Wiley has come of age. Our little Kioti tractor had his 50 hour service. Sniff.
Now, lest you think this is a how-to-do-a-50-hour-service-on-a-Kioti-CS2410-post, let me correct you.
We dropped off the tractor manual with my extremely obliging, mechanically-inclined cousin. He studied it for a few days and provided us with a list of materials to buy.
Matt spent nearly $200 on fluids and filters at the tractor dealership.
Then, my cousin and Dad came up and did the service while Matt, Baxter and I watched.
Well, we helped a little bit.
Matt blew the dead grass and dust off the engine screen with my cousin’s air compressor. My Dad and I greased all of the fittings. Matt was responsible for detaching the grease gun when the nozzle got stuck on the first fitting.
Then Matt and my Dad cleaned the battery terminals with baking soda. Another use for baking soda. Who knew? (My Dad, that’s who).
Our little tractor is two years old. We probably should have done an oil change by now, but we were waiting for the 50-hour milestone as instructed by the dealership. Most people would have gotten there sooner than we did, but we apparently don’t use the tractor that much.
However, after making multiple comments about how black the oil was, my Dad has now guilted me into taking better care of my equipment.
Besides, my cousin volunteered to come up and do it for us any time. He even took our push mower home with him and got it running again (yeah, we’re not at all mechanically inclined and we pretty much abuse our equipment).
Who out there is mechanically inclined? Did you know you could clean a battery with baking soda? Anyone else have a handy obliging family members?
Home on 129 Acres 
We have a mechanically inclined friend who has helped us with our vehicles a couple of times. It’s handy! It’s hard to believe Wiley is two years old already. That doesn’t seem possible… Maybe it’s less than that since I read about you getting him. After all, I started reading late and caught up a bunch. O.O
You caught up in a hurry!
I did! A testament to how enjoyable your blog is to read. 🙂
In answer to your three questions: not us; no; no. Our policy is to run equipment (from cars to power tools) until it dies, then replace it.
Matt wanted to do that with the push mower. My argument was it just need a bit of TLC and it wasn’t really dead yet.
I grew up in a parts store. The same one that my parents sold and I now manage for the new owner. My dad had my brother and I out in the garage since we were tiny little people learning what tool to bring to him and then learning to work on our own vehicles. I can change oil, change spark plugs, pretty much any kind of tune up that a vehicle requires. I have even learned a little body work.
However, my boyfriend is VERY mechanically inclined so if he wants to change our oil I don’t hesitate for one second, I let him! I feel great to know that I could if I needed to, but I rather work on the house or garden!
And yes, I did know about the baking soda. That is such a common problem when a customer comes in and says his battery doesn’t work. So often it has a bad connection because it is so corroded!
That is so great that you have family to work on your equipment! Not everyone can do everything, it is good to know there are people that can fill our gaps!
I’m impressed that you’re so handy yourself. It sounds like you and your boyfriend have good teamwork.