Fuel strainer and sediment bowl instead of a fuel filter are common on older tractors.
Regular maintenance (we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again) is the single most important thing you can do to minimize breakdowns and repairs. Maintenance means cleaning, inspecting, lubricating, changing fluids and filters, and adjusting equipment on a regular schedule for optimal performance, long life, and minimal breakdowns.
Whether you are using, maintaining, or repairing equipment, safety must be your top priority. Equipment can maim or kill you if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time: Working on equipment puts you in a position to be hurt by equipment. Turn off the engine and PTO, disconnect spark plugs, block and chock, and use your common sense.
The first three steps in a good maintenance program are:
Remember that the most important maintenance you can do to keep equipment running is regularly greasing all zerks and keeping engine oil clean and the reservoir full. Check the owner’s manual for the location of zerks, since they can be difficult to see; replace any that have broken off or fallen out. Also, wipe a light coating of grease on shafts in sleeves, connecting parts, and sliding parts that don’t have zerks.
Maintenance should be done on a regular schedule, but not everything needs to be done every time you start an engine or pull out an implement. The list below describes how often to do specific maintenance procedures. *Starred items are tasks that require more explanation and are discussed on the following pages.
Taking a few minutes before or after using a piece of equipment can prevent small developing problems from turning into major headaches. Make sure chains and belts are appropriately tight and not showing signs of excessive wear. Look for loose or missing bolts, clips, and pins, and for unusual wear patterns — often indicated by shiny metal, or holes (such as on hitches) worn out of round. Inspect also for leaking engine oil, hydraulic fluid, gearbox oil, coolant, and fuel. Note if tires are low or wobbling, if debris is clogging the pre-screen on the air filter, and anything else that doesn’t look quite right.
Every time you gas up a four-cycle engine, check the engine oil level and condition. Do this when the engine is not running: Pull out the dipstick, wipe it clean with a paper towel or rag, reinsert it, and pull it out again to get an accurate reading. If the oil film is below the “fill” line on the dipstick, add oil (using the weight specified for that engine by the owner’s manual).
Do not overfill; this causes foaming of the oil and decreases engine efficiency and life span. If the oil is dark and opaque instead of light and clear, or milky (indicating water in the oil), it needs changing. If the engine has an oil filter, change this at the same time. Changing oil takes about 10 minutes.
Fuel strainer and sediment bowl instead of a fuel filter are common on older tractors.
A rusted-in bolt is one of the most common frustrations you’ll deal with on old implements, since much maintenance and most repairs begin with removing bolts to get at a part or system.
Start by squirting on some penetrating oil (Liquid Wrench is one brand) and leaving it for a couple of minutes up to a couple of days. If that doesn’t work, give the bolt head or side of the nut a couple of light taps with a hammer — not the shaft end; that can deform the threads and make the problem worse. If it’s a hex-head bolt, you can put the socket on a breakdown (a.k.a. breaker) bar for more torque or put a piece of pipe over the regular wrench handle and give it some controlled pulls (a power impact wrench can be very useful here).
If it still won’t come loose, try heating the bolt or nut with a handheld propane torch to expand the metal and break the seal. If all else fails and the bolt is held by a nut, put a grinding wheel on your power drill, and grind the head or the nut off the bolt so it can fall out of the hole. If a frozen bolt is threaded into a receptacle, the job becomes more difficult. Machinists and mechanics might weld a bar or fresh-edged nut onto the rounded bolt head to screw it out.
Bolts that often vibrate loose can be helped to stay in place by coating the clean, dry threads with an adhesive product, such as Loctite. Other things to try are adding a split washer, a locknut, or a second jam nut on top of the first nut. Keep a variety of spare bolts handy for emergency replacement of broken or lost bolts.
Small and newer engines will have an air filter of paper, foam, metal, or some combination. Clean or replace these according to the directions in the manual, or at least annually — it’s a quick, simple job. Paper filters can sometimes be shaken or vacuumed and reused but should be replaced when they get really dirty.
If coolant appears dirty or milky, flush the cooling system.
To remove a spark plug, gently wiggle off the spark plug wire, then use a special padded spark plug socket on the socket wrench to unscrew the plug; this prevents damage to the plug’s porcelain. If the small L-shaped bare wire at the top of the plug has a brown coating (indicating good ignition), gently clean it off with a wire brush. If the coating is black or wet, or the porcelain is cracked, the plug should be replaced with the same size and type as specified in the owner’s manual. On engines with several spark plugs, do not mix up the order of spark plug wires; this will disable the engine.
To check the spark plug gap, consult the manual for the correct setting, then insert the same-size spacer from the gapping tool in the space between the wire and the body of the plug. To correct the gap, lightly tap or pry the wire until the gapper is just touching both wire and body.
This is one type of gapping tool that can be used to check that the gap between the wire and the plug is correct. Gapping tools are also used to set the gap on points in the distributor and for adjusting valve lash.
Any time you attach hydraulic couplings, wipe off the ends first to keep dirt out of the system.
Several times a season, visually inspect hoses and couplings for wear and leaks. Replace a worn hose by removing the hose and associated couplings and taking it to an equipment repair shop. They will cut a new hose and put on the old couplings for a reasonable price.
Leaking couplings should be disassembled and cleaned and the threads wrapped with Teflon tape. If this doesn’t work, have the couplings replaced.
Since hydraulic fluid is both long-lasting and quite expensive, change it only if it becomes milky (indicating water in the system) or noticeably dirty, or there appears to be a partial clog in the system. This is done the same way you change engine oil: Run the engine so the fluid warms and holds as much dirt as possible in suspension; then drain it, change the filter, install a new filter, and refill the system with new fluid.
Hydrostatic drives and power steering units may be sealed and require no regular maintenance, or they may share fluid with the main hydraulic system. Hydraulic brakes generally have an accessible reservoir that can be checked for brake fluid. Consult your manual.
Most blades on brush and lawn mowers are chisel ground — flat on one side and angled on the other. Other types of blades are mostly flat ground, where both sides are angled to the point. Blades can be removed for sharpening, or sharpened in place if there is room to get the right sharpening angle with your tools. Depending on the amount of metal to be removed, a file or sharpening stone may be sufficient. A grinding wheel, belt sander, or handheld power grinder (our preference) is quicker, but take care not to overheat the metal, which will change the tempering (hardness). When using power grinders, wear eye and hand protection to avoid injury from sparks and cuts.
If all parts are lubricated and functioning but equipment is still not running evenly or easily, consult the owner’s manual for instructions on how to adjust tensions and spacings for better performance. Often it will take a few tries to get everything working the way it should. To find out if changing adjustments has worked, run the equipment and see how it performs. If something isn’t quite right, change the adjustments and run it again. An experienced neighbor can be very helpful in these situations.
Since belts fray, stretch, and break fairly often, it’s worthwhile to keep extras on hand. Label the spares (a silver-colored marker pen works well) with their size and length and what piece of equipment they belong to.
Instructions for replacing a belt are found in the owner’s manual, or you can look for the tensioner pulley, spring, or guide that holds the belt tight; loosen this to get the old belt off and the new one on. If there is no tensioner, get the belt around the smaller pulley, then feed it into the larger one as you turn it slowly by hand till the belt flips over the lip into the groove.
To tighten a chain that has stretched, first try adjusting any tensioners, if present. If this doesn’t work, try removing a link and replacing it with a half link. Broken chains can be repaired by replacing the bad link. Chain-link kits, complete with instructions, are available cheaply at farm and hardware stores. Take a link along to the store to make sure you buy the right size repair kit.
Sealed bearings require no maintenance; when they fail, they’re replaced. Unsealed bearings should be cleaned and repacked, usually annually but less often if the equipment is used only occasionally. To repack bearings, remove the wheel, then remove the grease cap, spindle nut, and cotter pin to get at the bearings. Remove the bearings in their raceway, and use solvent to clean out the old grease. Dry the bearings and raceway, then carefully work in the fresh grease. If the bearings are stuck on the shaft, you can clean and repack them in place with bucket and brush or spray solvent.
A standard wheel and bearing assembly from an old John Deere tractor
An excellent time to do annual maintenance chores is before you store equipment for the season; this helps ensure quick and easy start-up in the spring. Don’t forget to drain the water line in the pressure washer and add RV (recreational vehicle) antifreeze; or simply move the unit into a garage or basement where the temperature won’t fall below freezing.
When storing an engine for the season, add a gas stabilizer to the tank, then run the engine for several minutes to make sure the additive gets to the carburetor, where it will keep the needle valve from gumming up. Then top off the gas tank to prevent water condensation in the fuel line. Gumminess and water in the fuel system make engines hard or impossible to start.
Many manuals recommend that before storage you mist the engine cylinders with lubricating oil to prevent rust. (Do this after you’ve finished running the stabilizer through the carburetor.) This is done by removing the spark plug(s), spraying or squirting a tablespoon of engine oil into the cylinder, then cranking the engine two to three times without turning it on, so the pistons move and coat the inside of the cylinders with the oil.
Equipment that’s not stored but used during cold weather often runs more easily with a few adaptations. Put automatic transmission fluid in a wood splitter’s hydraulic system instead of hydraulic fluid; it will be much easier to start with the pull cord. Get a snowblower with a plug-in electric starter for the same reason. Chain saws don’t come with plug-in starters, but they are small enough to bring into the relative warmth of the basement overnight. Tractors can be fitted with plug-in engine heaters; plug in your tractor on a cold night if you plan to use it the next day.