Greasing schedule for vocational trucks

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by Floyd, Sep 5, 2011.

  1. Floyd

    Floyd Light Load Member

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    Central Maine
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    All of my trucks operate in a vocational type of setting, many short trips in one day, some of which is off-road......so my maintenance schedule is based on hours instead of miles.
    I change oil and filters @ 250 hours, but as far as greasing is concerned i'm not positive how many hours I should go in betwen greasings.
    Any advice as to what other vocational companies are doing would be great.
    Thanks.
     
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  3. bender

    bender Road Train Member

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    A grease job at the halfway point is what we recommend to fleets of your type service.
     
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  4. Blind Driver

    Blind Driver Road Train Member

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    When I was driving a tri-axle dump, I told the boss I wanted to do all the maintenance. The first time I greased that pig, i used 5 tubes. Then I'd still use 1.5 tubes each week after.
     
  5. Floyd

    Floyd Light Load Member

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    Thanks bender.
    Even for suspension and steering components? I have always felt like they take extra abuse for our application so I tend to do them a bit more, but I think I have been over greasing. I typically do the front end(susp./steering) at about 45-50 hrs of service. For these types of joints I don't think "overgreasing" will hurt a thing, but lets face it.........greasing sucks when you have to do an entire fleet yourself(cost/time), so if I can comfortably get away with say 100+ hours without sacrificing longevity of the joint, that would be awesome!!
    Thanks again for the responses thus far.
    Any more input is greatly appreciated.
     
  6. bender

    bender Road Train Member

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    That's how we've always done it for 30 years. As long as you see that they are done well and the front ends get lifted when greased you should be fine. Our customers get excellent service from their equipment on a schedule like this.

    Some customers insist on their driver greasing their truck in between PM's, but that often does not work out so well.
     
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  7. Floyd

    Floyd Light Load Member

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    Thanks again.
    I have had good luck with mobil 1 syn. grease.
    Any thoughts?
    Worth the extra money?
    Possible to extend intervals with the synthetic?
    Better protection?
     
  8. bender

    bender Road Train Member

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    Glad I can offer my experiences to you.
    I haven't used mobil 1 syn grease, but i'm willing to bet it's a good product to use.
    We use Kendall grease (red) for chassis lube and blue grease for wheel bearings, both very good products but not necessarily any reason for you to change. Might save you a few bucks, not sure on that though.
     
  9. Heavyd

    Heavyd Road Train Member

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    When in doubt, grease more often. Too much grease never hurt anything! I would say once a week with your duty.
     
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  10. bender

    bender Road Train Member

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    Too much is always better than replacing parts, but then there is that time management thing to consider.
     
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  11. Mr. Haney

    Mr. Haney Road Train Member

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    Running dump trucks and dump tractor trailers in an urban environment, I always greased the chassis every two weeks or roughly 4500-5000 miles. It seemed if I went three weeks and 7000-7500 miles that I'd use an extra tube of grease getting everything lubed properly. A great grease for multipurpose uses is Chevron EP Moly-Max NLGI 2
     
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