Farm Machinery Winter Prep

Machinery that’s well-maintained gives you a lot less grief. As we go into the winter season, consider what your equipment might need to ensure it revs up again in the spring.

Ray Bohacz is Successful Farming’s engineman. He says if it’s a piece of equipment that will be sitting idle or used very little over the winter, make sure all the fluids are clean.

"Any system that is going to build moisture will evaporate that moisture off once the fluid gets hot. But on a piece of equipment that’s not used often and it has a lot of thermal change, it sits in the shed, it warms up during the day and then it cools off at night, then you would want to start the winter season off with fresh fluid. You want to get any residual moisture out and then once the spring comes, you’ll be good to go," says Bohacz. "So, instead of changing your fluids in the spring, change them prior to the winter."

Also change the oil and filter if there are questions about quality or age.

On a diesel engine it’s important to check the freeze point of the coolant and the strength of the additive package.

"As the engine is used and doing work throughout the year, the additive package that stops corrosion and electrolysis and cavitation to occur inside the engine which will ruin a diesel engine, becomes consumed," he says. "So, it’s important to check to check the freeze point but the freeze point doesn’t tell you how strong the additive package is, and whether a supplemental additive needs to be added to it."

Some other things you can do now include hitting the grease zerks, checking the lights, and giving equipment a good bath to get rid of this season’s dirt and chaff.