By BRETT WINBERG - LubeTrak

The winter months can be the worst time on your equipment because of the cold weather and of course, extended idling times that equipment sees during warm up and operational time periods.

When it comes to preventive maintenance and a more proactive approach to maintenance, we test our lubricating oils… why not test our fuels and coolants? 

Over the last two and a half years, I have received a lot of feedback from my Newsletter readers. One question that pops up regularly is: “Why do you give away so much valuable information in your Newsletter and on your web sites?”

I’ve spent the better part of 16 years working in and running hydraulic repair shops i.e. rebuilding hydraulic components. During this time I kept seeing the same pattern: Failed hydraulic component comes into shop along with concerned customer who wants to know why it has failed after a relatively short time in service. Based on what I saw after tear-down, I would explain the cause of failure - for example, high contamination levels, wrong oil viscosity, high temperature operation, cavitation, faulty circuit protection devices and so on. Customer leaves thousands of dollars poorer with rebuilt component and a hard-learned lesson on hydraulic equipment maintenance.