Preppers embrace life on their terms while isolated from society. They’re also equipped for challenges, so they have loads of tools and equipment. Some of these are used seasonally, while others are needed daily. Maintenance is nonnegotiable for your way of life, as you can’t quickly run into town for a spare part or service.
With the right mindset and preventive care, you can ensure your tools only need routine maintenance and never risk losing a vital piece or doing without essentials — the difference between life or death in remote areas.
Safeguarding your essential equipment against rust, neglect, dust, rodents and decay can ensure decades of optimal use. However, maintenance is more than wiping down tools or packing them away at night. You need strategies for extending the longevity of your machinery, which is vital for a successful, off-grid life.
12 Ways to Extend Your Equipment’s Lifespan
Any serious prepper won’t be happy if they let someone borrow their tools only to get them back in terrible condition and no longer working. At the heart of equipment longevity is taking care of things because they’re useful investments and irreplaceable.
There’s nothing worse than needing a tool for an emergency task and realizing it’s not working. A functional all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and fire suppressant system can mean the difference between extinguishing a forest fire before it reaches your property or losing everything. These strategies ensure you never find yourself in a similar situation.
1. Prevent Issues
Many maintenance issues and injuries from poorly maintained equipment are avoidable with preventive steps. Preppers face daily dangers when engaging in agricultural and construction activities while creating the life they seek, and using safe, functional tools ensures you avoid life-threatening accidents.
Without safety measures, frequent maintenance and inspections, the risk of prepper injuries and amputations could exceed that of regulated construction and agriculture industries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recorded as many as 27 injury cases daily for 2022-2023 in various sectors, so the risk of using poorly maintained tools is high.
Prevention as a strategy affects how you look at your mechanical helpers and assess the potential for failure and damage. When you have a strategic mindset, you:
- Ensure you use the correct tool for the job, which avoids needless breakages.
- Use the item as intended, eliminating the risk of malfunction.
- Avoid using tools you don’t know, ensuring you don’t needlessly break or misuse them.
- Check equipment before using it, ensuring it is safe and works optimally.
2. Use Correct Engine Fluids
Another essential pre-maintenance tip is to use the correct engine fluids for power tools and vehicles. Always use the proper grade engine oil, and for two-stroke engines, ensure you use a suitable fuel and oil mix for effective operation. When engines work harder than needed because of thick oil or insufficient fuel combustion, the movable parts wear much quicker, shortening the life of the equipment.
If you have multiple power tools, it’s a great idea to mark each with a colored sticker to indicate whether the engine requires a specific oil, fuel type or both. Alternatively, you can engrave this on the machine’s bodywork.
Additionally, moving parts require additional lubrication, especially for machines like chainsaws and other cutting equipment. For lubrication purposes, regular engine oil won’t do. It’s vital to use the specified lubricant for the machinery in question and apply it frequently to ensure cutting edges remain pristine and prevent friction from damaging it.
Examples of essential lubrication and oil use include:
- Use chainsaw lubricant for the arm and chain: This oil is thicker and has special additives that prevent heating and buildup. Chain oil greases the chain and cutting arm to reduce the risk of the chain slipping off and injuring you while you’re busy felling a large tree.
- Choose machine oil or technical oil for other cutting blades: Applying the appropriate lubricating technical oil ensures blades on shears, hedge trimmers and drill bits perform their best with less chance of nicks and breaks putting them out of action. It also removes any debris at the point of application. You can use glycerine as a cleaning oil in a pinch to protect and maintain surfaces.
3. Store Safely and Appropriately
Store equipment properly, ensuring longevity. Provide each power tool with a mounting bracket or shelf so no loose material, like a stray nail or washer, gets sucked into the engine. Likewise, all relevant tools, like spanners and screwdrivers, should be stored with the particular machine. For example, don’t try using the sparkplug spanner from the generator on the brushcutter, as they are likely incompatible.
Secure all cutting surfaces and blades with the necessary safety covers. This prevents dust and other debris from accumulating on them, avoiding blockages if you start the machine without first checking it.
4. Clean After Use
Every prepper worth their salt knows that you clean tools before storing them. This extends to rinsing wheelbarrows and other muddied vehicles, brushing debris from machines and other related cleaning tasks. Clean equipment has a longer lifespan. Mud, debris, liquid and chemicals can create problems when you use the equipment next time.
It’s vital to clean your machines before packing them away for the day. Keep a few soft-bristled paintbrushes and hand brooms for this purpose. For larger items like tractors and ATVs, it’s best to keep a power hose handy for a quick rinse.
Avoid idling machines while you fetch other tools or step away to fetch coffee. Idling consumes excess fuel and overheats the engine, making your machine inefficient. Instead, correctly stop the machine and leave it in the shade if it’s a hot day to prevent unnecessary heat expansion of plastic parts and eliminate fuel evaporation.
5. Remove Corrosive Fluids During Storage
Winter slows some activities, and the required tools must be properly stored. Always remove corrosive fluids before storing your machinery. Drain fuel tanks completely, using a section of flexible hose attached to a large gauge syringe to draw out the last fluids. Leave the cap off for a day to let the fumes escape, then seal the tank to avoid nasties like vermin or insects squatting in it while in storage.
Corrosive fluids like fuel and certain oils can damage plastic fuel tanks, associated tubes, bushes and o-rings. Fuel leaks from a ruined tank become dangerous and can cause fires.
6. Maintain Cutting Edges
It’s so easy to quickly grab a saw or drill, forgetting to check the efficiency of their cutting edges. While you power through cutting back that tree branch or drilling a hole, you strain yourself and the machine when the blades are blunted or incorrectly lubricated. A dull edge is the wrong tool for any job.
Always start with a thumb test before switching on the machine. Check the edge for sharpness and sharpen blades that don’t meet the cutting requirements, as these cause needless engine strain and maintenance problems. Machines that work according to their capacity last longer than ones that are pushed to compensate for blunt blades.
7. Check Frequently for Rust and Rodents
Rust and rodents are ongoing challenges that require frequent management and inspections to ensure your machines last. Check that your storeroom is critter-proof and watertight. A few raindrops can damage mechanical parts, causing engines to seize and hand tools to yellow with rust.
Rusted tools like saws and hammers are compromised and become an accident in the making. Wipe heavy-use items down with a rag and technical oil to prevent damp conditions from rusting them. Secure smaller items in toolboxes once clean and dry.
8. Pay Attention to Smells and Heat
Your senses are often the best warning system when a machine needs maintenance. When equipment overheats, it produces unusual smells from rubber and plastic parts heating past their benchmark. Likewise, sudden vibrations warn that a machine isn’t in alignment and could suffer a catastrophic and dangerous breakdown.
As an example, when using lawnmowers or pulling a slasher behind your tractor or ATV, ensure you become accustomed to how much vibration is normal and what sound matches a happy engine. When sounds and vibrations change, it could indicate an obstruction or a poorly lubricated part. Stop work for a check and spot service until you find the root of the problem.
This isn’t just about the machine’s longevity — it affects your safety. A bent slasher blade can cause serious injuries and amputations if it suddenly rips from the chassis.
9. Inspect Spark Plugs and Filters
Fuel-powered machines use a spark plug, which provides the initial combustion that starts the engine. When machinery doesn’t start efficiently, it could indicate a burned spark plug or an incorrect firing gap. Continually pulling on the starter can cause additional damage.
A visual inspection of the spark plug ensures it has a correct firing distance and tells you whether it “burned” because of an incorrect fuel-oil mix. Ensuring your plugs fire correctly can help your machinery last longer and operate more efficiently, saving you fuel and eliminating engine strain.
A second vital check is the air filter. An engine runs hot due to a blocked filter, reducing fuel efficiency. Regularly blow out air filters and ensure no obstructions can cause motors to overheat.
10. Keep Batteries Safe
If you’re going solar, you’ve likely begun changing to electrical power tools, which operate with removable batteries, charging packs or corded connections. These are sensitive components, and you should take care to keep them clean and dry. Like regular batteries, energy packs have terminal points sensitive to moisture and can quickly oxidize and rust.
Correctly maintained batteries provide efficiency, and some chainsaws can make up to 150 cuts on a full charge.
With all batteries — standard or for electrical tools — it’s good practice to write the date of purchase on the unit. Many of these come with a guarantee, and it’s helpful to have a record in case you need to claim a replacement if the battery stops working before the end of the warranty. For corded units, inspect the electrical cord and connections for safety and to prevent an overload that can damage the engine.
11. Cover Equipment
Ensure dust, debris and other finer particles can’t damage your tools and machines by covering them when in long-term storage. Many smaller items like saws and drills come with a carry pouch, but you can also use a fine-density burlap sheet to cover valuable items in the storeroom. Avoid using plastic sheeting unless it’s an emergency, as it tends to create condensation and damp — encouraging rust.
12. Repair Before Throwing Away
Inspecting machinery and hand tools is vital for the early detection of flaws, cracks and minor challenges. For example, if your gardening fork starts to lose a tooth, it’s much better to do a spot weld than to wait until that part breaks off and then try to weld it on from scratch. A complete tooth weld is also weaker than a spot welded one.
Likewise, inspect equipment like trailers, ATVs, tractors and wheelbarrows frequently for signs of wear. A spot fix can prevent massive maintenance or the loss of things that could have served you for many years.
Materials and Supplies for Maintenance
For maintenance and regular care, ensure you keep enough of the different types of lubricants and engine oils your machinery requires. Spray lubricants and cleaning fluids are essential for effective operation. Without these, your equipment won’t last for years.
Keep cleaning brushes and air pumps handy to brush or blow out gears and cutting surfaces before storing. Clean tools last longer.
When to Do Tool Maintenance
Keep track of machine maintenance with a log book for each equipment type. Record when you changed the oil, blew out filters and sprayed internal lubricants. This is also an ideal place to record replacement part numbers, such as spark plugs, batteries and air filters.
It’s ideal to perform extensive maintenance or services seasonally. A complete check when the operating season ends and a spot check when the next begins ensures everything remains efficient, safe and functional.
Extend the Longevity of Your Prepper Dreams
A prepper is only as prepared as their tools. Equipment that’s in a poor state becomes dangerous and can lead to costly replacements. Any machine can last years with care, regular services and adequate maintenance.
[Note: This was a guest post.]
Leave a Reply