How to Clean and Store Skid Steer Attachments After the Season

Skid steer attachments represent a significant capital investment, and the end of the working season is when that investment is most vulnerable. Equipment that gets parked dirty, with exposed hydraulic ports and unpainted bare metal, can deteriorate significantly over a Canadian winter. Seals crack. Corrosion takes hold in places you won't notice until something fails mid-season.

The good news is that proper end-of-season attachment care isn't complicated. It takes a few hours per attachment and pays back in extended service life and lower repair bills. This guide covers the full process from initial cleaning through to proper storage, with notes on the specific challenges the Canadian climate creates.

Why Canadian Winters Are Hard on Attachments

Canada's climate creates storage challenges that operators in milder climates don't face to the same degree:

• Temperature cycling. Canadian winters involve repeated freeze-thaw cycles across much of the country. Water that gets into cracks, hydraulic port threads, or around seals expands when it freezes and causes damage that wouldn't happen in a steady-cold environment.
• Salt exposure. Attachments used for winter road and parking lot work, or stored in coastal areas, are exposed to chloride corrosion — one of the most aggressive forms of metal deterioration.
• Humidity in storage. An unheated metal building in Canada will see humidity fluctuations that cause condensation on metal surfaces. Bare steel that wasn't protected before storage will rust noticeably over the winter.
• UV degradation of rubber. Hoses and seals left exposed to UV over the winter — even ambient winter UV — degrade faster than those stored in shade.

Step 1: Thorough Cleaning Before Storage

Store an attachment clean, not dirty. Packed soil, plant material, and road debris hold moisture against the metal and accelerate corrosion. They also hide cracks, wear, and damage that should be found before storage — not discovered mid-season next year.

Pressure Washing

A pressure washer is the fastest way to clean most attachments. Focus on areas where material packs in: inside bucket lips, around auger flighting, between grapple tines, in the body of a stump grinder.

Avoid directing high-pressure water directly at hydraulic fittings, cylinder rod seals, or bearing grease points. The pressure can strip grease and drive water into areas where it will cause seal damage or corrosion.

Cleaning Specific Attachment Types

Buckets: Clean the inside of the bowl completely, including the hinge and lip area. Inspect the cutting edge and any tooth adapters for wear or cracking while you're cleaning.

Augers: Remove packed soil from between flighting and from the bit area. Check bit condition while cleaning — worn bits leave the auger body doing more work and accelerate wear on the drive components.

Grapples: Clean between tines. Inspect the cylinder rods for scoring while they're clean and visible. Check the pivot pin areas for wear or loose hardware.

Mulchers and brush cutters: Clean the rotor and housing thoroughly. Packed vegetation holds moisture and causes accelerated corrosion in the housing interior. Inspect the rotor blades or flails for wear or damage.

Snow pushers and blades: This is critical — if used with de-icer or on salted surfaces, the salt residue must be completely washed off before storage. Salt left on a steel snow pusher will rust through the skin over a single summer.

Step 2: Inspect While It's Clean

End-of-season is your best inspection opportunity. Everything is accessible and visible. Problems found now can be addressed over the off-season rather than shutting down a job in spring.

Structural Inspection

• Inspect welds along the frame and mounting plate — look for cracks, particularly at high-stress junction points
• Check the quick-attach plate mounting for loose bolts or deformed mounting ears
• Inspect pivot pins and bushings for wear — excessive play in pivots is often found in grapples, tiltrotators, and any attachment with moving parts

Hydraulic Inspection

• Inspect hoses along their full length for abrasion, kinking, or bulging — hoses that are marginal in fall will fail in spring
• Check fittings for seepage or crusty residue that indicates a slow leak
• Inspect cylinder rods for scoring or pitting — scored rods damage the rod seals and lead to chronic leaks
• Check the condition of the hydraulic quick-connect couplers — worn or damaged couplers cause flow restriction and sometimes don't seal properly

Wear Parts

• Measure cutting edge thickness — most manufacturers publish wear limits
• Inspect bucket teeth and adapters
• Check auger bits, stump grinder teeth, mulcher blades/flails
• Note anything that needs replacement before next season and order parts now rather than when you need the attachment

Step 3: Protect Hydraulic Ports

This is the single most important storage step for hydraulic attachments and the most commonly skipped.

Hydraulic couplers and open ports are the entry points for contamination. Dust, insects, and water entering an open hydraulic port during storage can contaminate the entire circuit when the attachment is next connected. Hydraulic contamination is a leading cause of valve and motor failures.

Use proper port caps — plastic dust caps designed for the coupler face style on your attachments. The flat-face couplers on most modern skid steers use a specific cap size. Keep a supply of these on hand; they're inexpensive and the alternative is much more expensive.

Step 4: Lubrication Before Storage

Grease all grease points before storage, not just after. Grease at storage serves two purposes: it protects the grease points from moisture intrusion over the off-season, and it ensures that any mechanical stress at startup next spring is happening on properly lubricated bearings, not dry ones.

Standard multi-purpose NLGI #2 grease works for most skid steer attachment grease points. For attachments used in wet environments or in coastal areas where salt exposure is higher, a marine-grade or water-resistant grease is worth using at exposed pivot points.

Use your machine's recommended grease interval schedule as a guide — but at minimum, grease at the start of storage and again at spring startup.

Step 5: Corrosion Protection on Bare Metal

Areas where paint has been worn away — cutting edges, tooth adapters, wear points on buckets, the bucket floor interior — are exposed bare steel. Left unprotected through the winter, these areas will rust.

Options for bare metal protection:

• Cold galvanizing compound: Zinc-rich spray or brush-on product that provides galvanic protection on bare steel. Durable through the winter and appropriate for high-wear areas.
• Rust inhibitor spray: Fluid Film, LPS 3, Boeshield, or similar waxy or oil-based products applied to bare metal. Good for interior surfaces, pivot areas, and anywhere you want temporary protection without full painting.
• Touch-up paint: For areas where a proper paint job is warranted — particularly the main attachment body where cosmetic rust is undesirable and can be confused with structural corrosion.

For attachments that live outdoors year-round, an annual application of Fluid Film or equivalent to the entire attachment (not just bare areas) significantly slows general corrosion. Many Canadian operators do this at both fall and spring. A 1L aerosol or a small pump sprayer applied to the whole machine takes about 20 minutes and extends paint and metal life noticeably.

Step 6: Storage Location and Position

Indoors vs Outdoors

Indoor storage in a dry building is best. If you have the space, store attachments inside — particularly those with hydraulic components, rubber hoses, and precision wear parts.

If outdoor storage is necessary:

• Store on planks or timber, not directly on the ground — direct ground contact traps moisture and soil against the metal
• Position so water drains away from the attachment rather than pooling inside it
• Cover with a breathable tarp or attachment cover — a non-breathable cover can trap condensation underneath and accelerate corrosion
• Keep attachments out of direct snowmelt pathways in spring

Storage Position

Buckets: Turn face down or face upward with the cutting edge off the ground. Storing a bucket flat on its cutting edge wears the edge and holds water in the bowl.

Grapples: Store with tines closed and cylinders retracted.

Augers: Store upright if possible with the bit clear of the floor — the bit is the most expensive and most damage-prone component when an auger tips over.

Mulchers: Store with the rotor accessible for final cleaning and with the housing clean and dry. Some operators remove the rotor blades for storage and sharpen or replace them during the off-season.

Spring Startup

When you bring attachments out of storage:

1. Remove port caps before connecting hydraulics
2. Inspect hoses and cylinder rods again after winter — damage sometimes appears after temperature cycling that wasn't visible in fall
3. Re-grease all grease points before first use
4. Cycle hydraulic functions slowly before loading the attachment — let the fluid warm up and check for leaks
5. Check all bolts and fasteners for tightness, particularly on quick-attach plates

For a full spring startup checklist, see our guide on getting your skid steer and attachments ready after winter.