Old Pressure Tank Makes Adding Gearbox Oil A Breeze

Old Pressure Tank Makes Adding Gearbox Oil A Breeze FARM SHOP Tools 24-5-41 One of the chores that comes with center pivot irrigation is maintaining the gearboxes on each individual tower. That means routinely checking the heavy oil in each drive unit and refilling as needed. Tired of carrying a bucket of oil and a funnel to each of his center pivots, Greg Frey, Stapleton, Neb., decided there had to be a better way. He devised a way to use air pressure to pump the oil. He started with a 15-gal. water pressure tank, which has a 1 1/2-in. dia. hole on each end. "I added a length of hydraulic hose, a brass ball valve and handle, with a short gooseneck of 1/4-in. copper tubing on one end," he says. The other hole is used as both the filler hole and to pressurize the tank. He screwed in a cap with an air pressure valve. To fill the tank with oil, he simply screws out this assembly and pours in up to two full 5-gal. containers of oil. To make it mobile, he welded a length of sq. tubing to the legs and then welded hard steel bolts in the ends of the tube to make an axle for two 8-in. used lawn mower wheels. On the other end of the tank, he welded a handle. "It looks sort of like a big upright vacuum," he says. In addition to filling irrigation pivot gearboxes, Frey also uses it in his shop to service machinery. "This same type of system would work for engine oil or transmission fluid, too," he says. The oil rack is constructed of used pipe and set on wheels. On the rac, he mounted four 70-gal. heavy duty square plastic tanks. The tanks he used are stackable so he can add more without adding to the size of the rack. And because of their size, he can dump in an entire 55-gal. drum of oil. On the rack, he stores transmission fluid and engine oil for the various diesel and gasoline engines used around the farm. The rack is high enough that oil flows by gravity into any machine he can get into the shop. "Since it's on wheels, it's easy to move it around the shop where we need it or out of the way when we don't," he says. He also modified an old bulk gasoline tank - the kind that fits in the back of a pickup - for catching used engine oil. "I just cut a hole in the top of the tank and added a tray on the side to hold filters and tools," he says. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Greg Frey, Box 234, Stapleton, Neb. 69163 (ph/fax 308-636-2976).

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