spencerhenry
ArboristSite Operative
i have been accused by people who have no idea what my maintenance habits are, that parts have failed due to lack of maintenance. i spend more time maintaining my mill than i spend on all my other machines combined. my skidsteer, firewood processor, skidder, pickup, and plow truck all get maintained with regular fluid checks, filters, battery connection cleanings, and overall looking over. sure, i had to replace the motor on my dump truck, i owned it for just over a year, it had 200,000 miles on it and is geared so low that at 50 miles per hour it runs 2800 rpm. still ran fine but had so much blowby that it was blowing oil out the breather. the skidsteer cranks slow but until now has started ok, but the starter had been abused before i got it. now it will get new cables and starter. last summer the skidsteer quit running out of the blue, turns out there was a bad speed sensor in the pump, was that lack of maintenance? i doubt it, nothing i can do to the inside of and injection pump. i keep the fuel filters changed out regularly and the water separator checked, but has not had water in the fuel since i bought it when it had a hole in the top of the fuel tank. pickup has a tendency to corrode battery terminals, so every 6 or 8 months they get cleaned, had to put new batteries in the truck also, but at 6 years old that is to be expected.
the mill gets fluids checked EVERY time it is fired up for the day, greased appropriately, guide rollers are checked for alignment whenever it seems like the blades arent tracking right, or about every 20 hours of run time which ever comes first. blade wheel belts are cleaned as necessary and replaced long before worn out. mast is lubed about every 10 hours of run time or every couple of days of use, track is cleaned after use every day, track is lubed about every 40 hours of run time or whenever it looks dry. i have replaced most of the crappy blade terminals with weatherpack connectors. air filter gets blown out every couple days of use, and replaced every 200 hours or so. fuel filters and engine oil and filters changed every 150 hours. hydraulic oil level gets checked every few months unless i have a leak. battery was replaced last winter and connections are like new still, alternator got replaced a the same time as the battery last year, all bolts were loctited, connections were cleaned and tight. solenoid cable connections got checked last year at the same time as the new alternator and battery, found no loose nuts or corroded cable ends. the contact strip needed some help, i used the emory cloth that live in my toolbox for the mill, and used a file on the brass block to clean it up. the only thing that i missed was the bottom rail and the brass block that rides on it, the brass block looked good, the rail had some rust. the fuse block is where the problem came up, the nuts holding the cables to the studs were ALL tight, the problem was the stud was loose in the block.
so my question is, how much time does everyone else spend, sure seems like i spend quite a bit of time on maintenance especially for how many hours it gets. it is a dry climate here and there is almost no rust on stuff, and the mill has only been towed down the highway 1 time in the last 3 years. and when it got home it got fully hosed down?
i just spent 6 or 7 hours installing a new H bridge module and doing the "pre-installation checklist" the only thing i found was paint under the grounds on the motor and the grounds for the hydraulic pumps, all the cables were clean, and tight. my wallet is now $800 lighter than it was before the parts, and now it looks like i need a transducer which is another $700 part. what maintenance could i have done to not have to replace a transducer?
the mill gets fluids checked EVERY time it is fired up for the day, greased appropriately, guide rollers are checked for alignment whenever it seems like the blades arent tracking right, or about every 20 hours of run time which ever comes first. blade wheel belts are cleaned as necessary and replaced long before worn out. mast is lubed about every 10 hours of run time or every couple of days of use, track is cleaned after use every day, track is lubed about every 40 hours of run time or whenever it looks dry. i have replaced most of the crappy blade terminals with weatherpack connectors. air filter gets blown out every couple days of use, and replaced every 200 hours or so. fuel filters and engine oil and filters changed every 150 hours. hydraulic oil level gets checked every few months unless i have a leak. battery was replaced last winter and connections are like new still, alternator got replaced a the same time as the battery last year, all bolts were loctited, connections were cleaned and tight. solenoid cable connections got checked last year at the same time as the new alternator and battery, found no loose nuts or corroded cable ends. the contact strip needed some help, i used the emory cloth that live in my toolbox for the mill, and used a file on the brass block to clean it up. the only thing that i missed was the bottom rail and the brass block that rides on it, the brass block looked good, the rail had some rust. the fuse block is where the problem came up, the nuts holding the cables to the studs were ALL tight, the problem was the stud was loose in the block.
so my question is, how much time does everyone else spend, sure seems like i spend quite a bit of time on maintenance especially for how many hours it gets. it is a dry climate here and there is almost no rust on stuff, and the mill has only been towed down the highway 1 time in the last 3 years. and when it got home it got fully hosed down?
i just spent 6 or 7 hours installing a new H bridge module and doing the "pre-installation checklist" the only thing i found was paint under the grounds on the motor and the grounds for the hydraulic pumps, all the cables were clean, and tight. my wallet is now $800 lighter than it was before the parts, and now it looks like i need a transducer which is another $700 part. what maintenance could i have done to not have to replace a transducer?
