# Six "Acquisitions" for Using Tractors

In recent years, tractors have developed rapidly, but many operators lack proper understanding and correct usage, leading to increased machinery failures and rising repair costs. The following six misuse habits are the main causes: 1. Underestimating the machine, leading to frequent accidents. Some believe that because tractors have a simple structure and low speed, they require no careful maintenance or operation on rural roads. They often ignore faults, and speeding, overloading, and overcapacity are common. However, precisely because of the simple structure, a tractor's driving performance is far less agile, refined, and reliable than that of an automobile. This careless attitude is the root cause of frequent safety accidents. 2. Skipping break-in, drastically shortening service life. Some owners and operators consider break-in running unnecessary. New or overhauled machines are put into use without break-in, or after only a few cursory laps, leading to accelerated component wear, more failures, and even serious consequences. 3. Untimely lubrication, aggravating wear. Lubrication of various machine parts is not performed on time or adequately, and lubrication points that do not show immediate faults are often neglected, eventually causing major problems. For example, failure to add oil on schedule and in proper amounts to the oil pan, air filter, and other parts frequently leads to serious mechanical accidents. 4. Using the same oil regardless of season, increasing failures. Some operators use the same grade of lubricating oil in both winter and summer, which is not only uneconomical but also fails to provide effective lubrication. For instance, a tractor may be hard to start in winter but easy in spring and summer; easy when hot, hard when cold. The reason is that summer-grade oil is still used in winter, which has high viscosity and resistance, making starting difficult. 5. Substituting inferior or waste parts, getting more harm than good. To save money, some use scrapped or substandard parts as a makeshift solution. For example, adding waste oil to the hydraulic system causes hydraulic malfunctions, resulting in losses that outweigh any savings. 6. Improper starting methods, causing considerable harm. Some do not crank the engine when starting, or only crank it in winter; or use incorrect methods such as pulling (or pushing) the vehicle, rolling downhill, or adding fuel into the intake pipe; or in winter, they use open flames to heat the machine. These practices should be completely eliminated.