Maintenance

Are you ready for the cold? If you live in a cold region and plan to use your tractor throughout the winter season, now is the perfect time to perform your tractor preventative maintenance. Preventative maintenance will keep your tractor running at its optimal performance all winter long. Download our Tractor Winter Maintenance Checklist Change Oil and Fuel. If you plan to use your tractor during the winter months, be sure to change your oil and fuel to the winter grade variety specified in your tractor’s user manual. Oil behaves differently in various temperatures, so be sure you’ve selected a [...]

Learn the fine art of listening to your tractor in hopes of keeping it running longer. One particularly important facet is to hear and identify the particular noises that our mechanical beast makes. Even though our attention is usually focused on the task at hand, that is, the bushogging, disking, etc., it is odd how our ears will pick up the smallest unusual noise that it hears. It's like listening to an orchestration of music and hearing the flutist make a misguided squeak on the instrument. For some reason... that wrong note sticks out over everything else that is right. [...]

After checking out the spark plugs, it took more time to explain this than it really did to do the inspection. At any rate it was decided that a compression test was in order to verify the internal engine status. That way one doesn't have to buy any tune up parts until you are sure that the engine is in reasonable mechanical condition. If the tests show a fictional compression reading of 85, 80, 82 and 86 psi, this is well within accepted parameters of a 15 psi spread. If the spark plugs had a light gray tinge to them [...]

Your tractor is coming right along. The old oil and filter has been taken to the recycler and the air filter replacement has breathed new life into our motor. Now look at the cooling system since it has to work so hard in the summer heat. Cooling systems can be real cantankerous in their old age. Radiator cores clog up with rust, lime or other mineral deposits and the fins clog up with weed seeds and debris. The metal headers slowly corrode away from years of... use and the seams seem to always be moist with residual antifreeze. On hot [...]

Engine rebuild kits have all the replacement parts for overhauling an engine without going to the store to get gaskets, special measuring tools, or miscellaneous parts. They come neatly packaged, clean and tidy. But it's important not to let that packaging lull you into a false sense of security. The appearance of matching sleeves, pistons, rings, and bearings can cause frustration and agony if not properly measured and installed in a workshop environment. Following certain assembly procedures will reaffirm how wonderful these engine kits are. This paper is certainly not exhaustive in the engine assembly procedure, but will, hopefully, point [...]

If the reader has been present from the beginning of this series he will recall making an inventory list before the tune up procedures began. On this list was a collection of observations of the overall engine and tractor condition. Some of the items on that list include the fluid levels and their color.The oil color can help you determine whether or not it is time for a change. On a gasoline engine, oil that is...  black as pitch is way beyond the change interval. Indications are that it is full of dissolved carbon and dirt. On the other hand, [...]