Stupid zerk fittings/pin grease on Branson 2810 with BL-10 FEL

[Melsman]

Hello All,

I thought I'd post my adventures in dealing with the pivot pins and grease fittings (zerks) on the BL-10 Front End Loader (FEL) on my Branson 2810.

This is a "new to me" tractor with only 850 hours on it. However, I noticed that about six of the pivot pin zerk fittings on the FEL had the springs sticking out of them. (The check ball was blown out.) And when I tried to apply grease to the fittings, I could not get any to go in, even though the joints were dry. Interestingly, they were the same lower 8 fittings (4 on each side); none of them took any grease. Because the pins where obviously dry, I decided to take the pins out and examine them.

To do that, I purchased a 1" hitch pin and used it to drive out the pivot pin I was working on. The hitch pin kept everything aligned until I reinserted the pivot pin. Worked like a charm.

However, when I pulled the pivot pins (that wouldn't take grease), I could not find the grease port bored on the side of the pivot pin. At first, I thought they were solid pins... which made no sense since they had zerk fittings. But on closer inspection, I finally found the grease port... plugged solid and matching the surrounding black residue that coated the pin. I actually had to take a drill and drill out the now very solid old grease. However, once that was done, I was able to force the rest of the old grease out through the port and replace it with new grease. Now for the 'sprung' zerks.

The original zerks are brass odd-sized zerks that you won't find at your local automotive or hardware store... I tried for days not believing that these would be that unusual. But they are. They are M8x1.25 zerks. Additionally, the nut is a 9mm nut. When I finally found some on line, they were steel, but I ordered them anyway and found that the threads were a perfect match. However, the nut is 10mm, which turned out to be no problem. They seated properly with a standard 10mm 1/4" drive deep socket - no muss, no fuss.

In the end, it appears that the previous owner had neglected to grease the pins for years, and then when finally trying to grease them (with a high pressure grease gun), over-pressured the grease chamber in the pin, blowing the ball out of the zerk once the grease gun was removed.

Moral of the story? Grease the freakin' FEL pivot pins each time you put fuel in the tank.

Melsman

 

[ptsg]

Well, the title is a bit misleading. Turns out all the issues were caused by the lack of maintenance of the previous owner.

Another point is that US pretty much the only country still stuck in imperial system and this tractor being made in South Korea, everything will be metric. M8x1.25 grease zerks are actually very common everywhere else.

 

[ning]

I also had trouble matching zerks on my Branson - I had one get very stuck and my hand pump grease gun wouldn't push grease through it (before I got the L&L coupler, which seems to have less issues now).

Here's what I bought, for future reference: 10 M8x1.25 brass zerks

 

[Cougsfan]

I don't grease the Fel everytime I put fuel in tractor (gets too messy), but do once a month or so. I agree that this is imperative maintenance that is way too often overlooked. Most any competent compact tractor dealer will likely have metric zerks that fit in stock, but good luck at an auto parts store.

 

[oosik]

If I greased every time I filled up - I'd look like the Tar Baby. I have a battery powered DeWalt grease gun. It's never blown the balls out of any zerks. I do have ONE zerk that is unusual. I must start the tractor and curl the grapple. Then the zerk will accept grease.

 

[ptsg]

I just grease the loader every 8 to 10 hours, depends on how much loader work I actually did. I also grease the pivot points for the front axle the same time I do the loader. The manual states for 50 hours but I don't think it considers the use of a loader.

 

[ning]

I don't grease the Fel everytime I put fuel in tractor (gets too messy), but do once a month or so. I agree that this is imperative maintenance that is way too often overlooked. Most any competent compact tractor dealer will likely have metric zerks that fit in stock, but good luck at an auto parts store.

You may be surprised.
The local Kubota shop (pretty good sized one that serves a fairly large area) had 8x1 & 10x1 zerks and plenty of attitude but no 8x1.25 that I was actually looking for.

 

[sea2summit]

I don't grease the Fel everytime I put fuel in tractor (gets too messy), but do once a month or so. I agree that this is imperative maintenance that is way too often overlooked. Most any competent compact tractor dealer will likely have metric zerks that fit in stock, but good luck at an auto parts store.

There are few things I'm thankful for on Amazon but among them are the variety packs of zerks, 3M heat shrink tubing, c-clips (internal and external), and fuzes. Worth the ~$50 to have them all on hand to me.

 

[Branson Bob]

If I greased every time I filled up - I'd look like the Tar Baby. I have a battery powered DeWalt grease gun. It's never blown the balls out of any zerks. I do have ONE zerk that is unusual. I must start the tractor and curl the grapple. Then the zerk will accept grease.

When I got my first tractor 5 years ago I eventually learned this idea... that for some of the zerks you need to move the attachments to alleviate pinch points so that they accept grease. This I found to be especially true with the backhoe zerks.

 

[5030]

The reason the previous owner gummed up the grease ports (when he did grease it which was obviously infrequently is, he used cheap clay based grease that hardens after a while. Use a good synthetic grease about every 10 operating hours and you'll be fine.