Tractor rap are the unvalued heroes of farm equipment maintenance , often drop until a crack-up occurs . have got spare tractor belts on standby can be a plot - modifier when this happens .
Routine Farm Maintenance
I take good care of my garden tractor . Istay on top of oil changes . I regularly clean and/or replace crude oil and zephyr filters . I top off other fluids ( such as hydraulic fluid and coolant ) when needed . Ichange the mower blades , and I clean leaves and grass clippings out of the lawn mower pack of cards on a regular basis .
This care extend to the snowfall blower adherence I use with one of my garden tractor . I make certain the gearbox detain fill up with gear box vegetable oil . I ’m careful not to scrape up crushed rock from my driveway when clearing snow . And I keep spare shear pins on hand so I wo n’t be out of luck if something causes the snow electric fan to break out a shear pin , disconnect the blade from the power of the railway locomotive .
Tractor Belts & Snow Removal
Even the most diligent granger can occasionally overlook an field of upkeep that requires care , such as the tractor belt that transfers king from my garden tractor to the snow cetacean mammal .
Mygarden tractor with its Baron Snow of Leicester cetacean , had been hooked up to the snow blower the previous class , and at the start of wintertime , I ’d gone through a care checklist and concluded everything was in Holy Order .
I hooked it up and cleared a duet of passes up and down my driveway when the snow blower abruptly stop working . A quick visual resume revealed the problem : the tractor belt had snapped .
I ’d never thought to check the condition of the belt because , in all my years of mowing with garden tractors , I do n’t conceive I ’ve ever had a belt wear out . A small lawn tractor wear out a whack once , but that was a long time ago . Mower belts , in my experience , go for years and years without issue , and I was n’t expecting anything different from the snow cetacean whang .
Then again , I ’d buy the blow electric fan used , so I ca n’t say for sure how many hour had been put on that belt . It did n’t strike me as wear the first time I installed it on my tractor , and the smash go through one wintertime without issue . But the strain of its first business back in action shew too much to handle .
Fortunately , there was n’t so much Baron Snow of Leicester as to be unmanageable , so I was capable to get by with a low self - powered snowblower while I say a Modern belt and waited for it to come .
Tractor Belts: Lessons Learned
serve it to say , I ’ve learned a lesson . It can be easy to bury about belt sustainment since they often go for year without matter and there is n’t a even schedule for replacing them . But from now on , I ’ll visually audit the condition of my C. P. Snow blower whack before wintertime each year , and I ’ll always ensure to have a spare on hand . Who knows , next prison term , it might snap when there are 18 in of snow in the drive and I require to get it clear right by . And I do n’t require to be stuck without a replacing at a time like that .
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