Can you grease too often?

[Ponchinizo]

This question is for a fairly specific application but I'd also love to know how often you all do wheel bearings, steering components, etc.

The farm I work for grows vegetables and that requires an awful lot of irrigation. I'm usually working in the shop if it's rained enough, and irrigating if it hasn't. We use overhead movable sprinkler and hose reel setups, one of which is very large and can put down 3500gal/acre in about 10 hours. This water reel is an absolute cornerstone of the operation and it being out of operation could cause major losses.

There's a part on this piece of equipment that controls the timing and ensures the hose (which cost more than the whole machine without) spools correctly by guiding it in. If things aren't aligned perfectly, and they rarely are in the real world, it sees some significant forces. I replaced it this spring as preventative maintenance, and it has a grease fitting.

Manual calls for a few pumps every 50 hours, but I just hit it every week we use it, so sometimes it's been more like every 25/30 hours. Is there any potential for this to cause issues down the road?

 

[FordMan59]

I'm not familiar with the equipment you're using but lots of equipment such as ball joints/tie rod ends have rubber boots that hold grease and some are designed to allow excess grease to bleed out. If any excess will bleed out I can see no reason not to grease it however often you want. Back when cars had grease fittings I'd grease about every 10K miles and pump grease until it started bleeding out, that helped flush the old grease out and refresh it with new. Just be sure your equipment doesn't have a boot or seal that will rupture if overfilled.

 

[Ponchinizo]

It is unsealed and excess can run out freely. Grease is applied to part #22 that rides in the tracks of part# 11

 

[MasterSolenoid]

When I grease my Wheel Bearings, I do sooner then Maintenance Manual calls for,
and always clean out the old grease.

I'd say the only thing you can lubricate too much is an Electric Motor.

 

[Kestas]

If there is a path for the old grease to escape, there is no downside except cost and waste. One has to judge whether grease in the application is contaminated by water and dirt, requiring new grease.