36 years of Heavy Equipment, Landscape & Construction Machinery Maintenance Tips and Tricks

Stan: All right guys. Today, it's all about our favorite part of owning equipment. Running it? No. Who wants to run it and smash down buildings and have fun playing in the snow? Everybody likes to grease it and maintain it of course. Today, we're going to punch 30 some odd years of maintenance into this video and give you all the best tips and tricks, so that maintenance doesn't have to be such a chore because if you're anything like me, I honestly would rather be driving a piece of equipment than maintaining it, but maintaining it is what keeps the money rolling in instead of your piece of equipment going to the repair shop. 

Stan: So, I'm going to share with you all of the best things that I've learned that my father taught me and that my guys along the way have picked up from other people inside the industry. What are you waiting for? Let's go maintain some equipment. Yee Ha.

Stan: All right guys, it's 40 degrees in Minnesota and it finally feels like mother nature's not punching you in the gut every time you step outside, so we are going to be doing maintenance. We're going to be doing a lot of maintenance today and we're going to be talking about some of the subtle differences and not so subtle differences. The things like deferred maintenance versus daily maintenance and what that exactly means, so without wasting any more time, let's see what the guys are up to.

Stan: What's up boys?

Tim: What's up?

Speaker 3: Hey.

Stan: Boys and toys, what are we looking at?

Stan: Real quick guys, I'm gonna jump in here because I reached out to a few of the companies on the products that I like to use when I'm doing my maintenance and asked them if they would sponsor this video and send some products to you guys randomly. Now, they're not gonna send it to everybody, but they're going to pick out people and send them random care packages I guess, but I thought that was pretty cool. I wanted to make sure that you guys could get in on some of the fun. So, to be able to do it though, it's not here. You actually have to go to Dirt Monkey University and you're going to see a page and you're going to be able to enter your information there and then we're just gonna randomly pick people out and send them a whole bunch of cool stuff that you're going to see in today's video.

Stan: Doesn't get better than that.

Tim: And because the maximum PSI is 75, that doesn't mean that's what you want to run them at. Some people prefer to keep the tires a little bit lower because that actually adds a little bit of cush to their ride believe it or not.

Stan: What else do we got going on today?

Tim: Well, during that snow storm we had all the wiper blades fall off. 

Stan: So, we were able to keep working, so let's talk about the main difference between daily maintenance and deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance means those things which break, but you can still operate long enough to keep yourself in business when you're down.

Stan: So, here's another took that I'm going to recommend you guys put in your tool case. It's this thing right here. Let me see if I can find it. Go ahead and lock that on Xander. Lock it on. Now, you locked it. Go ahead and grease, watch how hard this thing stays locked on. Look at him push. That thing doesn't come off. That's pretty slick. You guys don't have one of them, get one. I'll put a link to it below, but go ahead. Show them, and it just slides off.

Stan: Not all greases are made the same and you guys, when you're out there, you're going to notice that there's a wide variety of greases available to you guys and you may be wondering when do I need one? When do I want another one? And that's what we're going to boil it down to is just a few very simple choices for different applications and I want to hear from you guys in the comments down below. Under what conditions you like to use certain types of grease. I'm going to share with you my experience. This is actually a marine grade grease. This one is made by WD40. Again, I like to stick with a trusted name. I grew up using WD40. You're going to see that I've used it my entire life, so I'm going to stick with what I know guys and you guys are going to be going, a marine grade grease. Why would you even consider this? You're not running boat.

Stan: The reason I use a marine grade grease, is specifically in the winter time, in that odd cycle where everything, the snow is starting to melt and I have to go out and stack giant piles of snow up, what happens is all the pivot points of my machine are subjected to lots of water. This stuff has a higher stick point to it and it helps resist corrosion and it's only at those times that I really like to make sure that I get this stuff in my equipment. Otherwise, if I know we're going to be going into a longer rainier part of the season or if my equipment's going to be working in mud. Anywhere where it's just to be subjected to a lot of water, then I'm going to switch. I'm going to use this. It's important. Guys, a little grease goes a long way. This is huge that you make sure that you're using the right grease.

Stan: Now, I it's not subjected to high amount of moisture or water, I don't use the marine grade grease. I just go with an all purpose. An all purpose grease is exactly what it's meant for. It's going to go in just about every application that you guys can see imaginable, but you don't want to think a lot about the different types of grease, so go out and pick the ones that are right for you.

Stan: All right guys, I'm going to break in here and just apologize to you because I know I went on a long time about grease. What the hell was I thinking? Well, once you get it down once, you're done for life and I wanted to make sure we drove home that you need a couple different kinds of grease, but how you get the grease in, is almost as important as what kind of grease you get. That's what she said. And so, I've used these giant canisters filled with grease. You hook an air compressor up trying to use that. Those things suck. They're messy, bulky, nasty. I've used different kinds of grease guns and I found just a couple that I really like. But, we're going to focus on my favorite of the couple and it's a battery powered grease gun by Milwaukee Tools. This thing, literally game changer. Watch this in action.

Stan: Why are you talking so slow. 

Stan: And I'm going to put a link to it down below. If I didn't have one of these, I would go out and get one. Check this out.

Stan: All right. So, Xander is gonna learn how to use the Milwaukee grease gun because we've upgraded years ago. We've got the old style grease guns, but we've also found that. How do you like this thing Tim? This has been your baby for a couple years now. Hasn't it? 

Tim: Yeah, this makes greasing real fast and real easy. The time it save you, it's nice. It triggers itself if you adjust it at 50, 20. You'll hold down the button and it'll go ...

Tim: 20 on speed one. As long as you hold the trigger down. So ...

Stan: Guys, that's the slow speed. When we amp this up, we're going to show you how fast you can get through your greasing job. Check this out.

Tim: So, here. Let's dial this thing up. I usually just put it on 50 speed two, so it's just quick. That's done. So, it started squeezing out.

Stan: Okay, so there's spots where you just can't use regular grease on it. Little things that still have moveable parts, so you probably want to hit with grease, but the grease gun isn't gonna work. So, we've used this stuff called Lube All in the past and it works pretty good for all the little tiny things. One of the things that I like about this stuff, is it's also a dielectric grease. Did I even pronounce that right?

Tim: Yeah, dielectric. That's good.

Stan: Yep. Are you wearing make-up? Dude are you wearing make ...

Xander: Shut up. I lost a bet. Okay.

Stan: What? Holy crap.

Tim: I didn't even notice.

Xander: I was hoping no one would.

Tim: You got eye liner on?

Stan: What the?

Xander: I lost a bet.

Tim: Clean it up best I could. Just going to squirt some Lube All on all the components that are metal. 

Stan: So, that was really corroded. 

Tim: Yeah, it was bad. 

Stan: Yeah, so we use that not only on our electrical components, but we use it for general greasing applications too. All right, so not all of your guys have snow plows, but if you do, you will have an electrical connection and that uses what's called dielectric grease Tim?

Tim: Dielectric grease.

Stan: And that's typically a specialty grease. You're not going to have that handy. That's why I like this stuff, because this is a dielectric grease, but it's also a general lubricant as well. It's one of the few that I found actually is kind of a multi-purpose. You're gonna want to carry it with you for other things is what I mean. So, here's the thing, if your door hinges are squeaking, you'd use it there, but you can also use it where you really need it. Like points like that.

Tim: If I'm having problems with my snow plow, the first thing I always do is come out, electrical problems. Things don't seem like they're reacting quite right, I always check this first and I always add dielectric grease to it.

Stan: So, this is important to squish this in there. Tim, you propose that we nickname him Zoolander from this point because his name's Xander.

Tim: It kind of goes.

Xander: I'll take Guy Liner.

Stan: I like Guy Liner better. All right, but it's up to you guys. In the comments down below, tell us what his new nickname is. Is it Zoolander? Is it Guy Liner? Is it something you create all on your own? What do you think? Are you up for it Xander?

Xander: Yes. Name me.

Stan: Name. 

Stan: We'd literally write the hours and the date on all of the filters, so that we know exactly when it was changed last. Can't get at the 300.

Tim: No, so that's another thing, the guys parking here. You always got to park, so you can check the oil before you start.

Stan: And to be able to jump that piece. Is that battery dead? We're dragging it out just to jump it. So, good point. How you park the equipment, is almost as important as the maintenance ahead of time, but backing that thing in like that ...

Tim: It doesn't start, you got issues.

Stan: True story. When we first started getting into excavating, we didn't think about how we parked the piece of equipment was very important, so we parked it in a low spot on the job site and we had a flash flood come in over night. We literally had to get up at 3:00 in the morning and run out to the job site and move the excavator because the waters were starting to fill up around it. So, when you're parking your piece of equipment, if you're leaving it out on the job site, give yourself an exit strategy.

Stan: Now, you guys know, well, some of you know, I use EZ Off. I use it a lot, but I use EZ Off to clean equipment and to degrease engines when I'm going to sell that piece of equipment because this stuff is very caustic. This stuff will remove everything on the piece of equipment. Meaning if you have stickers or decals on that piece of equipment and you use this, don't plan on having stickers or decals on your equipment anymore. Literally this takes everything off.

Stan: Here guys, if you're going to own that piece of equipment for a while and you want to keep your stickers on, this stuff, right here. This is a cleaner, a heavy duty cleaner and degreaser, but this is a little bit different. Multi-surface doesn't remove and take off the stuff that you want left behind, but yet it still removes everything that you don't left on the machine and it's made by a trusted name, WD40. In fact, WD40 you're going to see, I use a lot of it. I keep it in every single truck I own. I use all of the new lubricants as well. I carry them with me everywhere I go because you never know when you're going to need that particular ...

Stan: Sometimes it's the stick and spray. Sometimes it's the other stuff, but I'm going to show you everything that we use. But, at least twice a year, we use this stuff. Especially in the spring time. If we're out snow plowing, and you're taking your equipment across parking lots where it's subjected to high amounts of snow, make sure you get underneath that piece of equipment. That's a critical area and your trucks, guys, I've done videos where I show mid season, we take a garden hose underneath the truck and we put it onto a sprinkler and literally spray the bottom of that truck. If you guys haven't already done that, you should be doing that multiple times during the year, but the spring time in general.

Stan: It's critical that you get that equipment absolutely as clean as possible. I also do it again in the fall before it goes out for the entire winter. Two times a year at least. More often, if you love your machinery.

Stan: Guys, the next thing we got to talk about is the 2.0 versions of some of your favorite products. I don't know about you, but I carry these. I always have, everywhere I go. Every truck, every vehicle. Every job site and when I say 2.0, well let's be very specific. We've got your WD40, but now this is like the 2.0 version because this is a stickier version of the old classic, but even the old classic has an update that I want to tell you about that I think is actually pretty darn cool. This stuff, is WD40s no drip lubricant. Meaning that when you spray it on to something, it stays there. Some of your guys are probably familiar with it where you got a part running and you're trying to lube it up and as you're spraying it, it's spraying back on you. Well, guess what. That kind of sucks unless you really like the smell of WD40 that much.

Stan: This, I'm not gonna guarantee won't do it, but it's designed not to. But no fling for moving parts. That to me is a critical element. I want my lubricant to stay where my lubricant was meant to go. I don't want it all over my coat. I don't want to wear it like this year's cologne. I don't want that. This stuff. Guys, give it a go. I like it. It's good stuff, but it's a specialty spray. Meaning, I'm not gonna use it everywhere because why? When you still got the old classic that works just like it always has, but check this out. This is really cool. This is even cooler. And this, is cooler yet. I love this new spout. Talk about being able to get down and in and around and be able to apply this in different areas. Really cool.

Stan: Okay. So, guys, I want you to take a look at this wing that you see right here. This is a perfect example of where you need what I call a sticky lubricant. When you look at this wing, it's subjected to a lot of movement, right. In and out. All day and all night and it's in a highly corrosive environment. Now, you would think you would need, have to have grease on it. Here, I want to show you guys what I'm talking about. Right here, this is gonna wear pretty fast if you don't have lubrication and when you use a regular lubricant it's going to disappear on you. That's where you get, that's why you use this stuff. This is the sticky lubricant that I was talking about. I like to squirt it in all of these areas because I know that it's gonna stay with me.

Stan: You can get it in there. Now, hey. Don't worry if you don't get it just right. Something is better than nothing, but now this stuff is gonna be there every time I go to move this snow plow. Now, I can't reach all of it and that's when I use this bad boy right here. Even on joints like this, I can work this in here and I like to work it from the bottom up. Although it will roll down, I like to make sure that I get it in here. This does not have, the problem is, this doesn't have a grease serve, but it's still a joint that moves up and down. Every time that I raise and lower this snow plow, this is subject to wear. It doesn't have a grease serve, but it should have some kind of lubrication to protect it. Otherwise, you're going to have premature issues happening.

Stan: So, although it may not look like you have grease serves and you need to lubricate stuff, it's just common sense. It boils down to common sense. That's why they make these things. That's why I use them. 

Stan: Okay, so now, I've lubed it up. Now, I like to move it around a little bit and then I'm going to hit it again. I'm just going to make sure that I can get it from all the different angles. I'll go to the backside and get some in there too. It's got a little bit of a different nature to it, but I like it. So, for those areas, I'll use this. For the other areas, where I got better access, I'll use the other stuff.

Stan: All right guys. I hope this video's helped you out and just to recap a few of the things that I use and why I use them. I like the Lube All because it's small, convenient tubes of lubrication, but more importantly, it also acts as a dielectric grease and that is really super handy to have on hand. Also, when it comes to grease in general, there's going to be a time and place for a marine grade grease even on heavy equipment and then when it's not time for this, I'll use a general purpose lubricant. Now, when I'm prepping a piece of equipment to sell, I'll go to EZ Off because that removes everything pretty easily. It's very corrosive though and I'm going to recommend that you use this with extreme caution. Okay. When I don't want to be extremely careful, I still want my equipment clean, I'll go with something a little gentler and that's when I'll go with this stuff. Highly effective, biodegradable.

Stan: And then of course, we've got WD40 goes everywhere I go and they're making these specialty sprays and I want to hear from you guys. What do you guys like to use when you're maintaining your equipment. I did ask a few of these companies if they would sponsor this video and send some free products to you guys. Some free samples. WD40 stepped up to bat. They said sure. So, go over to Dirt Monkey University. They're going to sponsor this video and send a couple of you guys out some stuff. I don't know what they're going to send or how much. That's not up to me. That's up to them and the guys at Lube All are going to do the exact same thing, so make sure you support the people that are willing to support you guys.

Stan: That's all I got for today. Guys, I hope this video has helped you out. God bless. Share your maintenance tips down below. Go get them.