Maintenance - The action of continuing, carrying on, preserving or retaining something. The work of keeping something in proper condition.

Maintenance is a word you hear used quite often by mechanics, owners, collectors & hobbyists. Unfortunately it is one of the most under appreciated & often overlooked aspects of ownership. It doesn't matter if we are talking about our homes, cars, tractors or the front lawn. Maintenance is a definite necessity if we expect to maximize the value of any asset that we may have.

How often do you read in the various forms on line, & in text books about the importance of routine oil, filter & fluid changes. Yet somehow these routine procedures never seem to get done on time. We always have an excuse to put it off. And too many times, when we do get around to it, the maintenance parts we use are not the recommended parts that the manufacturer calls for.

I've seen tractor engines that have run for three, four & even five years straight without an oil change. And when I inquire why the owner has failed to make at least one seasonal change, my question is responded to with the owner asking me why? The owner then goes on to explain that since he checks the oil level at the start of a mowing season, & then at least once during the season, if the oil level has dropped off he simply has to just top it off with a fresh once or two, or maybe three of the proper weight oil, and it's good to go.

I agree with the owner that at the very least, oil levels should always be checked & toped off as necessary and that is a good maintenance practice, but it is not a substitute for a scheduled oil change & no owner's manual would recommend a top off in place of a full oil change as an acceptable practice.

And maintenance is not just oil, filters & lubrication. How about a good occasional wash down of all the trail dust & lawn debris that collects & gathers in between the coils of all those springs, pulleys & sheaves. I can't say how many times someone would tell me that they can't adjust the tension on a belt, or that there is no more adjustment left on a spring. And more times than not, after I get done removing three years worth of trash from between those springs, pulleys & sheaves, the machine runs & performs well beyond the owners recollection of how it use to be.

And then there are those costly parts. But parts like springs, washers, pins & other assorted small hardware are usually the items that wear, break or get damaged in all sorts of ways. Now if you own a John Deere tractor, I would assume that you probably know where your John Dealer is located so you can stop in & pick up those parts your machine needs. Recently I repaired mower deck manual lift. The owner broke a spring on the lift mechanism some three years ago and as a fix used some number twelve electrical wire to replace the spring. His dealer was only two miles away from his home. Yet every time he went to use the mower lift he spent twenty minutes on his hands & knees to tighten up his electric wire fix. The next day I came by his place & put on the needed spring. He asked me where did I get the spring from & how did I know what to buy. I told him I picked it up from his local John Deere dealer. I then asked him why he never went & checked with the dealer for a new spring. His response to me was that he would never go there to buy anything because all the parts are so expensive. I told him the spring was $6.45

The gentleman never took the time to investigate what his machine needed & what the cost would be for the proper part. Fortunately, most maintenance parts are within reasonable costs. And many of the maintenance items like a good wash down and air in the tires are nearly at no cost at all but for the owners labor to perform the task. You do not need anything more than some very basic tools, a little know how & your owners manual to perform almost every routine maintenance there is. My work horse tractor is my Utility 855 tractor. In twenty years of operation this tractor has never had a major failure or in the field breakdown. And I believe that the reason behind it is a well made product & a routine maintenance schedule which is held to without failure. And any and all parts needed are purchased from my local dealer, regardless of the cost involved.

Jerry