Kody Hanner
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Homestead Equipment Preventative Maintenance
Importance of Preventative Maintenance
In my previous life, I worked as a quality assurance manager in commercial food and agriculture commodity plants. One thing that I learned in this position is that regular preventative maintenance and repairs of equipment are key to saving money. If you are having equipment breakdowns while trying to complete a task, you not only lose money, but time. And time is the hottest commodity in any operation, especially a homestead.
How to complete preventative maintenance
I am not a mechanic, nor do I expect you to be. Sometimes doing the maintenance does include you out in the shop with a YouTube video on how to change the oil in a rototiller (maybe these will be future posts) and sometimes it means getting the repair guy from the local tractor dealer out to change hydraulic fluid in your tractor. The important part is that it is done!
What to do and when?
The equipment that you are going to want to do preventative maintenance on, are anything with an engine, hydraulic fluids, or moving parts that could rust.
Summer Equipment
- Rototillers
- Mowers
- Weed Eaters
- Hedge Trimmers
- Certain tractor implements
- Chainsaws (but these can be used year-round)
Winter Equipment
- Snowblowers
- Some tractor implements
- Plow
- Chainsaws
Fall Maintenance
- Clean well
- Grease anything that can rust over winter months
- In small engines, use a non-ethanol fuel or add STA-BIL (See more info below)
- Store in a covered and dry location. If you don’t have place to store, cover with a tarp and secure tightly
- RECORD ON A LOG SHEET
Spring Maintenance
- Check and regrease any moving parts
- Change or fill with fresh oils and fluids, and dispose of properly
- Sharpen any blades
- Change any bad spark plugs
- RECORD ON A LOG SHEET
Spring Maintenance
- Clean well
- Grease as needed
- In small engines, use a non-ethanol fuel or add STA-BIL (See link below)
- Store in a covered location out of direct sun light. If you don’t have place to store, cover with a tarp and secure tightly
- RECORD ON A LOG SHEET
Fall Maintenance
- Check and regrease any moving parts
- Change or fill with fresh oils and fluids (making sure they are cold rated for your climate), and dispose of properly
- Sharpen any blades
- Change any bad spark plugs
- Run for a short period of time to make sure everything is in working order
- Keep anything with glow plugs plugged in for easy start-ups
- RECORD ON A LOG SHEET
Make sure that you always refer to owner’s manuals for proper maintenance and discuss with your dealer if you have any questions. If you don’t, you could lose any warrantee that you may have.
Fuel Stabilizer
So my husband absolutely swears by this product called STA-BIL to stabilize your fuel through the winter.
The label says that it will stabilize your fuel and prevent corrosion for up to 2 years! If you ask my husband though, he swears that he starts up a boat with no issues after 10 years when STA-BIL was used.
I figure with that kind of review, its worth a try to get a rototiller through winter!
Equipment Maintenance Records
You might have noticed that I stated one of the steps to preventative maintenance as RECORD ON A LOG SHEET. You also might have noticed that I put in bold, and then put it in bold again here. This is not so that you’ll download my Equipment Maintenance Log. Although, please do, its free and its handy!
I did this because it is so important to taking care of your equipment. If you keep track of make and model # of everything, it will be easier to order parts, troubleshoot problems, and I guarantee the first question any dealer or repair shop will ask is these questions. I’m pretty sure that you don’t do preventative maintenance at your desk, so having all this information in one place is super helpful.
This will also help with the resale value of any equipment you might need or want to get rid of.
Download Here!
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