That old crane hand told me to grease the rails every single day and I thought he was full of it

I tell every new guy the same thing now but they never listen either until their crane starts making that sound.

2 comments

2 Comments

Actually it's not "grease the rails" it's "grease the cam followers" on the rail system. The rails themselves don't really need grease, it's the little wheels that ride on them that bind up and make that horrible grinding noise. I made that mistake for months until an old-timer finally showed me the difference. He was patient about it though just shook his head and pointed at the fitting. Once you grease the right parts everything runs smooth as butter. Now I make sure to tell the new guys the correct way but they still look at me like I'm speaking a different language.

samf9522d agoTop Commenter

Hang on though, is it really that big of a deal? I've been calling it "grease the rails" for years and my machine still works fine lol. Maybe it depends on the setup cause I've greased both parts and didn't notice a huge difference either way.