The customer experienced systemic A-frame bearing failures on their entire haul truck fleet. Without GreaseBoss, both trucks would have been operating with severe under greasing.
- Multiple major lubrication issues were identified on both haul trucks and reported to the maintenance team.
- GreaseBoss data showed 250+cc being dispensed each pump cycle – 5 times the expected amount.
- Detected incorrect pump timer setting.
- Highlighted erratic grease to the a-frame bearing.
2
Haul trucks monitored: CAT 793 & CAT 789
5x
System flagged 5x grease volume delivered per cycle vs site spec
250 hrs
prevented 250 hrs of operation with no grease every fortnight
5 days
from installation to meeting pilot objectives
The challenge
Systemic A-frame failures with no known root cause
The customer had been concerned that some haul truck components, particularly the A-Frame bearing, were experiencing premature wear and failure from inadequate grease application. The fleet had experienced systemic A-frame failures resulting in expensive repairs and issues with asset availability.
Site reliability engineers had been unable to determine the root cause of these failures and engaged GreaseBoss to run a pilot program to verify grease lubrication on two haul trucks a CAT 793 and CAT 789.
Pilot Objectives:
1
Two units monitoring the four hoist cylinder points.
2
Monitor bulk lubricant application volumes across the two haul trucks for overall lube system performance monitoring and grease consumption baselining
The Solution
critical point monitoring
The trucks were monitored with the Critical Point Monitoring solution and the Bulk Flow Monitoring solutions.
Each Haul Truck was fitted with the following GreaseBoss hardware:
1
x1 Endpoint LF – monitoring the A-frame bearing, mounted on magnetic bracket
2
x1 Endpoint BF – monitoring the grease pump, mounted on magnetic bracket
3
x1 HME Gateway – connected via 4G SIM
Key findings
What the data revealed, 5 days later
Four days after installation, the data immediately highlighted a critical issue with the lube system pump feeding the hoist cylinders. The two Endpoint MP2’s monitoring the four hoist cylinder points revealed that all four points exhibited the same pattern: intermittent pump activity followed by long periods with no grease flow.
This indicated a pump issue, which was confirmed when the customer discovered a faulty cable harness providing electrical signals to the pump.
GreaseBoss data revealed faulty grease pump
A-frame bearing data aligned exactly with the pump data
GreaseBoss data revealed excess grease being dispensed
Highlighted erratic grease to the A-frame bearing
Indicated empty grease tank
Detected incorrect pump timer setting
Failed grease pump found and replaced.
A-frame bearing inspected and found dry, confirming the pump as the root cause.
Numerous bypassing injectors identified, truck scheduled for maintenance to replace all faulty injectors.
Injector correctly installed and tuned, delivery returned to the expected 5cc per pump cycle.
Time without grease limited to 12 hours per event, instead of approximately 250 hours every fortnight.
Pump corrected to 30 minute cycles, automatic monitoring and alerting enabled.
Key findings
PILOT OUTCOMES
Several serious issues have been identified which site has actioned and corrected.
#TR260 excess grease is still to be closed out (at the time of writing this report) but the A-Frame supply has been corrected.
#TR207 grease pump performance and grease delivery into the A-Frame now meets, and possibly exceeds, both OEM and customer expectations.
Without the monitoring and intervention from GreaseBoss, both trucks would have been operating in severely undergreased condition which would have inevitably lead to premature component failure and reduced asset availability.
outcome 1
ROOT CAUSE FOUND
A-frame supply corrected on both trucks after the pump, injector and timer faults were identified.
outcome 2
5 WORKING DAYS
Within 5 working days of installation, the GreaseBoss system met the pilot Objectives – highlighting the rapid ROI of the system.
outcome 3
SET & FORGET
Automatic monitoring and alerting enabled, with bulk volumes baselined across both trucks.