# Maintenance and parts durability



## MowHoward2210 (Nov 2, 2003)

All of our L&G tractors, Compacts and Tractors have maintenance intervals specified by the manufacturer. Cars and Trucks, too. A manufacturer wants your repeat business when you buy a new machine. They can also make money off of you by selling parts and installing those parts.

Do you think the manufacturers give you the *optimum* maintenance intervals? Remember, they want to sell you a new one or make money from parts and labor. On the other hand if they design a POS, you most likely wont come back. I wonder if they puposely balance reliability and planned wear-out of components through there recommended maintenance intervals.


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

You got me Mow. I usually play it safe and do the required maintenance a little earlier than is called for. If nothing else for the peace of mind of doing all I can to make my machine last.


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## Chipmaker (Sep 16, 2003)

Manufacturers know darn well how long a part is going to last. Its not a big deal if your an engineer and have the brains and such to figure out wear etc in something you design......they do it on aircraft parts all the time. They know exactly how many hours or cycles it will take before it reaches a point it can cause other problems or a disaster, so tghey have routine time changes for such.......and I bet a cup of cofee that John deere and all the other companies also know exactly how long you can expect a part to last. I say longevity is built into the items when designed. I also have to belive they make parts with a specific time of use in mind so they can sell new parts later on in addition to potential service.......or at least that is what it seem like with most new vehicles made today, most are junk after 100 thous miles or 4 years.............I also believe you can extend the wear or serviceablility of an item if you use prudent reasonable care, and do a little extra here and there in addition to what the manual calls for. Just changing oil for example sooner or at shorter intervals certainly has to help to some extent. Same way with scheduled lube of chassis etc......Not muich you can actually do to internals etc, other than ensuring a fresh clean quanity of whatever fluid it needs is there.......and keep nuts bolts and other fasteners tight, make all adjustments to valves etc, filter changes, thats about the entent of preventative maintenance on a tractor or vehicle unless you want to tear it down and do an inspection on each and every item for wear, which if the truth was know, the manufacturers already know how much its gonna be, but they will never tell!


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## Fusion1970 (Feb 23, 2004)

It sure seems to me as well that "they" know how long a part will last, and the repeat business thing makes sense too. I also think they would be taking recommended maint. intervals to mind, if and when they test a part.

My theory is when in doubt, do it- it can't hurt. I work hard for my stuff, so I try to take care of it. Well, we all work hard I guess...I just have to work hard longer. LOL

For example, manual suggests greasing the deck spindles evry 10 hours. The zerks are straight up, so my grease gun cant reach them. I have to remove the deck. I thought of using a couple angled fittings, but the deck can be removed in a minute. Thats 10 hours engine time...I sometimes move things in the cart, let the engine warm up, and let it idle a minute before shutting it off, so it might be 9 hours actually.

I remove the deck, scrape the underside, and touch up the edge on the blades. I also keep the engine and transaxle cooling fins clean with an air nozzle. I even hit it with the blower after each cut to blow all the grass off the deck and everything. I guess I do things more often, but it doesn't seem to take as long, and I know it is being taken care of. 

The way I see it, is regardless of if things are made to fail or not, I have never heard of a bearing failure due to being greased too much, or an engine locking up because the oil was changed too many times. I also believe in new spark plugs and air filter every season.

Some might think its overkill, but I do not think it is expensive to maintain something. For example, heres a seasons cost...

2 spark plugs- $4.00
new air filter- Not sure on price, but figuring high at $15
2 oil filters- $10.00
4 Qts. oil- $8.00
2 tubes grease- $5.00
First year cost- $23 (oil, filters, grease)

Total- $42. Even if it needs a belt, it might be $60, but thats still a small amount to pay knowing it is taken care of. 

Will it help? We'll see. I know there will eventually be other expenses, but I am just doing what I can to make it last. 

Greg


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## Ernie (Mar 18, 2004)

After reading and then moving on I return with some insight into the built in wear factor..... Most of todays diesel engines are designed to run reliably from 10k to 15k hrs from the manufacture.. Thats in the most ideal circumstances and conditions (engine labs) to give them a standard.... Now you get you new diesel to the house and what do you suppose you do with it? yep you are going to take it and work it show it off clean it and work it some more..... It depends on the usage and loads variences, but moving parts are going yo wear and filters are going to do their job and start deminishing efficency which in turn does the same to the oil so on so forth.... PMs are great.. They are known as planned maint. Not the preventive maint: plans... No such thing... How can you prevent bearing failure w/ oil changes ....so it is planned... As Chief stated that he does it earlier so that he knows that hes done his equipment well... A thought on knowing when things are going to break befor sale is just dangerous bus. Yes the manufacturers will get some knowledge from their overall lines repair history..... Yes you should follow the manufacturers guide line and reccomendations but then again if you r use is in severe conditions you need to adjust you planned maint: to coincide with your usage.


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## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

I generally own my cars and trucks for 10 to 15 years and get over 200,000 miles on them. My original Deere tractor, Troy-Bilt tiller, and W.W. Grinder wood chipper were all bought new in the 1970s and still going strong. My philosophy is that even good oil is cheap in the small quantities used in lawn equipment. I also don't try to save a dollar or two by substituting aftermarket filters, fluids and parts and risk damaging a machine because the automotive oil filter I used on the hydrostatic system wasn't up to spec. as an example. Most car manuals say change the oil every 7,500 miles, but it is common for most of us to do it at 5,000 miles or less. It is $6 of good quality dino oil vs. a $2500-$3000 engine, a no brainer. And if synthetic is your choice, it is still the cheapest insurance you will pay on your car while you own it.


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## Ernie (Mar 18, 2004)

Oil and grease are the cheapest insurance you can get..... Only problem I can see is just doing it... I have problems w/ others not taking the time to grease every morning to keep the pins, searings, etc right on working instead of down time.


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## balmoralboy (May 22, 2004)

*Knowing when things break!*

I just love the concept that John Deere's engineers have time to sit and calculate wear levels on every surface of every part they make. Nobody has that kind of money to spend!!! They don't even do that for the Space Shuttle!!!

Your company must do real well if your employer could afford to pay you to sit around doing that kind of calculation!!!! Yes, it is possible to calculate wear between two surfaces, but the number of factors to know is mind-boogling. Even with a computer set up to do most of the work, you'd be looking at a minimum of an hour per wear surface to set the parameters and review the calculations. That would cost about $80 per wearing surface, not counting the $500,000 to $1 million for setting up the software. 

Then do multiple runs to allow for synthetic versus dino, high temp versus cold, etc, etc, and the cost just keeps on going.

With the pressure on margins today, nobody could do this, not even if you have millions of tractors to split the cost over. It would be cheaper to go back to cast iron engine blocks, than to calculate all of that!

What's more likely is that they look at parts periodically, if the part sales run either above or below projections, and if they are selling more they beef it up, and if they are running low they either leave it alone or look at how they can make it cheaper, sorry, less expensive to make!


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