PS Magazine - TB 43-PS-705
PS, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly
ISSUE 705
AUGUST 2011
8
PS 705
AUG 11
9
PS 705
AUG 11
M
echanics, the spade lock on M88-series recovery vehicles needs more than lube to keep
it working right. You have to give it a good cleaning, too.
The spade lockpin gets coated with dirt, mud and sand. As the lockpin goes up and
down, that gunk gets pulled inside the mechanism. Pretty soon, you have a spade that
won’t lock or release.
Clean and lube the mechanism like this:
1.
Clean off the worst of the dirt, mud, sand and old grease with a rag. Loosen any hard-
to-remove gunk by scrubbing it with a nylon brush like NSN 7920-00-061-0037.
2.
Wipe the spade lockpin again with a
clean cloth. If dirt still shows on the
cloth, keep cleaning.
3.
Once the mechanism is clean, apply a
very light coat of GAA to the exposed
part of the spade lockpin. If you’re in a
desert environment, skip this step. In the
desert, grease just attracts more sand.
4.
Pump GAA into the grease fitting on the
right side of the pin housing quarterly.
Old, dirty grease will start coming out
of the relief valve. Keep pumping until
you see new grease, then wipe the old
grease off the relief valve.
5.
Operate the spade lock a few times. That ensures the lube is spread evenly
throughout the entire mechanism.
W
hen you’ve fnished lubing the fnal drive U-joints, your job’s not over. At least
not until you wipe away the excess grease.
So what’s the big deal, you might ask. It’s only a little grease, aFter all.
Well, that little glob oF grease becomes a Fast-moving projectile when the fnal
drive starts spinning. And where does it end up? KER-SPLAT! Right on the lenses oF
the fre suppression system sensor, NSN 6350-01-430-7176.
With grease covering the lenses, you’ll get a Fault on the automatic fre extinguisher
system (A±ES) control panel. And unless you already know what happened, you’re
in For a very long troubleshooting session! The sensor Faces the fnal drive U-joints,
so you can’t see the lenses unless you use a mirror or lean way up over the edge oF
the engine compartment.
So save yourselF a whole bunch oF trouble. It only takes an extra second or two
to wipe the excess grease oFF the U-joint’s grease ftting. Even iF you miss it, you’re
still supposed to wipe the fre sensor lenses with a damp rag as part oF your beFore-
operations PMCS.
M88-Series Recovery Vehicles…
Cleaning
and
Lubing
Go
Hand
-in-
Hand
M992A2
Ammo
Carrier…
Clean spade lockpin…
Grease flies off spinning U-joints…
…and ends up on fire sensor lenses
…
then
lube with GAA
I don’t
get it!
I just
lubed your
spade lock
yesterday!
yeah, but
you didn’t
clean it
first!
Here’s Mud in Your Eye!
705 08-09.indd
1-2
7/5/11
5:07 PM
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