Old foreman told me to grease boom every single day. I learned why the hard way.

I had a foreman named Larry on a job in Houston last year who kept telling me to grease the boom every morning even if it didn't look dry. I figured he was just being old school and wasting time so I skipped it for about 4 days straight. On the fifth day the boom started making this grinding noise during a pick. I stopped everything and checked and there was metal dust all over the extension section. Cost the company 3 grand to replace the wear pads and I got a write up. Larry was right and I was an idiot. Any of you guys had a boss drill something into you that turned out to save your ass later?

2 comments

2 Comments

michael_wood321mo ago

Man I learned that SAME lesson with a track loader. Greasing always felt like busywork until the pins started squealing on a Friday afternoon. Now I'm religious about it, never skip that step again.

noah_black1mo ago

Is it really that serious though? I mean yeah, you don't want pins to seize up completely, but I've missed a greasing or two and nothing bad happened. Maybe it depends on the machine or how hard you're pushing it. You sure you didn't just get unlucky with a bad batch of pins or something?