Cattle Chronicles: Preparing Your DewEze Bale Bed for the Upcoming Winter

Cold weather maintenance tips

While it may seem early for some, the proper maintenance of your system prior to winter will save frequent headaches in the coming months. For many, the DewEze Bale Bed is their sole source for feeding livestock during the winter months, meaning if the truck or bed go down, you will have many hungry mouths that won’t be sympathetic towards your situation. At DewEze we want to share a few of the most common issues we see heading into winter, along with several maintenance ideas to help make winter chores as painless as possible.

Let’s start with your DewEze bed and hydraulics system. For those customers who utilize a clutch pump kit (CPK), it is crucial that you apply the correct viscosity of oil in your system. One of the more common questions we receive is, what weight of oil should I run in my bed? The best answer to this is to talk with your local dealer/installer. Viscosities change by region, and who better to know what weight of oil than a local resource. You can also reference an oil weight chart by following this link. A tip that we recommend is to turn your CPK on while your truck is warming up. This will allow the oil temperature to rise, reducing stress on internal components.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is a common phrase, and one that is very applicable when it comes to serpentine belts and our CPK system. It is recommended that belts be replaced annually. While this sounds excessive, those bale bed customers who have been down due to a belt issue may disagree. Rarely does a belt let you know it’s getting ready to fail, and they never fail until you need it most. Do yourself a favor, and inspect your belt for any unusual wear patterns, prior to the start of feeding season.

When it comes to the DewEze Electric Over Hydraulic units, there are a few different factors to consider. Viscosity of oil becomes even more important, as our E/H systems are on demand, meaning that oil only moves when a function is being performed. What this means to you is that you will not be able to “warm” the oil up as you can with the CPK’s. Additionally, we all know the challenges of batteries in winter. If you have a weak battery, the first cold snap will put that battery out of its misery. At DewEze, we recommend having your batteries load-tested prior to feeding season. If your system incorporates two batteries, both must be load checked. Weak batteries can not only let you down, but the corresponding low voltage/high amperage can damage your electric motor. Causing additional expense, and downtime that can be avoided.

Regardless of how you choose to power your bed, lubrication of pivot points and joints is an area that is often overlooked. Proper lubrication of your arms and linkage will ease stress on your bed. For any other questions that may arise, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Harper Industries Service team. They will be happy to point you in the right direction. Additional resources and information can be found here.