Jinma Tractor Maintenance: Preparing for Winter
With winter right around the corner, there are a few tips about readying your Jinma tractor and other Chinese tractor equipment to help for the cold months ahead. Preparing for winter is a fairly easy, straightforward process that will pay large dividends over the life of your equipment.
Clean Your Jinma Tractor
The first step is to begin with a thorough cleaning—a hose and soapy water should do fine. If you’d like you can use a pressure washer, but be careful as the pressure will wash away grease from unsealed bearings and other vulnerable areas of the tractor. Once your tractor is clean, it’s time to make a complete visual inspection.
Inspect Your Jinma Tractor
Start your full inspection by looking over the outside portions of the tractor, inspecting specifically for any fluid leaks. If fluids are leaking from any portion of your tractor, their reservoirs will be especially susceptible to corrosion during the winter months when your equipment is going unused. This is also very true for your cooling and fuel systems. Top off both of these systems before storage.
Your antifreeze contains anticorrosive agents so keeping your tank full of diesel leaves no room for moisture or bare metal tank walls that can corrode over the next few months. If you won’t be using your tractor at all during the winter months, you should treat the fuel with additives (such as Schaeffer’s Diesel Treat 2000) to prevent gelling during freezing temperatures.
Try to start your tractor for about 15-20 minutes at least once every 30 days, as these additives aren’t meant to protect for extremely long periods of time. You may have heard that you should drain your fuel and run your tractor until it dies when you’re going to store it for a while. This is not true for diesel engines!
Repair Your Jinma Tractor
We recommend taking the time to replace any tractor parts that have given you trouble during the summer season so you’ll be fully operational when warmer weather returns. This is also a good time to change the engine oil and filter. If you require any help, here are some tips for identifying your Jinma Tractor oil filter.
Start your tractor for a few minutes to give the oil a chance to heat up and thin out before draining. This will make the draining process easier and help wash out any moisture or acidic build-up that can corrode as your tractor sits during the long winter months.
Preserve Your Tractor Battery
Now let’s talk about your battery. A dead battery is much more susceptible to freezing in cold winter temperatures. If you don’t want to store your battery in a climate-controlled environment, it’s important that you at least break the circuit by disconnecting the battery cable. When you head out to crank your tractor up for a little while, on the warmer days, you’ll receive the added benefit of putting a slight charge on your battery. If you intend to store your battery inside, make sure to trickle charge it before storage and reinstallation.
That should do it for your winter prep, but you can read more about maintaining your Jinma Tractor in the off-season now. Do you also have a Jinma Wood Chipper? Here are some tips for maintaining your PTO Wood Chipper.
Circle G Tractors is your largest Jinma tractor dealer so if you have any questions concerning winter storage, parts replacement, or tractors for sale, don’t hesitate to give us a call (1-855-330-5272) or send us an email ([email protected]).