Nothing kills your operational efficiency faster than road calls

By Dan Rafter

The maintenance schedule at Veolia Environmental Services—a national waste-hauler that operates out of 11 different states—seems simple, but that’s only because it’s become so routine to the technicians charged with keeping the company’s vehicles on the road and out of the repair shop.

Each of the 2,600 waste-hauling trucks that run routes in states including Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia, hits Veolia’s maintenance shops after 120 to 150 hours of service. The company’s technicians perform a 50-point service check of the trucks, checking their hydraulic systems, brakes, chassis, engines—the works, basically. Crew members also give their trucks’ moving parts a thorough grease job.

After every 250 to 300 hours of work time, the trucks return to the shop. This time, technicians give the vehicles a full oil change.
For Jim Kennedy, director of purchasing and maintenance for Veolia, this attention to preventative maintenance pays dividends in the form of reduced downtime. It also allows the Lombard, IL-based company to catch problems with its waste trucks when these problems are smaller and less expensive to repair.

“I can’t imagine someone not doing these things,” Kennedy says. “Every morning, our operators fill out a vehicle equipment report. They then fill one out at the end the of day. Every night, we make sure we fix anything that is, number one, a safety violation and, number two, anything we can repair that night to make sure the truck is ready to go that day and be safe.”

Kennedy isn’t the only waste hauling pro who understands the importance of preventative maintenance. He also understands that such maintenance is especially important in the waste-collecting industry. Collection trucks undergo frequent starts and stops. They travel into dirty and dusty landfills. And their hydraulic systems are put under constant strain.

Waste vehicles face maintenance challenges, then, that more traditional line-haul vehicles do not. The best way to meet these challenges is to maintain a consistent and effective preventative maintenance schedule. Fortunately, this isn’t difficult, especially with new lubricants and with trucks designed more than ever to meet the challenges inherent in the waste-hauling business.

“We follow the 50/50 rule here,” Kennedy says. “About 50% we rely on the manufacturer and how they make their trucks to be dependable. The other half of a truck’s life span depends upon how we take care of it and on how we operate it. We play a huge role in that. We have to take care of it and operate it correctly to give us a long life. That’s the goal.”

Preventative Maintenance
Waste trucks stuck in the repair shop don’t do anyone any good. Not only are repairs costly, but having vehicles out of service also eats into a waste hauler’s profits.

Owners are more aware of this, waste business pros say. And that’s a good thing.

“I think economics plays a big part in the increased attention to preventative maintenance,” says Jeff Carpenter, director of service and warranty with Crane Carrier. “Certainly, it is less expensive to maintain something than it is to repair it after it has failed.”

An effective schedule of preventative maintenance can help waste haulers succeed in a business that has not only grown more competitive, but has also become more expensive.

Everything from the escalating price of oil to stricter emissions requirements has  boosted the industry’s operating costs, Carpenter said. At the same time, refuse vehicles, because of the unique strains of the trash-collecting business, generally have a shorter life span than do line-haul trucks. The longer, then, that owner/operators can keep their waste vehicles operating in good condition, the more positive an impact it will have on their bottom lines.

“Too many people think of preventative maintenance as a necessary evil instead of a benefit,” Carpenter says. “They tend to put it off. It’s probably the first thing to get put off by the repair facility. If the fleet has other units that require repairs to keep the trucks on the route every day, doing the preventative maintenance is easy to put off until tomorrow or next week to work on the more critical repairs that have be done.”

Owner/operators know that they’re only asking for trouble by not maintaining their vehicles. This doesn’t mean, though, that they always follow through on that maintenance. When business gets busy, and when other emergencies pop up, it’s easy to put preventative maintenance on tomorrow’s to-do list instead of on today’s.

“We see it all the time,” says Marv Banowetz, Midwest regional manager with truck manufacturer Heil. “Maybe the lubrication doesn’t happen. Or maybe they’re using an automated lubrication system but they still forget to maintain it. The machine wears out and fails. When you get to that point, the machine dictates to the owner/operator how their day is going to go. If the machine fails, the repairs start to mount up. What is supposed to be preventative maintenance turns into what I call firefighting. You have to fix what is broken. All of a sudden, this chaotic refuse business can be out of control.”

Meeting Unique Demands
The challenge with preventative maintenance is that what makes sense for one owner/operator might not work for another. This holds true even within an industry, so that the preventative maintenance schedule for a waste hauler in Minneapolis might be significantly different than that of one collecting trash in Orlando.

This puts the burden on individual owner/operators to deduce on their own how to best take care of their vehicles.

“It’s all about tailoring your preventative maintenance to your business,” Carpenter says. “How are your vehicles used? What area of the country do you operate in? In the Northeastern part of the United States the problems are completely different than the ones in southern California.”

A properly installed Automated Lubrication System blends into the OEM Support Network.

There are some similar problems, of course, no matter in which part of the country an owner/operator is working. Waste vehicles use their brakes frequently, whether they are operating in the Midwest or on the West Coast, so owner/operators must keep a close watch on them. Refuse trucks experience high wear to their air valves, no matter where they are operating.

But waste haulers running routes in the northern parts of the country have to worry about road salts eating at their vehicles. They have to fret about magnesium chloride pre-snow treatments that attack metal and copper wiring. Those operating in warm parts of the country have to worry about the impact 100° days can have on trucks that are constantly stopping and starting and lifting.

“You really do have to take into consideration the unique demands facing your particular fleet when setting up a preventative maintenance plan,” Carpenter says.

Banowetz recommends that owner/operators spend at least an hour a week on preventative maintenance of their vehicles. And those operating in the waste-hauling industry should pay particular attention to their hydraulic systems, he said.

Waste vehicles feature complicated hydraulic works, and the business of collecting and dumping trash places great strains on them. Because of this, owners need to consistently inspect their vehicles’ hydraulic systems to make sure everything is working properly and that nothing is on the verge of needing repairs.

“If you don’t do it, if you don’t spend that hour, you’re going to end up with all kinds of downtime and costly repairs,” Banowetz says. “It seems minimal, basic, and fundamental to spend that one hour, but people neglect to do it all the time. I don’t know why. It may get overwhelming at times, especially when the business gets busy. Some waste haulers may be short of help. But if you don’t do the required maintenance in this industry, you are asking for trouble.”

Bob Johnson, a director with the Jefferson, MD-based National Truck Equipment Association, has spent nearly 40 years working with the equipment on which owner/operators rely. This includes time spent working as a mechanic for Caterpillar and in the US Army.

When Johnson recommends, then, that owner/operators in the waste industry pay close attention to their hydraulic systems, it’s advice worth heeding.

Any hydraulic system is exposed to a great deal of heat and combustion, Johnson says. But this is especially so for waste vehicles. The condition of such seemingly minor pieces of equipment, such as the wipers on a hydraulic system, can mean the difference between a vehicle that’s on the road and one that’s in the shop, he says.

“Downtime on the road really costs you triple,” Johnson says. “You have the extra time you spend on sending a mechanic out to repair it. You have the cleanup costs if there’s an oil spill on the road. Then you have the operator out there doing nothing while the mechanic works on the vehicle. A road call is the most expensive thing you can have. I would make sure to pay very close attention to the condition of your hydraulic system. I’d make sure the hoses are in good shape.”

Johnson, and others, say that the most significant difference between the way waste vehicles operate and the way line haul trucks work is the high number of stops and starts garbage trucks undergo while running a route. This is hard on a vehicle’s entire power train, and can cause problems with a truck’s engine and transmission.

Because of this, owner/operators must keep a constant watch on the condition of their vehicles’ engine lubricants. An oil analysis program—which helps owners and operators to make better-informed maintenance decisions based on their equipment’s condition during analysis—is a must for waste haulers, Johnson says: Such an analysis is the best way to decide how often technicians should change a truck’s oil.

“There is a lot of start and stop, a lot of intermittent idling involved in running a garbage-collection route,” Johnson says. “If they haven’t already done so, I’d recommend that the owners of these vehicles go into an engine oil analysis program. This will help them determine what the optimum life cycle is for their engine lubricants. You don’t want to change the lubricants excessively. That’s expensive. But you don’t want to go too far between changes, either. That can cause serious problems.”

Waste haulers need, too, to track the condition of their vehicles’ automatic transmission fluids, making sure that their trucks are not in danger of overheating while on their routes. Operators should also add the appropriate coolers to their transmissions.

Johnson is a fan of synthetic lubricants in certain cases. For waste haulers working in extreme cold temperatures, for instance, synthetic lubes may prove a boon to the health of a vehicle.

Lubricants can take a significant amount of time to warm up in harsh weather, especially when a vehicle is making short runs with several stops and starts. Synthetic products, though, can provide waste haulers with better lubrication on their frequent launches.

Another area for waste haulers to study? The condition of and wear on their vehicles’ brakes.

Brakes on garbage trucks go through a lot of stress. There are the many stops and starts, of course, but also the dirt, dust and debris that come with operating in landfills. Because of this, Johnson recommends that all waste haulers install dust shields to protect their brakes, even if this does make it harder to inspect these same mechanisms.

Johnson also recommends that owner/operators draft a maintenance schedule for their brakes, much as they do with their engine lubricants.

Once owners determine the optimum interval after which they should change their brakes—probably based more on work hours than miles traveled—Johnson  advises them to schedule brake jobs for the last service period before that optimal point.

Why? This way owners improve the odds that their brakes won’t fail during a route, leaving them stranded in the middle of collection.

“It is just good management,” Johnson says. “Every time you bring a vehicle into the shop, it costs you serious money. Eliminating a trip into the shop saves you several hours, both in labor and in down service time.”

One issue that waste haulers face is that they operate in a different world than do line-haul truckers, but much of the equipment they rely on is manufactured as if there were no differences between the two.

For instance, because of the high number of starts and stops, not to mention the stresses placed on waste trucks’ hydraulic systems and the bumpy condition of landfill roads, garbage vehicles are often plagued with loose wiring, loose bolts and loose components.

“It’s a big concern on refuse vehicles, especially those that are going in and out of landfills,” Carpenter says. “It’s tough on the suspension. If all the frame fasteners are not kept tightened, it severely accelerates the wear to suspension components.”

The key, Carpenter says, is for owner/operators to study their fleets carefully. Preventative maintenance that works on one fleet may not work on another.

“Fleets need to evaluate the failures they are having,” Carpenter says. “If they experience a high rate of failure on particular components, they then need to add different components or shorten the intervals between maintaining them. This prevents problems before they become a failure such as a downed truck. If you know your brakes wear out at 10,000 miles, don’t wait. At 7,000, 8,000 miles you should be inspecting them so that it becomes an easy repair rather than an expensive and time-consuming one.”

The Lubrication Difference
Not surprisingly, the proper use of lubricants is one of the biggest steps owner/operators can take to keep their waste vehicles running properly.

The good news is that lubrication industry pros say that fleet managers and operators are doing a better job putting the right lubricants in their vehicles and changing those oils at the proper intervals.

“Owners have a lot more information today than they had years ago,” says Dan Arcy, technical marketing manager for Shell Lubricants. “The knowledge of an owner/operator or fleet maintenance manager today versus 15 years ago is amazing. They are much more informed about what is going on and what the needs of their vehicles are. There are publications out there that talk about this. The Internet has so much information about this. It has all helped to raise the awareness and knowledge level of people in the industry.”

Arcy recommends that owner/operators make sure to not only change their fluids at the proper intervals, but to top them off on a daily basis. He also says waste hauling trucks should be filled with premium lubrication products formulated to handle the high temperatures and soot levels with which garbage trucks deal.

Operators must keep a constant watch on the condition of a vehicle's lubricants.

Soot can be a particularly challenging problem. It’s not uncommon for soot to blow into a waste vehicle’s engine. If an oil doesn’t do a good job of dispersing these soot particles, preventing them from conglomerating and forming large particles, they can thicken a lubricant. Thicker lubricants don’t flow as well through a system, which can lead to serious wear issues for an engine. It’s important, then, for owner/operators to choose lubricants designed to control the negative effects of soot.

Another tip? Owners shouldn’t skimp on the quality of lubricants they use. Arcy advises fleet managers to use API CI-4 Plus lubricants, which is now the highest quality of diesel engine oil available. However, some truck manufacturers, such as Mack, have lubricants designed specifically for their vehicles. Mack recommends Mack EO-N Premium Plus for owner/operators seeking the highest-performing lubricant.

Sometimes, operators make the mistake of not using the correct viscosity grade for their vehicles. This is especially important for waste vehicles, which operate in unusual conditions.

Fleet managers may turn to a straight 40-viscosity level instead of using 15W40. This, Arcy says, is a mistake.

The longer that vehicles can be kept running in good conditions, the more positive the impact will be on operators' bottom lines.

“Occasionally we run into companies that still use some of the older performance levels, some straight grades,” Arcy says. “They do not provide the performance, the soot-handling capabilities or the ability to flow easily as does 15W40.”

Like others in the industry, Arcy is a fan of oil analysis programs. These programs, he says, can help owners detect any serious issues with their engines, helping them pinpoint contaminants, coolant leaks or any other problems.

In October of this year, a new higher-performing oil standard, CJ-4, will hit the market and will be required for all 2007 model year engines. According to Arcy, this new oil will be an important step up for operators of waste vehicles.

“There are some significant changes with this new performance standard,” Arcy says. “It will offer improved performance, high-temperature protection and oxidation protection. This is important for waste vehicles that run under a lot of high head conditions and stop-and-go driving, lifting heavy loads. The new oil also offers improvements in soot handling, which is important considering some of the high levels of soot these vehicles encounter.”

Of course, the best oils available won’t do much if fleet managers forget to change them at the correct intervals. To help make these changes routine, there’s automatic lubrication systems, which take the guesswork out of lubrication.

Jim Pinder, sales activity manager with Groeneveld North America, a manufacturer of automatic lubrication systems, says that not only do the systems make lubrication routine, they also save owners money in the long run. With automatic lubrication systems, the oil in a vehicle is changed while that vehicle is still operating, and the process uses 25% less grease than technicians use while manually changing oil, Pinder says.

The biggest advantage, though, Pinder says, is that auto lube systems eliminate the need for waste companies to have employees dedicated to changing oil and maintaining records on the process.

“It is so difficult to get young people into the industry on the maintenance side of it. If you do get them in and get them excited, the lubrication part isn’t what drew them to it,” Pinder says. “They want to work on engines and the computerization of trucks, not basic entry level lubrication.”

The bad news is that a majority of operators in North America have not yet latched onto auto lube systems. That is slowly changing—Pinder estimates that Groeneveld is selling 33% more auto lube systems each year in North America—but the industry has yet to fully embrace the benefits that such systems provide.

“The industry in North America is in its infancy,” Pinder says. “It is well-accepted in Europe and Australia, but not yet here. What we’ve always had in this country is excess labor. There’ll be a retiring truck driver who wants to hang around the shop still, or a young person in the industry who’s willing to work in lubrication.

ow you don’t have those people. When a driver retires, he moves on to another career or he’s really retired and doing the recreational things he wants to do. I think we’ll see more people in the industry now take a look at automatic lube systems.”

The growth in automatic lubrication systems may mirror the growing amount of attention that waste industry pros are paying to preventative maintenance. But just as with the auto lube business, there is room still for growth; Operators, owners, and fleet managers can do even more to prevent their vehicles from heading to the shop.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Johnson says. “I think there, in general, is a little more awareness today than there has been in the past. But there are still an awful lot of voids out there. There are a lot of people out there who just do the bare minimum. A lot of things go into a good preventative maintenance program.” 

Author Dan Rafter is a technical writer based in Chesterton, IN.

MSW - July/August 2006