MAINTENANCE OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

First and foremost, it’s important to get things straight. When talking about tractor maintenance, it is always necessary to make the proper distinctions between routine maintenance that can be carried out continuously by operators, general maintenance, and extraordinary maintenance that takes place in the event of operational problems.

1. Tractor: routine and extraordinary maintenance

Let’s start with routine maintenance. This is the set of all operations carried out by those who regularly use the tractor.

The most frequent operations include:

– Checking oil and engine levels, transmission oil and rear gearboxes. These should always be checked, even if the tractor has not been used for some time; oil can deteriorate.
– Maintenance of air filters and radiator grills. This cleaning is also very important, as filters can accumulate dust or other materials during operation. As such, it is important to clean them with compressed air. Filters should be replaced at regular intervals.
– Greasing parts. This should be carried out within specific time frames: some components need daily greasing, while others according to hours of operation.

As mentioned above, extraordinary maintenance is only performed in the event of unforeseen, sudden problems. By taking advantage of routine maintenance carried out by professionals in the field, extraordinary has a low probability of occurrence.

2. Keeping tools in order: routine flail mower maintenance

The flail mower, or brush mower, is an excellent tool that allows you to keep your land clean from brushwood, while shredding residues and compacting their volume to allow them to break down more quickly, and bury them more easily for use in mulching.
A significant aspect of the flail mower is the ability to change its tools. This is the most difficult maintenance step. A worn tool will not be able to be removed, and create damage; uneven wear can create imbalance in the rotor (the machine vibrates more), decrease shredding capacity and increase the effort required – and consequently its consumption, also reducing the working speed.

3. Brush mower cleaning

As seen in the previous paragraph, brush mowers are really useful machines, but they also require maintenance.
We know that the types of maintenance are divided into ordinary and extraordinary, so let’s see what lubrication consists of, as it has not yet been discussed in depth.
Lubrication is generally to be performed every eight hours of operation or after every use, in order to safeguard the various components and reduce power losses.

To lubricate all the most important points on the machine, we can use various greases that offer the appropriate amount of strength. For example, the lateral displacement pins may not even need to be greased each time, as they are under less stress than the rotor bearings and therefore require less grease.

Check out all our types of gardening equipment, including various models of flail mowers, on this page.