GreaseBoss Critical Point Monitoring detected that 35 of 40 haul trucks were consistently under-greased, verifying grease delivery at every pump cycle. Within six months the system caught seven A-Frame bearing faults before failure, saving the operation ≈$1.7M in labour and repair costs. Key highlights from the case study:
- Close the visibility gap on A-Frame lubrication, balloon-testing every critical bearing on every pump cycle.
- Catch faults before they escalate, with 7 A-Frame bearings saved in 6 months and ≈3 days from alert to rectification.
- Turn a two-truck pilot into a fleet-wide rollout of 75 trucks across two sites in nine months.
- Achieve ≈$2.5M in projected annual savings (≈$12.4M by year five), with zero grease-related failures on any GreaseBoss-equipped truck since deployment.
35/40
Trucks consistently undergreased
≈130 hrs
Downtime per full A-Frame replacement
75 trucks
Committed across 2 sites in 9 months
≈$1.7M saved
7 A-Frame bearings saved in 6 months.
The Challenge
Persistent, premature A-Frame bearing failures caused massive downtime and economical stresses.
GreaseBoss’s Critical Point Monitoring system detected that 35 out of 40 monitored haul trucks were consistently undergreased. Direct correlation between undergreasing and unplanned downtime.
What began as a two-truck pilot became a validated business case and a fleet-level rollout, committing GreaseBoss monitoring across two sites within nine months.
The costs of downtime
A minor grease system repair costs 1 to 6 hours of downtime. Left undetected, the same underlying fault escalates to an A-Frame bearing replacement at ≈50 hours in the workshop, or a full A-Frame replacement at ≈130 hours in the workshop. Every unplanned downtime disrupts scheduling, reduces fleet availability, and adds safety risks.
The Solution
Critical Point Monitoring solution
GreaseBoss Critical Point Monitoring solution was deployed to close the visibility gap and verify grease delivery across the fleet. The Fleet Management team now have visibility over every grease event – equivalent of a “balloon” test every pump cycle.
1
Endpoint LF for A-Frame monitoring. Installed downstream of the injectors, confirming each injector delivers grease as per OEM specification
2
Endpoint BF for grease pump monitoring. Giving visibility over Total grease delivered to the haul truck greasing system and pump cycle times.
Key findings
immediate fleet level impact
Within months of installation, our customer was able to prevent faulty dump valves, bypassing injectors, and A-Frame undergreasing. However, these are some of our key findings from a fleet-level:
01
roughly 7 out of 8 trucks are consistently undergreased
Across the 40 monitored haul trucks, GreaseBoss found that 35 were consistently under-greased.
02
committed to 75 trucks across 2 sites in 9 months
What began as a two-truck A-Frame monitoring pilot became a validated business case and a fleet-level commitment.
03
7 A-Frame bearings saved in 6 months
Within 6 months, 7 A-Frame bearings had been identified by the GreaseBoss system to be undergreased. It took ≈3 days from alert to rectification.