Daily Tractor Maintenance
Before revving up your tractor’s engine for the workday, use this daily maintenance checklist to ensure this important piece of small-farm equipment is running smoothly. Rather than memorize the owner’s manual or drag it out every day, put together a checklist of tractor-maintenance duties to accomplish before starting the day’s work. While relatively simple and fairly logical, until they become routine, it’s easy to miss one or more steps.
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| Tractor Maintenance Tips |
In preparing this text, I consulted Craig Tammel, my neighbor and a mechanic at Preston Equipment Co., the local Deere dealership in Preston, Minn. He helped me compile these seven daily tractor-maintenance steps to assist in preventing problems with safety and maintenance.
1. Fill the Tank With New Fuel
If the tank has leftover fuel inside it from the winter months, drain that excess and refill the tank with a fresh supply. This minimizes the danger of condensation buildup within the engine, which results in smoother running. And while you’re checking the fuel quality, it’s also a sensible idea to measure the opposite fluid levels, too. If needed, confirm to feature of more coolant and engine or hydraulic oil, which are essential for keeping the transmission lubricated, reducing the quantity of moisture, and protecting the engine from the danger of overheating.
2. Check the tractor’s radiator-fluid level.
The gradual loss of fluids over time can be expected in your small farm tractor; however, if a significant amount of additional coolant is needed, it may indicate other, more serious problems, such as coolant leaking into the engine oil, Tammel warns.
“Coolant can enter through faulty head gaskets or cylinder O-rings,” he says. “A gear-driven water pump can also be the cause.”
3. Inspect and Clean the Battery.
When the tractor has been idle for an extended period of your time, the battery will often discharge, which may overtax the alternator and, in some cases, cause a breakdown. If the battery juices are low, revive them with a high-powered charger. additionally, examine the electrical connections for fractures, grease residue, or corrosion, and provides them a radical cleaning if needed. If the battery is working at the optimum level, this may take the stress off the alternator, so it can maintain a full charge while the tractor is operational.
4. Check the tractor’s oil.
If adding gas required you to start out your tractor and drive a brief distance to fuel storage, you’re able to check oil levels. If not, start the engine, and let it warm up before checking the oil. Stop the engine, and provides it a couple of minutes before checking the dipstick or other oil-level indicator. If you've got an older tractor, this is often an honest time to see oil levels in gearboxes with their own reservoirs. Check hydraulic and transmission fluid, as well. Some tractor models share a standard reservoir for both.
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| Tractor Maintenance |
Add oil as required. Like with the coolant, low engine-oil levels are indicators of other problems. Unlike coolant, internal oil leaks will usually show up first as blue smoke within the exhaust or as reduced power.
As a final step in daily tractor lubrication, grease joints. Out-of-the-way grease zerks—the small metal fittings for inserting grease into mechanical joints—are easy to miss. When initially compiling your checklist, do a careful count of all fittings, and count them off once you use your grease gun.
5. Check the air cleaner (optional).
It’s not necessary to see tractor air filters on a daily basis; however, if you discover crop- or weed-residue buildup on your radiator or grill screen or you’ve been operating in particularly dirty conditions, take a glance.
“Watch for air restrictions that affect power and also for dusty operating conditions which will put an additional load on air filters,” Trammel says. “Black smoke within the exhaust also can be a symbol of insufficient air mixing with the fuel.”
Most air filters today have a bigger outside filter and a smaller (backup) inner filter. The inner filter shouldn't be pulled out, apart from replacement. If the outer filter is visibly dirty, remove it and blow it out using no quite 35-psi airflow; then return it to the housing. Wipe out any dirt or dust before closing the housing.