Every morning before you fire up your equipment, it’s important to do an inspection. It doesn’t have to take a long time, but you should get into the habit of doing a visual check of your machinery to make sure nothing is broken, missing or showing signs of abnormal wear.
One thing that often gets overlooked is lubrication. Ensuring your equipment is properly greased goes a long way toward keeping it reliable and ready to work when you need it.
At MacAllister Machinery, we often see equipment in for service because of a lack of greasing. The damage this can create is due to metal-on-metal contact. Many joints, linkages and moving parts on your heavy-duty equipment are designed to move on a layer of oil. Just as your engine needs oil for proper lubrication and to avoid friction, the moving parts of your equipment need grease for smooth movement and to eliminate wear from heat and friction.
We have created this video with some helpful tips on the importance of greasing your equipment:
Video Transcription
Hi, Trent here with today’s Quick Tip.
Today, we are going to talk about the walk-around inspection and grease points.
It’s always important to walk around your machine at the beginning of every day to make sure that there’s nothing in the way and that the machine is ready to operate.
The main thing that’s important is lube points.
You can always find your lube points and your maintenance information in your operator’s maintenance manual and also on the back door.
Always make sure these are greased, even the ones that are easy to get to, and the ones that could be more difficult to get to.
These parts are there to prevent another part from failing that can cost a lot of money in the long run.
A lot of repairs that come to our shop are due to a lack of grease and they can get costly extremely quickly.
So, make sure every day that these are greased and your machine is ready to go.
That’s today’s Quick Tip.
Thanks for watching.
Where Are My Grease Points?
On most machines, some grease points are visible from the outside, while others are more hidden from sight. The only way to be sure you’ve gotten them all is to check the drawing supplied with the equipment. You’ll find a drawing with your lube points in the operator’s manual, maintenance manual or on the equipment itself, often inside the back door.
There are a few quick steps to greasing your lube points:
- Start by choosing a grease gun loaded with the grease suggested by the manufacturer of your equipment.
- Locate your grease points. Go in the same order every day and you’ll easily remember where they are.
- Give a quick visual inspection to ensure your grease nipples aren’t damaged or missing.
- Wipe down the grease point with a rag. This will ensure you’re not forcing dirt inside.
- Attach your grease nozzle and give a few pumps until you see grease exiting.
Few maintenance items are as fast and have as much of an impact on the performance and longevity of your equipment as greasing on a daily basis. It’s easy to do and avoids wear. Metal-on-metal contact can quickly degrade your equipment, even in normal use, and the repairs are often expensive.
Trust MacAllister Machinery for Greasing Tips
Your heavy-duty construction and industrial equipment was designed to work with adequate grease. When your equipment comes in for service or maintenance, we always check for adequate lubrication, but it’s something you should do every single day. Don’t wait until you have a problem to think about grease point lubrication: make it a daily habit and you’ll avoid headaches down the road.
Contact our team today here at MacAllister Machinery by filling out our online form or giving us a call for more information on greasing your equipment and other important service.