Tractor Maintenance Tips : How to Improve your Tractor Performance?
Tractors, in this era of mechanized agriculture, are playing an important role in fastening, profiling, and defining farming and farming practices. In such scenarios, maintenance and taking care of the tractor to elongate its lifespan is important.
Therefore, in this blog, we will discuss tractor maintenance tips and some ways to improve tractor performance. Just to be clear, there are two sections in this blog. The first section tells you information about tractors maintenance tips. The second section tells you about 4 ways to improve your tractor performance. Let’s dive into details.
The Ways to Maintain your Tractor
The tractor is an integral part of modern agriculture. And as it is used very often in soil profiling, soil preparation, crop cultivation, and crop harvesting. In such scenarios, tractor maintenance tips are a boon for a farmer. In such a case, he/she learns to mechanically correct small mistakes in his tractor. For this to happen, he/she needs to understand the following tractor maintenance tips and apply them to day-to-day use.
1. Read the Owner’s Manual Frequently
Every manufacturer gives the owner manual or user manual for the product you buy. In this case, to maintain your tractor, you need to read all the information related to tractor maintenance tips.
This information is available deeply and thoroughly in the user’s manual. Henceforth reading the manual gives you all such information. You need to train yourself as a mini-technician specialising in tractor maintenance if you are looking to make tractor maintenance cost-friendly.
Remember, a thorough read of the owner’s manual ensures a greater chance of longevity of the tractor.
2. Buy a Maintenance Toolkit
Tractor maintenance is a periodical phenomenon. If you take care of the tractor periodically, its longevity grows exponentially. It’s that simple, isn’t it? Therefore, for tractor maintenance, you need to have a bunch of maintenance kits. So buy or rent one if you haven’t already.
3. Keep your Tractor Under Water-proof Shades
To keep your tractor safe from rust and other corrosive liquids that come along with water, you need to keep it under waterproof shades. Furthermore, you need to protect the tractor from rainwater as well. As rainwater is not mostly clean all the time.
4. Regularization of fluids
A tractor contains a lot of fluids in it like fuel, engine oil, engine coolant, etc. You need to take care of all these liquids as per the user’s manual. These proper regularizations of the fluids in the tractor maintain it in every scenario (like overheating, engine failure, etc.) in many ways. Furthermore, a burned-out hydraulics fluid may lead to major accidents.
Note: A quick check might save lives.
5. Tyre Maintenance Tips
The tyres of the tractor need to be well inflated and at just the right air pressure. This determines the tractor’s engine performance, etc. Check tractor tyres regularly for cuts and breaks on the treads and walls of the tyres. In addition to this, check the operator’s manual for further assistance.
6. Brakes Need Care as Well!
There are different types of brakes in a tractor, like oil-immersed brakes, dry brakes, etc. These brakes need different types of repair and maintenance. And this repair and maintenance should be periodic enough to keep tractor maintenance on the right track.
7. Tractor Filters and their Maintenance
Dirt and other particulate matter in the air can contaminate tractor filters. In such a scenario, engine failure occurs due to particulate matter. Hence, for good tractor maintenance, you need to clean your air filters regularly.
8. Lubrication of Tractor Parts
Lubricants play a vital role in tractor maintenance and repair. Lubrication of moving parts is as important as buying a tractor. Lubricants increase the life of a tractor by reducing the wear and tear of the tractor parts.
9. Avoid Overloading
While overloading is illegal in India, overloading deteriorates your tractor as well. Overloading a tractor decreases the life span of any tractor. Therefore, never overload and take care of your tractor like you just bought it.
4 Ways to Improve your Tractor Performance
Although maintaining your tractor might seem enough, it is not enough until the goal is achieved, i.e. improving your tractor’s overall performance and longevity. Henceforth, we will also discuss the top 4 ways to improve your tractor performance. Let’s go for it.
1. Tractor Ballast
The overall weight of the tractor is distributed between the front and rear axles. Henceforth, there is a big impact of these axles on the performance of the tractor. The better the weight distribution, the greater the stability of the tractor and the lesser the wear and tear. Furthermore, talking about tension-induced wear and tear in the tractor. There are two types of ballasting in a tractor.
- Over Ballasting: Over ballasting, a tractor loses fuel efficiency by increasing rolling resistance. Also, it deteriorates the drive train.
- Under Ballasting: Under ballasting, a tractor causes too much tyre slip and thus causes premature tyre wear, again leading to lesser fuel efficiency.
The ballasting can be reduced/corrected by using the following ways:
- Determining and correcting the optimum weight of the tractor
- Determine how to distribute weight between the axles and thus correct the faults
- If necessary, determine the existing front and rear axle weights and add weights to the axles.
- Decide how to add weights to the axle by adding a suitcase weight if necessary.
In India, tractors are modified and sold for second-hand use. In such scenarios, removing tractor ballast is an important part of improving tractor performance. Taking care of your tractor improves its performance and requires less maintenance.
2. All about Tyres
In order to improve your tractor performance, you need good-performing tyres. In fact, selecting, configuration, and inflation are vital in improving your tractor performance. Let us discuss them one by one
A) Tyre Selection:
In order to improve the tractor’s performance, you need to choose the right kind of tyre, i.e. radial tyres. The radial tyres have a bigger footprint on the soil as compared to biased ply tyres. Hence are considered over the latter.
B) Tyre Configuration
Tyre configuration plays an important role in improving tractor performance. Talking about MFWD (Mechanical Front Wheel Drive), the tyres are coupled in front, while in MRWD (Mechanical Rear Wheel Drive), The tyres are coupled in the rear. This improves the tractor’s imprint on the soil. Thus, increasing the fuel efficiency and performance of the tractor.
C) Tyre Inflation
Tyre inflation plays a major role in improving your tractor performance. In this case, the radial tyres are suggested to maintain the lowest pressure as per their load-carrying capacity.
3. The Wheel Slip
The wheel slip affects and helps to improve your tractor performance. As per a study by Michigan State University, the optimum wheel slip for a 2WD tractor is between 10-15%. And is 8-12% for MFWD and 4WD tractors. Beyond that represents a tractor with low performance. Therefore, as discussed earlier, maintain the wheel slip of the tractor between the above-discussed range.
4. Method of Operation
Method of operation beholds an important position in improving your tractor performance. In order to improve your tractor performance, you need to take care of your tractor, as we discussed in the tractor maintenance part of this blog.
The Bottom line
In this blog, we discussed tractor maintenance, repair tips, and ways to improve tractor performance. We, like ‘Gurus’, like to inform you about tractors and related info. What are your views about the topic? Do Comment and stay with TractorGuru for further information and blogs.
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