Blog

Jul 8, 2025

Order Your Grain Cart Parts Early - Performance Checklist

Combine inspections are important before harvest, but don’t forget about inspecting and test running your grain cart, as well. It could save you an emergency trip to purchase parts – especially in-demand items like PTO shafts, flighting, gearboxes, bearings, bushings. 

Don’t forget the reason they’re in demand is because a lot of farmers will need them, so they might be out of stock by the time you get to your parts supplier. 

So, it’s best to be proactive and make sure your grain cart is properly maintained, and you’ve identified the parts you might need to replace before the repair rush begins. Ordering them in advance of the busy harvest season can potentially save you time, money, and frustration.

Performance Inspection Checklist

Checking and testing your equipment during the summer can prevent issues in the field in October. Use this checklist to figure out which grain cart parts to replace or keep on hand before harvesting starts.

Pre-Startup Inspection:

Grease all grease points and visually inspect while greasing. Look for:

• Bearing wobble
• Missing Linkage
• Unaligned rollers

Check your auger tube

• With the auger folded up in the storage position, check the bottom flighting to make sure it's not too worn out or bent 
• Check for possible leak spots in your tube. Bushels of grain can be lost through holes worn by the auger. 

Check PTO 

• If you have a new tractor, make sure it still fits. If you’ve upgraded, last year’s 540 RPM shaft could be a small 1000 now. 

Check Gearbox

• Make sure there’s oil in it and it’s turning properly

Startup

Not everyone is able to do this, but if you can see what needs replacing in the yard, you won’t have to find out what needs replacing in the field.

Fire up your grain cart. Do a thorough walk-around and listen carefully for bearings making odd sounds.

Tow it around the yard to make sure:

• Its tracks are turning
• Nothing's seized
• Your gearbox isn’t piled up

Check your flighting. Make sure it’s spinning properly, and all the linkage is well-attached and free of damage or wear. 

You can even check performance under load. 

• Move a little bit of product through, whether you just rotate some grain out of a bin into the same bin or into another bin.

When should you inspect?

Between seeding and in-crop? Between in-crop and harvest? The best answer is the sooner the better – especially if you want to get ahead of parts demand and get in on shipping without freight charges. 

Call or visit your nearest Flaman location to learn more about ensuring you’ll have the right harvest parts when you need them.