New experience. Perhaps someone can explain.

[Sysop]

I'm new to the world of owning a tractor in the sense I've never had to maintain one before. I have done certain things other tractor owners have told me to do on their machines exactly as they've explained and never had reason to question much of anything. I've had grease fittings that were hard to take grease, and even some that would ooze a bit back out the zerk fitting due to the pressures they would hold. I've also had failed fittings, and I know the difference. My front fitting on my axle pivot has been one of these types, hard to take grease from pressures in the assembly...

Today when greasing it, I got the bright idea to lift the lift the front axle off the ground with the FEL. Honestly I was feeling tired and just wanted to make it easier to reach, but as I was raising it up I thought to myself "maybe that front fitting will take grease easier with the weight off :thumbsup:" (yes I gave myself a thumbsup in my thoughts ). After getting everything ready, I was about to get down and do the greasing and laid my hand on the front wheel and the axle tilted at the pivot reminding me it wasn't something to lean on when it's not on the ground :laughing: I played with it for a moment pivoting the axle back and forth noting how smooth and fluid it moved, no noise or play or anything in the pivot, exactly how a new machine should be... So I get on to the task and it didn't take grease much easier than normal, if at all. A little oozed back out the fitting still too, but nowhere near as much as I pumped in, so I call that "task complete". Here's where things got "weird" enough I felt it worth posting thread to see if I can get a couple answers questioned or questions answered or whatever... Once it was greased, I could no longer pivot the axle by hand... I could jump on either wheel and it wouldn't budge at all... Before greasing I could literally pivot it both ways with a single pinky finger.

Ok, once I couldn't pivot it by hand, I let the tractor back down and traversed some small ditches to articulate the axle pivot fully and it operated flawlessly. I lifted it back up, I could pivot it by hand again, everything smooth and friction-free.

What I would like to learn is:
1: Why is the front pivot zerk fitting under so much more pressure than the rear?
2: Should that be the case and should I be concerned about it?
3: Why would the pressure of the grease I pumped in prevent me from pivoting the axle by hand until flexing it across some ditches when no additional grease made an apparent exit from the joint or zerk?

If this is something better suited for the Mahindra forums so be it, I figured the axle pivot could be similar enough to some others that the questions might be valid and get better responses here.

Thank you all for your time in reading, and many thanks to anyone with any helpful input.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I do have a small warning: never rely on the hydraulics to hold up something you'll be under. Granted, if the tractor had come down, there would be plenty of room for you under there, but you never know. Get some jack stands and block the axle up before you go under the tractor. Don't rely on the FEL.

 

[Sysop]

Good tip and thanks, safety tips can never be "preached" (read that as mentioned) enough. I wasn't actually under the tractor at all. The two zerks on my axle are mounted at about 4 and 8 o'clock of the pivot housing making them pretty easily accessible from a kneeling position beside the tractor (one from each side). Lifting it up just made it a little less close to the ground so my old back ain't hafta bend quite so far.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Here's another one for ya, then: when raising the front of the tractor with the FEL, make sure the parking brake is off, or the rear can't roll forward to let the front come up. Took me a while to stumble across that.

 

[aczlan]

Try putting in grease with the axle on the ground, see if it goes in easier that way. I think its caused by grease going in but old grease/dirt blocking the exit of the new grease.

Aaron Z

 

[Sysop]

No problems getting the front up, only getting grease in and I don't understand why it wouldn't pivot by hand after getting new grease in... It's always been harder to put grease in the front fitting since I got the tractor new a few months back. It is just over 50 hours and I've always greased it every ten hours or every third time I get it out, every time except this last has been with the front end on the ground, I just happened to be feeling lazy and thought picking the front up would make it easier to reach, which led to my discovery of how easy it would pivot before greasing but not after.

 

[k0ua]

Here's another one for ya, then: when raising the front of the tractor with the FEL, make sure the parking brake is off, or the rear can't roll forward to let the front come up. Took me a while to stumble across that.

I remember finding that out the hard way about 20 years ago..I imagine my face lit up like a light bulb!

 

[k0ua]

No problems getting the front up, only getting grease in and I don't understand why it wouldn't pivot by hand after getting new grease in... It's always been harder to put grease in the front fitting since I got the tractor new a few months back. It is just over 50 hours and I've always greased it every ten hours or every third time I get it out, every time except this last has been with the front end on the ground, I just happened to be feeling lazy and thought picking the front up would make it easier to reach, which led to my discovery of how easy it would pivot before greasing but not after.

The Kioti folks. think you should grease those every 50 hours, along with the rest of the chassis fittings. Of course the loader is every 10 hours. My last Kubota has a "releif plug" you unscrew this little plug, pump in some grease until you start to see it come out, and then you put the plug back in. Kioti does not have one.

 

[banjodunn]

G'day is your grease fitting on the end of the pivot? If so then as you pump grease in you are forcing the axle back and it tightens up against the thrust washer, thus making it hard to move if you had let it sit for 10 min or so then you would prob find it easy to move again as the grease would have worked it's way along the pin and taken the pressure off the thrust. Nothing unusual just means your pin and bush must be in good shape.


Jon

 

[Sysop]

G'day is your grease fitting on the end of the pivot? If so then as you pump grease in you are forcing the axle back and it tightens up against the thrust washer, thus making it hard to move if you had let it sit for 10 min or so then you would prob find it easy to move again as the grease would have worked it's way along the pin and taken the pressure off the thrust. Nothing unusual just means your pin and bush must be in good shape.


Jon

There are two. They are located on the bottom of the pivot joint, one at the front of the joint and one at the rear of the joint. The one at the front of the joint is located at about 8 o'clock and the one at the rear is at about 4 o'clock (when seated on the tractor). The rear one (pointed to the right side of the tractor) takes grease much easier than the front fitting (although I did it first). I'm sure everything would still be in good shape beyond anything that might have been assembled improperly, the machine is just over 50 hours and is only a few months old. I'll try to add some pictures in the next couple days. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Sysop]

The Kioti folks. think you should grease those every 50 hours, along with the rest of the chassis fittings. Of course the loader is every 10 hours. My last Kubota has a "releif plug" you unscrew this little plug, pump in some grease until you start to see it come out, and then you put the plug back in. Kioti does not have one.

I realize my pumping grease every ten hours is what some would call excessive, but I've seen various fittings/joints in my lifetime that you can set and pump grease into until it is pumping out of the fitting/joint all over the place and still not have all surfaces within the fitting/joint coated (ever pumped grease into something and it only pushes out in one small spot?). In my experience on those types of joints, the only way to get grease into the "hard to reach" places is to grease frequently and operate the joint normally to work the grease all the way in. I've found sometimes using less grease, on a more frequent schedule, can be more beneficial than just pumping it in till a blob hits the ground on the manufacturer's schedule... I generally "over lubricate" any new machine and I have never had anything "bad" happen because of it (granted this is my first tractor, but greasing joints and fittings aren't unique to tractors). Thanks for the reply!

 

[sixdogs]

This is the answer and it happens on lots of grease applications. Close tolerances and the grease is being forced in under tons of pump pressure. Use it for 5 seconds and it's back to normal.

G'day is your grease fitting on the end of the pivot? If so then as you pump grease in you are forcing the axle back and it tightens up against the thrust washer, thus making it hard to move if you had let it sit for 10 min or so then you would prob find it easy to move again as the grease would have worked it's way along the pin and taken the pressure off the thrust. Nothing unusual just means your pin and bush must be in good shape.


Jon

 

[farmgirl19]

Grease is cheap. Replacing parts is not. I grease often, usually much more frequently than manuals call for. No problem greasing every 10 hours!

 

[Sysop]

This is the answer and it happens on lots of grease applications. Close tolerances and the grease is being forced in under tons of pump pressure. Use it for 5 seconds and it's back to normal.

Grease is cheap. Replacing parts is not. I grease often, usually much more frequently than manuals call for. No problem greasing every 10 hours!

+1 farmgirl19, and I feel it is most important to grease new hardware very frequently just to ensure it gets worked even into the tightest of places early on in the machine's life. As sixdogs says some things can be under tremendous pressures. I think manual recommendations are good enough to get you through your warranty. I've never heard of something failing cause the lube was too fresh. :laughing:

I've just never personally found anything under such pressures adding grease would actually cause such a drastic effect, or at least it's the first I've noticed...

I appreciate the input, thanks bunches!

 

[sixdogs]

You know, that brings up the point of using the right grease for the application. There is lithium grease and then lithium with molybdenum (moly) added. The moly grease is dark and nasty and lots of loader and other applications call for it. I'm careful to use it because if I ever tracked it inside--or the dogs did--I'd be singing a couple octaves higher when the wife saw it.

I've learned to use the moly grease in more applications because it seems to stick harder and take pressure better. For a better explanation of greases, search here or the John Deere website for greases. There's really only a few kinds and not all kinds are created equal.

 

[Sysop]

Here's the pics of the pivot joint and the location of the fittings as promised.


Front

Rear
(the fittings have a bit of red/pink/purple colored grease on them)

I also spoke with the service guy at the dealer, his explanation was the same as banjodunn and sixdogs explained. This is apparently a common thing, I just never experienced it on anything I've worked with cause I just put grease in it and move on.