NCL4701
Well-known member
Equipment
L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
Today, I replaced a missing zerk on a u-joint on my bush hog PTO shaft and proceeded to grease the u-joints on all my PTO implements except the 3 point auger in the back of the shed where it’s been buried unused for at least 25 years.
Some of them are really easy to access. Some require removing shielding which takes a few minutes. Some require removing the shaft from the implement. While completing this mundane task on the chipper, bush hog, stump grinder, winch, and generator my mind wandered to the question of how often people really grease these things. I don’t put a ton of hours on any of this stuff. My L is six years old as of last month and is just shy of 600 hours. I’m swapping implements routinely, not like I put on a snow blower for “the season” and leave it on several months. The bush hog and abandoned auger are stored in a pole shed. All other PTO implements are stored in a climate controlled building.
The below instruction in the owner manual for my bush hog is pretty typical from what I’ve seen.
So, every day of use, I’m supposed to remove the shaft (at least from the tractor end), displace the shielding on the gearbox end for access, grease the u-joints, pull the shaft in half to grease the slidy parts, and put it all back together.
I could probably do that on the bush hog without taking it off the tractor and someone long before me made it much easier by removing the bucket shaped shielding on the gearbox that covered the standard bell shaped shield on the PTO shaft. The winch, chipper, stump grinder, and generator; I’d have to at least disconnect the implement and pull the tractor away from it a bit to accomplish that. Realistically, I’d more likely have to drill some strategically placed holes in the shielding and use the grease gun with the flex hose to grease that often.
I’ve never had a problem with a PTO shaft sliding as it should or u-joints wearing out. Just wondering how often y’all actually grease the drive lines on your rear PTO implements.
Some of them are really easy to access. Some require removing shielding which takes a few minutes. Some require removing the shaft from the implement. While completing this mundane task on the chipper, bush hog, stump grinder, winch, and generator my mind wandered to the question of how often people really grease these things. I don’t put a ton of hours on any of this stuff. My L is six years old as of last month and is just shy of 600 hours. I’m swapping implements routinely, not like I put on a snow blower for “the season” and leave it on several months. The bush hog and abandoned auger are stored in a pole shed. All other PTO implements are stored in a climate controlled building.
The below instruction in the owner manual for my bush hog is pretty typical from what I’ve seen.
So, every day of use, I’m supposed to remove the shaft (at least from the tractor end), displace the shielding on the gearbox end for access, grease the u-joints, pull the shaft in half to grease the slidy parts, and put it all back together.
I could probably do that on the bush hog without taking it off the tractor and someone long before me made it much easier by removing the bucket shaped shielding on the gearbox that covered the standard bell shaped shield on the PTO shaft. The winch, chipper, stump grinder, and generator; I’d have to at least disconnect the implement and pull the tractor away from it a bit to accomplish that. Realistically, I’d more likely have to drill some strategically placed holes in the shielding and use the grease gun with the flex hose to grease that often.
I’ve never had a problem with a PTO shaft sliding as it should or u-joints wearing out. Just wondering how often y’all actually grease the drive lines on your rear PTO implements.