If you have even a few pieces of yard equipment, it’s hard to keep track of parts and ordering information to keep your equipment maintained and replacement parts easy to order. We use this simple and effective system to keep sane while keeping track of so much info and parts.
You can get quickly overwhelmed with keeping track of manuals, specifications, and parts for shop, lawn, and garden equipment. DirtFarmerJay has created a very effective way to keep all the information and parts inventory intuitive to access. This allows for better maintenance, less frustration, and plenty of time saved!
DFJ’s system: Name and info listed in contacts (we use Google Contacts). Lidded Bin, labeled clearly for each piece of equipment being cared for - placed on a shelving unit dedicated to these kits A printout of the Google Contacts sheet placed in each bin with parts/supplies Notebook for manuals and materials for all tools and equipment in the system Compartmentalized Part Box for generic service parts for gas engines and such (hose clamps, gas filters, extra fuel hose, oil plugs, etc.) Tool size labeling directly on equipment where practical
HOLD ON! Six components look complicated and too hard to implement.
NOPE! All 6 tie to each other and are easy to set up. Let’s take a quick look at each and what to do:
CONTACT INFO: All small gas engine lawn equipment, household appliances, and woodworking stationary power tools are treated as an entity/person and are entered into your contact listing using the common, most intuitive name, usually the tool or equipment name! This makes it easy to retrieve. In the notes section, include such items as: Serial and model number Year purchased and from where Oil filter #, spark plug info (including order number from Champion, Bosch, NGK, etc.), and air filter order number. Also, include where you buy them from. Oil type and capacity Note wrench sizes needed to do maintenance, such as the socket size for the spark plug, or to remove an oil drain plug.
LIDDED PARTS BIN: We use a translucent plastic bin with a snap top to keep dust out and to be able to see parts inside. We use a permanent marker to identify what the tub is for, using the same title for the piece of equipment we used on our Google contact. All dedicated parts for that equipment is put into the tub. When we do annual maintenance/winterization, we order the parts for next year. We NEVER want to go to work on a machine and not have parts. All the part bins are kept in a dedicated shelving area. We never want to have to think about where the parts are. That same area is used for supplies that are used for several pieces of equipment, such as oil filter wrenches, grease guns, carb cleaner, starting fluid, gas treatment, and oil.
PRINT OUT OF GOOGLE CONTACTS SHEET IN THE BIN. This simply makes it convenient to see everything you need to know about the equipment you are getting ready to service. As we update contacts with any new information or supply sources, we put that updated sheet in the associated bin and discard the old sheet.
NOTEBOOK FOR MANUALS AND SPECIFICATION SHEETS. This is a dedicated notebook with plastic sleeves to hold manuals, “exploded” part and service diagrams, warranty cards, and the like for each machine being cared for. Again, we want to know EXACTLY where to go, immediately, for this information, without having to think hard.
GENERIC PARTS BOX: There are small common parts that get used across the care of several pieces of equipment. All that kind of stuff is kept in one place, by the bins, so it’s all ready to go.
TOOL SIZE LABELING DIRECTLY ON EQUIPMENT. When practical, we use a paint marker or a permanent metallic marker to mark directly next to fasteners that have to be removed and reinstalled each year. If we can mark the size where it is adjacent to the fastener, will be protected from weather, and won’t be on a hot surface, we do it. An example is an access panel fastener on our John Deere riding mower that needs to be removed each time we change the oil filter. You can’t see the head on the fastener readily, so we have to guess every year what size socket we need. No more. It’s marked in silver metallic marker inside the cover.
With this system, we almost look forward to servicing all of our equipment and having everything on hand to do so. We take better care of our equipment, more consistently than ever before. We think you will too. Try it - you’ll be glad you did!
JUST DO IT YOURSELF!
Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from DirtFarmerJay.com. If you're like me, it doesn't take that long
to get quite an array of equipment that you need to keep track of all the parts
and maintenance items for. Well, I've come up with a way that has simplified my life.
You'll never have to go searching for the information, the parts, or where to order
things from. Again, stay tuned and I'll show you how I do it. Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from
DirtFarmerJay.com. We have lots of different equipment around here, things that are both
electrical, they're in the shop, sizable equipment, as well as things for the yardscape.
That includes a lot of small gas engine powered equipment like a riding lawnmower, a chipper
shredder, a walk-behind tiller, those kinds of pieces of equipment, chainsaws even. So,
but when it comes time to order parts for them or to keep them properly maintained on an annual
basis, like let's say to winterize them, it can get quite burdensome trying to keep track of not
only the information of what is needed, but where you ordered it from and things like oil capacity,
spark plug specifications, and all those sorts of things. Well, after beating my head against
the wall for many, many years, I've come up with this system that has changed my life related to
these and made me a better tool and equipment owner. And I hope it does the same for you.
There are four parts to this, but don't worry, it's not complicated. They all feed each other
and they're intuitive. So next time you go looking for parts, you know exactly where they are because
you're using what you describe these things as. The first component is I always create in my
Google contacts or whatever contact you have, just create an entity of that piece of equipment.
So literally I have a person, that's kind of weird, named MTD 8 horsepower chipper shredder.
And the piece of equipment has all of the important information listed below. Stuff like
when I bought it, how many horsepower it is, any serial numbers, model numbers. And then I go
into specifications, things like where the air filters came from. Now this particular one's an
older machine. It's made, the engine that runs it is a Tecumseh. Tecumseh is no longer made. So you
have to go and find aftermarket or boutique type of suppliers. And once you find those, you don't
want to have to go looking again every year. So I record that information, what the model number was,
spark plug equivalents. So different manufacturers many times interchange with each other just fine.
You may get some kind of weird or unique thing, but generally speaking, if you can find something
in Champion, you can find it in Bosch, you can find it in GK. And whatever is most handy to you
and most readily available, you list all that information as well. And then I like to also put
into this listing oil capacities, any filters like oil or fuel filters, but oil capacities
are always helpful and tight. And then I also like to know any tools that are needed or socket sizes.
So I hate going out and trying multiple spark plug wrenches. I'm sorry, I'm not a master mechanic.
And so I misestimate who wants to keep running back and forth between their toolbox
or grabbing additional items. I simply note what the spark plug wrench is or any specialized
wrenches I know, like to open the oil plug, to drain the oil, all that is noted right there in
this. So this is the virtual world right there, but I make it the tangible real world by doing
a couple of things. One, I print out this sheet and keep the latest edition in a tub that matches
this. So this is the MTD eight horsepower chipper shredder. Well, there we go. We've got the MTD
chipper shredder. And inside of this unit, I have a printout of the sheet that I was just showing you
plus the spark plug wrench size. So in the field, it's ready to go. And then all of next year's
changeovers. I've already done all the changeover for this year. So there's the oil, excuse me,
the air filter. This particular unit doesn't use an oil filter, but it does have a fuel filter.
So that's in there. The spark plugs for next year are all there. And so whenever I use up something,
I go ahead and order a set, have it ready for next year. So when winterization comes on,
we are ready to go. So everything there is in the tub, along with this spec sheet. So those are
stored in our outbuilding where everything is ready to grab off of the shelf and ready to go.
There's three more components to this that make it really easier. One, if you have generic parts
that are for small gas engines or for the type of things you need a maintenance every year,
then this kind of organizer really works. Like with fuel line clips, low pressure clips,
specialized oil plugs, gas shutoff valves, all that sort of thing. You can keep these and this
becomes your working inventory instead of having to run down to the parts store in the middle of a
repair or service. The next component is that I just keep a notebook with these items listed in it
of each item. So here's the club cadet rototiller, the sheet there. There's also a whole instruction
manual, the parts breakout and exploded parts diagram. That's all right there. Everything that
I need for that is kept in this notebook. And then there's one last thing that I do to make this
bulletproof for me. And that is if there's opportunity on the piece of equipment itself
to label what size tool or wrench you need, where it's not going to weather off and it'll be there
safely, I do so. Let me show you that, what I did right on this air compressor right here.
So on this particular air compressor, I know that a hex key needs to be a 5-16. So next time I go
to change out the oil, add oil and drain it, et cetera, I won't have to look that up. I can just
look right there, grab the right wrench first off and go to work. It makes it really easy.
Since we're all about making it easier to service and to use yard equipment, we mentioned earlier
that we have a lawn tractor. Well, we found this great little accessory you should check out.
That is a turning knob that goes on the steering wheel that makes it a lot easier to steer,
counter steer, and just reduces fatigue. Check that out. And while you're at it, check out this
other video that YouTube thinks is perfect for you. And we think you're going to enjoy it too.
Until the next time, this is Dirk Farmer Jay, feeling a lot better about being really organized.
