How often should you grease if the machine is just sitting? I'm noticing that if I grease after lack of use, water is pushed out of the joints before the grease oozes out. Chris
Mine don't sit long, but I feel if it has been rained on it needs grease before use. My farm tractors are very old, but low hour machines, newest is 1985. They only get a thorough greasing before bush hog, or loader duty, but live under roof. Backhoe's tail won't fit under the shed, so it gets it near every use. Older Case models seemed to have seals that fail early. It's a big deal to replace seals, so I grease often, (after 4 hours digging). Newest Case doesn't seem to have seals, I guess they decided they weren't working out.
You call a 1985 "very old"? The Farmall I use to mow around 7 acres of lawn was 38 years old when that "new" machine left the factory! I did a ground up rebuilt on it around the time that one of yours was new so I guess it is only about 36 years old on the second time around.
My gravely L1 is from 1959.
The Farmall M is 81 years old. Is that old?
OK! you win that is old!
I mow brush hog 2 times a year so i grease every thing when i get it out to mow. It takes about 2 hours to mow i cant see were it hurts anything .
my lathe is 1905 cement mixer is the same year Do All bandsaw is 1933 Drill press: somewhere in the 1920s I sold two 1936 Dodge trucks 1940 Farmall M 1947 Jeep CJ2A 1950 Farmall Cub 1956 Dodge Power Wagon Two winches & dump body 1961 International Harvester B275 1971 Jeep CJ5 destroyed in flood 1972 Case 580B construction King 1976 Chevy C65 Flat bed/rack dump recently sold. 1985 385 International Harvester. Later that year it would be marketed as Case 385. It is Case white underneath with IH red over. 1988 Case 580K recently sold 1989? Dresser TD7G 1990 GMC Top Kick former fire truck it now has the dump body. 1991 John Deere 410C just sold Other stuff is aging, but a bit newer.
It is a good idea to grease the exposed hydraulic cylinders when left sitting for more than a few months also, especially if left outside. We would grease them and then wrap with cardboard to shed 90 percent of the rain. They would still have grease on them protecting the chrome for well over a year.
What about using automotive paste or liquid wax on the pistons of the cylinders? It would protect the finish, and shed water.
Military parts come packed in cosmoline. Anybody know where to buy cosmoline? I have a precious 1/4 small barrel of Texaco compound L rustproofing grease. In the 1970s it was a popular rustproof for cars in the rust belt. I still have a 1971 Jeep body with the stuff all under it. Work a finger into it, it pulls strings like bubble gum to this day. In the '70s we borrowed a grease sprayer to apply it. If I recall it was a floor roll around air powered grease machine coupled with a diesel fuel injector.
It's amazing what a Google search will find in seconds: https://www.kljack.com/products/sch243160/ or https://www.cosmolinedirect.com/