FEATURE COVER


PRODUCT APPLICATIONS


The state of tractor lubrication in Kenya


It is the wish of the Government and


the People of Kenya that the country in- creases


food production to achieve se-


curity of supply at an affordable cost. It is for this reason that the county must increase mechanization of grain produc- tion. However, mechanization without proper lubrication and maintenance will be counterproductive. In this article we examine some of the mistakes made by farmers in lubrication of their tractors that result in high maintenance cost and shortened lifespan of the equipment. The most critical parts of the tractor


are engine, cooling systems, hydraulic & transmission systems and axles for 4-wheel tractors and bearings. Nearly all tractors are equipped with high speed diesel engine oil. The lubri- cant that is required for such engines is American Petroleum Institute Classifica- tion (API) CI-4 and above. . A good quality multigrade oil promotes easy start-up, fuel saving and long engine life. Lower quality oil will require more frequent oil top-up. Many farmers use cheap oil without


understanding that in lubrication, cheap is expensive. They thus use lubricants from recycled base oil with little or no use of additive. This is a serious mistake as the quality of the oil is low and it has a lot of contaminants including glycols from coolants and brake fluid. When sub- jected to high temperature, the oil quick- ly thickens; thus, starving the engine of lubrication. If not detected early, the en- gine could seize resulting in an expensive overhaul. Oil with API CI-4 will easily guarantee 300 engine hours while with oil made from recycled base oil, one will be lucky to get 100 engine hours. Considering that API CI-4 is only twice the price of recycled product, in 300 engine hours one change


18 By Mr. Mohamed Baraka


Mr. Mohamed Baraka, is the Managing Director of Synergy Lubricant Solutions Limited, a Kenyan incorporated company manufacturing and marketing lubricants. He is the current chairman of Lubricant Task Force of Petroleum Institute of East Africa; the Lubricant Task Force is lobbying for quality lubricants and revival of local lubricant industry.


He can be reached at: mbaraka@slusollubes.com


Synergy Lubricants website; https://www.slusollubes.com/


Most of the time when I talk to tractor owners against using water in radiators, they get surprised and the common response is: “when I was born, my grandfather used water, my father used water so I use water.


of API CI-4 is required, while using recy- cled base engine oil will require three oil changes. Already, one is spending more money on oil when using low quality oil than when using high quality oil One also spends three times on oil filters and la- bour charges. Additionally , frequent oil change increases the waste oil generated that always ends up contaminating both the soil and ground water . In particular contamination of the soil by waste oil leads to destruction of useful bacteria in the soil making the soil infertile hence reducing yields of crops. The other common practice is to use engine oil SAE 40. Many people believe that since a tractor looks heavy, then it requires heavy oil. Others argue that their tractors are old with a lot of leakages and therefore with heavy oil, the rate of leak- age will be lower. SAE 40 oils are of API CD or API CF which means the rate of oil change will be at most half the period one would get when one uses API CI-4. Again, lubrication cost using SAE 40 is higher than using API CI-4 oil. SAE 40 also has a high environmental contamination. If the engine is leaking, it is excusable in a short term to use SAE 40 oil but repairs must be done quickly so as to revert to usage of high quality oil. When an en- gine leaks it also sucks dust from the at- mosphere and this will accelerate engine wear. Frequent leaks also contaminate the environment. The tractor hydraulic & transmission


system is perhaps the most abused part of the tractor in Kenya. Most tractors have a combined hydraulic & transmis- sion system. The lubricant used in the tractor hydraulic & transmission system must have Extreme Pressure (EP) prop- erties required in a manual gearbox. The oil should be API GL-4. It should howev- er be light enough to serve the hydrau-


LUBEZINE MAGAZINE | March 2023


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