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Maintaining Your Tractor over Winter

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Maintaining Your Equipment over the Winter Months

With the arrival of July, winter is officially upon us. This might not be the time of year farmers look forward to the most, but it is probably the most important time to think about how you maintain your tools and equipment. This is especially true for large, complex, and expensive equipment, like tractors, but is equally applicable to connecting parts like driveshafts and clutches. Jamming and other problems with the tractor driveshaft and clutch can lead to mechanical failure when spring comes around.

In this blog, we offer a quick overview of servicing and maintaining your farm equipment, with a focus on driveshafts and clutches, and discuss how investing in proper maintenance now can save you time and money in the future. 

The Benefits of Regular Maintenance

Like any piece of equipment that you will rely on for regular use, a good driveshaft is an investment. From plowing and planting to fertilizing and harvesting, driveshafts are required to stand up to the rigours of daily service in often-punishing conditions. They could well be considered the unsung heroes of the agricultural world.

Even with the hardiest machines, that regular use will eventually result in a certain amount of wear and tear. If caught early on, most faults are easily fixed or avoided. But the longer they are allowed to go unchecked, the greater the chance that your driveshaft will encounter mechanical problems that could lead to failure somewhere down the line.

As any experienced farmer knows, this kind of failure has a tendency of occurring at the most inopportune times, resulting in downtime where you are unable to work and losing money by the minute. In addition to this, the eventual costs of repair after the fact are generally much steeper than if you had caught the issue in its early stages.

Cleaning and greasing your driveshaft yourself will make a big difference to functionality, but professional maintenance is still a must. By scheduling routine maintenance, you can catch minor faults before they cause big problems. Regular maintenance is also likely to result in a much longer lifetime for your driveshaft, meaning you can look forward to years of trouble-free farming

Signs of a Faulty Driveshaft

The first sign of a failing driveshaft is usually an intense vibrating, shaking, or shuddering during acceleration. You may also experience difficulty when turning, along with squeaking or clunking noises coming from underneath the vehicle.

These faults are particularly likely to occur in winter, when the machinery is stationary for long periods of time. Often, the owner only finds out in Spring, when harvest is on its way and the machine refuses to budge.

Farmgard’s Driveshaft and Clutch Testing and Servicing
Farmgard now offers testing and repairs on all Bondioli & Pavesi torque limiting clutches. Our service includes computerised cam testing with a capacity of up to 5000NM. We recommend preventative maintenance of your clutch every 12 months.

We stock a huge range of spare parts for maintenance and repair. You can send us your Bondioli & Pavesi driveshafts and we will send them back to you good-as-new.

Book Your Next Service with Farmgard

Farmgard has built our reputation over 40 years to become one of Australasia’s most trusted manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality farming equipment. To book your next scheduled maintenance, repair, or service with us, head to the Contact Us section of our website.

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