressure in tires, sharpening blades on mower decks, greasing and checking gear box oil in different types of implements. double checking rear hyd ports.
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my one other major thing for me is. having all my tools hung up and not in drawers, with a 5 gallon bucket near by. having tools hung up like you see at the local hardware store were you can just reach over and pick tool you want to buy and put in cart. but in this case reach over pick tool you need / want to use and put in 5 gallon bucket. saves me a lot of time.
ya i can get into projects were i think oh i will be right back there next day to finish things up. but something happens and i do not. and some tools get left at the project site. and then i go walking around trying to find stuff. this is a big waste of time. fiddling through drawers to also find tools for me is also a nuisance and waste of time. if it is just you and no helpers or family coming in that also use shed you can have it easy. but when you have other folks also using tools. that extra time to hunt the things you need down can be rather annoying.
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i use to be a clutter mess of tools on a work bench and could easily go to exactly were i left a tool. but now a days, i tend to prefer a much cleaner setup and have spots for tools. making sure i return them were i got them. to many other things go on and to easy to forget for certain specific tools / items. and having things sorted and organized has helped speed things up. and part of the time i have someone helping me. and if i can tell them were to go and almost zero them on were it is without looking. things just breeze along. and not even realize it only took a few minutes vs half hour to do some things. most folks that help, tend to ask ok were does this go and like and are for most part more than willing to help place things back in approximate / general location / spot were it belongs. and if they do not have to sift through drawers to find were it belongs but just place it on a hook or slide a power tool onto a shelf. for them as a helper it speeds them up and less frustration for them. and it is no, hold on. as i get up and go looking.
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*shrugs* above works for me, i know it is not for everyone. but it does cut my maintance time down a good amount on a tractor. it may take a couple extra steps due to tools are a little more spread out along a wall due to being hung up. and takes a few more moments to place things back were they were. and to wipe things down from grease to oil to mud. but that preventative maintenance and keeping up on things. i am sure has saved me a good amount of time and cash long term.
and boy do i know the feeling of getting a very angry or odd ball look from folks. when i say, it will take me extra time to get something done. due to needing to do something check fluid levels, grease things, etc...
