Old timer told me to grease the bullwheel every Friday, I skipped it once

Honestly, I thought it was just a habit thing when old Mike from the union hall gave me that tip during my first week in Tacoma. He said these hydraulic crawlers start screaming at you if you miss a weekly lube job on the bullwheel and swing pinion. Well, last month I got busy with a steel erection job and figured one Friday off wouldn't hurt. By Monday afternoon the swing started making this grinding whine every time I rotated over the load, and I had to shut down for two hours to grease it and inspect for wear. The pins were fine, but the noise alone scared the GC foreman enough to write me up in the daily log. Anyone else have a routine maintenance habit they learned the hard way to never skip, or is it just me and Mike?

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spencer_gonzalez125d ago

Tbh the weekly thing is more about keeping dirt out than the grease itself. Old Mike wasn't wrong about the schedule but the reason matters, because if you pump grease in there when everything is already packed tight you can blow out the seals. That's the part nobody tells you. The bullwheel and swing pinion wear comes mostly from grit working its way in, so a light shot every Friday pushes the crud out before it grinds. Skipping one week usually won't hurt if the seals are good, but on a machine that's seen some hours it'll bite you fast. Sounds like yours was already overdue and that Friday just pushed it over the edge.

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