cat320
Charter Member
I was looking at an ad in one of the magazines about an auto lube system.Does any one run one in there equipment? How long does the grease last in a system that does not get used alot?
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auto lube system
- Thread starter cat320
- Start date
motrack
Charter Member
all the new loaders we sell to state of Indiana have auto lube on them and most of the new Terex end dumps.
systems are very reliable, just keep them full of grease and inspect you lube points once in a while to be sure they are geting grease. the install takes some time as you must route all the lube lines and watch out for pinch points that could damage them.
you can set the luber for how often you want it to cycle and how long the cycle runs. These setings affect how often you will need to refill the luber with grease.
now the down side......... once you set you luber up it pumps the same amount of grease eveytime it cycles, does not matter if you are working the machine hard or the machine is parked with the engine idleing.......I often see Indiana DOT machines with puddles of grease under them because they allow the loader to set and run so much.
hard to find that sweet stop between under greasing and over greasing.
systems are very reliable, just keep them full of grease and inspect you lube points once in a while to be sure they are geting grease. the install takes some time as you must route all the lube lines and watch out for pinch points that could damage them.
you can set the luber for how often you want it to cycle and how long the cycle runs. These setings affect how often you will need to refill the luber with grease.
now the down side......... once you set you luber up it pumps the same amount of grease eveytime it cycles, does not matter if you are working the machine hard or the machine is parked with the engine idleing.......I often see Indiana DOT machines with puddles of grease under them because they allow the loader to set and run so much.
hard to find that sweet stop between under greasing and over greasing.
dozerman
Charter Member
Personally, I like to grease manually, as it gives me the oppourtunity to inpect for loose pins, bolts and the likes.
Also getting off the machine is a nice break sometimes.
A cat guy told told me they inspected some pins and bushings on a 10,000 hour excavator with auto lube, and found them to be nearly new.
...Brad
Also getting off the machine is a nice break sometimes.
A cat guy told told me they inspected some pins and bushings on a 10,000 hour excavator with auto lube, and found them to be nearly new.
...Brad
motrack, does the system pump the same amount of grease to all locations, or are the lines adjustable depending on requirement?
DKinWA
Charter Member
I haven't heard much about the auto lube systems, but I did see something at the last Ritchie Bros. auction that I thought was interesting. It wasn't an auto lube system, but a remote lube system on a 330? cat excavator. All of the grease fittings on the boom had lines running down to the base of the boom with a zerc fitting on the end. Essentially you could grease the bucket, thumb, boom, etc all from one location with a standard grease gun. I thought it was a great idea and beats standing on your tippy-toes trying to reach that "one" grease fitting.
motrack
Charter Member
Steve, The Lincolin system we most often use has no adj to change lube rate on individual lines. Luber is pumping into a manifold and lube lines are taped into manifold.
most all excavators and loaders today have a bank of grease zerks to lub. Not a new idea.
most all excavators and loaders today have a bank of grease zerks to lub. Not a new idea.
AFCS
Member
I would assume that if you wanted to regulate the amount of grease going to a particular grease zerk, you could do the following.
pick the line, say base of boom pins. install restrictor ( plug with smaller hole drilled in it) inline to restrict this lube point as the reccommendation for a komatsu pc 200 is to lube it every 100 hours. For the locations such as the bucket articulation points, leave the installation as is and allow full flow when lubed. this will save you money, and allow you to properly lube your machine without thought. But i would definately check all lube points on a regular basis and adjust size of restrictors to larger if you even think you may not be getting enough grease.
pick the line, say base of boom pins. install restrictor ( plug with smaller hole drilled in it) inline to restrict this lube point as the reccommendation for a komatsu pc 200 is to lube it every 100 hours. For the locations such as the bucket articulation points, leave the installation as is and allow full flow when lubed. this will save you money, and allow you to properly lube your machine without thought. But i would definately check all lube points on a regular basis and adjust size of restrictors to larger if you even think you may not be getting enough grease.
I ran a loader with some kind of auto lube setup, I don't know what kind but I'm sure it was one of the better ones. I didn't like it, the lines broke all of the time, had to lug a 5 gal. bucket of grease up 7' to the cab to fill it, grease every where. Waste of $$$ IMO, gives guys a reason to be lazy isn't it bad enough were already operators.
We had auto-lube on 2 loaders and 3 trucks. Found that the loadersd used less grease (weren't always over-greasing the pins to flush the dirt out) and the trucks used more grease than before. (what trucker ever greases enough?)
The system we had, you had 3 time intervals to choose from, and they were programmable. (20 min, 40 min, 60 min - or 10min, 30 min, 90 min - whatever you ewanted.) And the individual points each had their own size injector - based on the surface area to be lubed.
http://www.cplsystems.com/
This maunufacturer also has a system that has the ability to grease a chassis and mounted equipment at different intervals. Chassis when it's driving and mounted equipment when it's being used.
They even has a system with 3 distinct functions. I am now a concrete pumper, and I can see the use for this on a concrete pump -chassis, pump cell, and boom. All require individual grease management schedules.
and the system worked well in our cold Canadian winters too.
The system we had, you had 3 time intervals to choose from, and they were programmable. (20 min, 40 min, 60 min - or 10min, 30 min, 90 min - whatever you ewanted.) And the individual points each had their own size injector - based on the surface area to be lubed.
http://www.cplsystems.com/
This maunufacturer also has a system that has the ability to grease a chassis and mounted equipment at different intervals. Chassis when it's driving and mounted equipment when it's being used.
They even has a system with 3 distinct functions. I am now a concrete pumper, and I can see the use for this on a concrete pump -chassis, pump cell, and boom. All require individual grease management schedules.
and the system worked well in our cold Canadian winters too.
06bowtie_guy
Well-Known Member
On our cat scoops we run Lincon Lubricators. Let's face it in mining operators don't want to grease machines so now while in the fuel bay then can just top up the greaser and good to go. They come adjustable so you can choose the on time and off time. Very few problems.
atgreene
Senior Member
We have auto lubes on the fire trucks here at work, and they definitely have helped with maint.
Has anyone priced them? Or better yet, where is a supplier for the tubing and fittings to run all your grease to one point on the chasis?
Has anyone priced them? Or better yet, where is a supplier for the tubing and fittings to run all your grease to one point on the chasis?
Countryboy
Senior Member
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We have auto lubes on everything that has tires or tracks at the quarry. We have a company come in and install them, and if I'm not mistaken, they are the same people we buy the systems from. The hardest part of the installation is getting the regulator manifold set correctly to where everything gets the correct amount of grease. They are great systems and we have very little problems from them.
I don't know how much these run but I will try and find out. As far as lines go they use regular grease lines and fittings. We replace the lines in-house and use a smaller version of a hydraulic fitting crimper that fits in a vise. Cut the line to lenngth, crimp on the ends with the crimper and vualla you have a grease line. You will need to make something for it to mount to, run a power source to it and install your lines. Thats about it, they look more complicated them they really are. You can buy bulk grease line in spools. I will try to find out where we get the line and also the price for the crimping tool which I'm sure is under $150.
On edit:
Steve to answer your question, yes and yes. It depends on the system. The system we use has a 1" line that goes from the tank to a regulator manifold where the amount of grease going to a particular place is adjusted using a set screw. The manifolds or "grease blocks" we use can have up to 20 lines connected to them.
I don't know how much these run but I will try and find out. As far as lines go they use regular grease lines and fittings. We replace the lines in-house and use a smaller version of a hydraulic fitting crimper that fits in a vise. Cut the line to lenngth, crimp on the ends with the crimper and vualla you have a grease line. You will need to make something for it to mount to, run a power source to it and install your lines. Thats about it, they look more complicated them they really are. You can buy bulk grease line in spools. I will try to find out where we get the line and also the price for the crimping tool which I'm sure is under $150.
On edit:
Steve to answer your question, yes and yes. It depends on the system. The system we use has a 1" line that goes from the tank to a regulator manifold where the amount of grease going to a particular place is adjusted using a set screw. The manifolds or "grease blocks" we use can have up to 20 lines connected to them.
Last edited:
06bowtie_guy
Well-Known Member
http://www.lincolnindustrial.com/asp/products/auto_lub_sys.asp
Can see the different systems they offer.
Can see the different systems they offer.
BrianHay
Senior Member
A company I used to work for had auto greasers on all their scrapers (the one pictured in my avatar is what I ran for them for 4 years. Its a series 2 637) I loved them and so did the company. Scrapers have a lot of grease points on them and lots of operators get lazy greasing them all. It extended the life of the pins by thousands of hours. With the auto greaser the only ones I had to grease manualy were on the bail, the brakes and the rams that lift the bowl. I only had to refill it about 2-3 times per month and it only took about 15 minutes. The hoses off the pail you refilled from were long enough to reach from the ground. The amount of grease each pin got was easily adjustable with a half inch wrench and a pair of pliers. There was a light in the cab that came on each time it cycled so you knew it was working. As well there was a button you could hold down if you wanted to cycle it manualy. This system not only saved the pins but signifigantly reduced down time for servicing. We only stopped a half hour per day for lunch/service (our own choice btw. We liked it that way because then we got paid for our full 12hr shift)
mflah87
Well-Known Member
On the 2 excavators that have hammers I have autolubes, and on 1 loader because it came with it. On the hammers i got them as an insurance policy that way i dont need to worry about guys not greasing them and destroying the hammer.
We buy Lincoln atolube systems on all our new equipment now.
We have found Lincoln best, because they have the highest pressure, and then gets grease out to all points without questions.
The amount to each point is calculated at mounting, together with the time of greasing and pause time.
The points just gets exactly the correct amount spesified by the produser.
But u get smaler amounts more often than when greasing manualy.(smal amounts every 3 hours, instead of a big amount every 10)
How often u need to refill is a question on how big reservoir u by with the pump.
All this is calculated by the mounting firm. And u can say that u want it to last for a week if so.
The Hitachi EX5500 on Bauma had a crane and a barrel with grease on top....
We have found Lincoln best, because they have the highest pressure, and then gets grease out to all points without questions.
The amount to each point is calculated at mounting, together with the time of greasing and pause time.
The points just gets exactly the correct amount spesified by the produser.
But u get smaler amounts more often than when greasing manualy.(smal amounts every 3 hours, instead of a big amount every 10)
How often u need to refill is a question on how big reservoir u by with the pump.
All this is calculated by the mounting firm. And u can say that u want it to last for a week if so.
The Hitachi EX5500 on Bauma had a crane and a barrel with grease on top....
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artherd
Active Member
I'm very interested in these, how do you tell (any other way besides visual inspection?) that a point is not getting grease for whatever reason?
Can they be set to hit every point on an excavator, or should bucket linkage pins, etc. still be done manually?
Can they be set to hit every point on an excavator, or should bucket linkage pins, etc. still be done manually?
Hey Artherd
The distributing sentral/block has smal pistons going back and forth inside.
If a point dosen't get grease this piston will be stopped.
Then pressure rise in the system, and the pump will give a warning, or the grease will come out of the safety valve.(next to the pump)
So the points gets it amount everytime. If it dosen't you got a leak between the sentral/block and the greasing point.(this block is near each point)
You can get systems that grease everything.(and thats the solution)
Problem on the exc is to protect the lines. The smaler the exc is, the more problematic it gets to protect the lines.
I have seen solutions where u veld on a smal angled iron and tread the tube inside, weld on a ring around the greasepoint with a hole in the side for the line and so on.
I do think they have a "smalest" size that they would recomend installing it on.
But of course this depends on the produser and the tecnical design.
Some might be worse than others.
I recomend a phone call to a dealer and discuss it with them.
The distributing sentral/block has smal pistons going back and forth inside.
If a point dosen't get grease this piston will be stopped.
Then pressure rise in the system, and the pump will give a warning, or the grease will come out of the safety valve.(next to the pump)
So the points gets it amount everytime. If it dosen't you got a leak between the sentral/block and the greasing point.(this block is near each point)
You can get systems that grease everything.(and thats the solution)
Problem on the exc is to protect the lines. The smaler the exc is, the more problematic it gets to protect the lines.
I have seen solutions where u veld on a smal angled iron and tread the tube inside, weld on a ring around the greasepoint with a hole in the side for the line and so on.
I do think they have a "smalest" size that they would recomend installing it on.
But of course this depends on the produser and the tecnical design.
Some might be worse than others.
I recomend a phone call to a dealer and discuss it with them.
BrianHay
Senior Member
Its kinda hard to explain but I will try. On the machine I was on that had the auto lube there was a bank of plungers in view of the operator. That was the same place you adjusted the amount of grease each point got. The further the little plunger went down when the system was greasing, the more grease that point was gettng (provided non of the lines were off past it of course). Twice a day, once in the morning and once at service time I would kik it on manualy with the button on the dash and watch the plungers to make sure they were all going down as far as they should and inspect to be sure they were all still connected.
On a hoe I think it can be done although I'm not sure how you go about protecting the lines. mflah87 can probably answer that one for you.
On a hoe I think it can be done although I'm not sure how you go about protecting the lines. mflah87 can probably answer that one for you.