How many managers fight this scenario every day,I know in this day and age of auto greasers its not what it used to be,but it is still a very costly problem,you supply grease,gun,and you pay the operator to do it,and still it doesnt get done causing costly repairs and downtime,it seems to me that truck chassis are the most overlooked and neglected its not that they dont know because they have been told weekly to grease the truck,but when inspected they are not getting greased and it doesnt take long in the environments concretepumps are in everyday it starts showing,now I myself always liked to service my own equipment that is what makes me a paycheck,but in these times I see alot of companies even the one I work for outsourcing there service work due to the neglect the operators have shown,is the day of the operator/mechanic a thing of the past.I myself learned that doing both was what it took to be a good operator knowing your machine from front to back is there a place for this type of operator one that knows the pump and its mechanics or do we just teach how to run it and if it breaks you call the mechanic and for another pump,I know times are changing but I long for the days from the past,

pudg-

this is the era of the 'button-pusher'.  You can give a guy a grease gun but will he use it?  Probably not...So, you figure you can counter that by supplying him with a machine with an auto-luber for the chassis, boom and hopper.  Now it will get greased...right?...until the grease pots are empty - then you're back to where you started.

I was looking at some of the pics from the 'super placingboom' job and saw this:

Empty grease pot just above the hopper...

The grease gun was introduced to me when I first started running Thomsens.  I was told when and where to grease everthing.  When we rebuilt the flapper box after I'd been running it for a while, I learned exactly how important grease really was...we had to torch out the flapper and shaft etc...because everything was siezed together.

when you are the mechanic and operator the machine gets treated a little differently.  I couldn't agree with you more, pudg...

WHatever company owns the pump I put in this post - I don't know who you are and mean no disrespect - nor am implying you don't take care of your machinery.  It was just something I noticed and works as a very good visual example for this thread...for all I know, the company's moblie lube unit is parked right next to it waiting to service the pump as soon as the photogaphers are through.

Pudge,

Been there, fixed the problem. You aren’t going to like it but it works.

Everyone knows some ‘jack of all trades/mechanic type’ like one of the kids that works at the lube shop or the one that hangs around the muffler shop. You know who he is; you just don’t want to hire him…don’t. Ask him to do some contract work for you, not as a full time employee. This guy does not rate operator pay because he isn’t an operator.

Show him EXACTLY what you want him to do, several times. Make a checklist. When it is time for him to go to work MAKE SURE THAT THE OPERATOR GOES HOME. He is your grease/service man. If the operators did the job this kid would not be in the picture.

I know of one place where the manager hired his son to do that job. Bottom line is there is someone that you know that would like to do that job, and do it well. He will do the job just like you train him to do it. If you train him to check for slack in the drive lines he will. If you explain that when the PTO is FULL and runs out when he opens the ‘fill port’ he will get it.

To sub out some work is okay; just don’t pay someone too much for not enough. And who knows, he might grow up to be the best operator you ever had. One thing for sure, he will know how to service a pump.

Who knows how often to grease the turret?

ON PUTZ------ THEY RECOMMEND EVERY 24 HRS WE DO 5 SHOTS EVERY DAY,OUR SCHWING THE BOOM IS AUTOLUBE AND IT CYCLES FOR 3 MINUTES EVERY 24 HRS

The operators are paid to fu@k it up <  The mechanics are paid to fix'em up. 

when the op f@$&* it, up then hes home with no pay seems like priorities are getting out of whack I think if you f@#&* it up you should fix it ,thats part of the problems we face today no consequences for ones actions, just my opinion

Mine too

A real operator IS a mechanic

pudg, you are right I was trained running and working on pumps, did not know what a pump mechanic was back then,the grease worms were hell on the flapper blades,how about them wear pins?

how many tubes of grease do you go throuh a week auto greaser 4 boom 2 1/2 truck 2 i use so much grease  that i have 2 pins that like to come out.so that is roughfly a box of 10 a week. i get a special deal at the truck stop every other time greaser,boom,truck is free.i adjust my own brakes take truck to get serviced every 250hrs and i keep up on it,3years old nothing wrong with it. its easer to take care of it because if it dosent work i dont work

Greas is cheap compare to change bearings and bushing and when the pump is in the garage it dont make any money....

And when you should change wearparts everything is much easier to take apart...

I think I use a box of 10 or 12 tubes a week , no centralgreasing.....

I have actually met truck drivers who, not only don't grease their own trucks, but don't know how to adjust their brakes....scary.  Once a week I crawl under my truck and grease it, its the best time to conduct a thorough inspection.

This is the day of the button pusher there4, add a button to the problem. At local autopart stores, quality 12v grease guns are suprisingly afordable. 2 years ago I bought one at "schuck's" for $70.00! After the  boss got his hands on it, not only did he re-emberse me 70 bucks but went and purchased 6 more. they come with 2 batteries a charger an 18in flexline and they're 10000psi!!! Grease is cheap, so are auto grease-guns. Even if you gotta buy 1 or 2 a year it still beats the hell out-a replacing pump parts. Infact you'll probably end up with a few "GreaseGods" that you'll have to hide the grease from. If your problem persists, schedule the guy a "saturdayjob"(when there are none),take the lazy bitch by the hand,give'em a creeper and a MANUAL greaser "ITS CHASIS DAY SON get to know the underside of yhe fleet"! (I could never be a mngr. cuz if the above didnt work I'd kick their ass)