56%

of premature bearing failures are caused by contamination and inadequate lubrication

More than half of your bearing damage is therefore a lubrication problem, not a bearing problem. In construction machines, where bearings are the least accessible components, that weighs even heavier.

up to 33%

less lubricant consumption

By switching from manual to automatic lubrication. Less grease, precisely dosed — and so less grease ending up on the ground.

15–20 min

per machine per maintenance cycle

That’s how much time correct manual lubrication costs. Automation gives that time back to your technicians and your planning.

40–60%

of your maintenance costs stem from inadequate lubrication

While lubricants themselves account for only 2 to 3% of your operating costs. The ratio between effort and impact is rarely this skewed.

Level 1 · Basic

Manual lubrication

The right tool for points you deliberately keep manual

• SKF Lincoln 1882-E — 20V Li-ion cordless grease gun with two-speed gearing: high speed for volume, low speed for pressures up to 690 bar.
• 1142 / 1151 / 1035 — hand-operated grease guns, optionally with flexible hose, or as a complete set.
• LAGN 120 — grease fitting kit with 120 conical fittings, to standardize your fitting stock across the entire fleet.

Strong in: low investment, few parts. Makes sense on machines with few operating hours and easily accessible points.

Limits: manual lubrication requires the machine to stand still. On a construction machine that adds up to 40 to 90 minutes of downtime per 8 to 10 operating hours, and a full round often takes over an hour. It’s also error-prone: a missed point or overgreasing contamination happens easily. Finally, it requires a technician to climb under or onto the machine.

Level 2 · Consolidation

Semi-automatic lubrication

Bringing twenty lubrication points down to one fitting

• SSV / SSVD — progressive or adjustable divider block, forcibly distributes grease from one supply point across multiple points.
• VPK — sectional progressive divider block for larger or more spread-out systems.
• Armored, canvas, polyamide, steel tubing — custom-made, with optional hose protection.

What it delivers: instead of hunting for twenty points on a muddy machine, your technician greases one central fitting. Distribution happens mechanically and forcibly: if one outlet blocks, the whole block stops — a fault becomes visible instead of going unnoticed.

Ideal for: older machines, rental equipment where you don’t control the end user’s lubrication discipline, and points only reachable by crawling under the boom or undercarriage.

Level 3 · Continuous · Most chosen in earthmoving

Fully automatic lubrication

Lubricating while the machine digs, loads or drives

• CLP / PLP/ P203 / KFG — electrically driven grease pumps (up to 150 lubrication points).
• AECP — automatic electric cartridge pump for the smallest (compact) machines.
• HTL201 — hydraulic cartridge pump for hydraulic breakers or grabs, driven by the oil flow, automatically lubricates the chisel or pins and stays on the attachment when the carrier machine changes.
• LAGG 18AE — mobile grease pumps for safely and efficiently filling systems from the drum, on the jobsite or in the workshop.

Why this matters heavily in earthmoving: lubrication happens while the machine is running. This constant stream of fresh grease actively pushes dirt and sand out of the bearing. The lubrication round largely disappears and your technicians no longer need to get into the muddy cab or boom. Both under- and over-greasing vanish. An automatic system therefore pays for itself faster in pure hours saved on mechanics (no defective pins and bushings) than it costs.

Level 4 · Data

Connected lubrication (SKF eLube / IoT)

See what every machine in your fleet is doing, without driving out to it

• CLP / PLP Smart / P253 Smart — connected grease pumps with operating modes: time-based, counter-based and progressive cycle-based.
• SKF eLube app — connects via Bluetooth to the pump and collects all necessary status data and reports.

What you do with it:

• Spot a blocked line or empty reservoir immediately, instead of only at the next service visit on the jobsite.
• Configure pump settings locally, share or duplicate them with a colleague or another jobsite.
• Keep a log of consumption and faults. This is especially valuable when returning rental or pool equipment!

Why this is so relevant in construction: the sector lags behind in digitalization, so a fleet manager often still relies on visual inspections. On a scattered jobsite, that’s the most expensive method. Data gives you solid proof for a warranty claim; demonstrating that the machine received exactly the right doses.

Excavators and demolition hammers

Why critical: the excavator sets the pace of the jobsite. Dirt gets into its joints fastest. A lubrication system doesn’t just protect against wear, it actively pushes sand and water out of the bushings.

Critical components: boom, arm and bucket pins, slew ring, track undercarriage, quick coupler, and the attachment itself (demolition hammer, sorting grab).

Indicative number of lubrication points: 19 – 45 per machine. (To be validated during the machine scan.)

Typical setup: a P203 pump on the main machine (with LGEP 2 grease), plus a heavy-duty HTL201 cartridge pump mounted on the hydraulic demolition hammer itself. The hammer requires a different grease (special chisel paste) and is lubricated autonomously through this setup, based on the excavator’s hydraulic oil pressure.

Wheel loaders

Why critical: scooping generates enormous pressure on the lift cylinders, the articulation joint and the bucket arms. Manual grease is long since pushed out by that point. Automatic lubrication systems force fresh grease into the joint at the best possible moment: under load.

Critical components: articulation joint, steering cylinders, lift and tilt cylinders, and all bucket linkage pins.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 23 – 50 per machine. (To be validated during the machine scan.)

Typical setup: a progressive system with a CLP or P203 pump and SSV divider blocks. For companies with a larger fleet, CLP Smart is often chosen. This lets the fleet manager check whether the wheel loader is functioning correctly on site, without driving out to it.

Bulldozers, track undercarriages and mini excavators

Why critical: downtime on a heavy dozer delays a project. A mini excavator has the opposite problem: compact, with very tightly mounted grease fittings and countless rotating operators who forget to lubricate.

Critical components: blade cylinders, track undercarriage, slew ring bearing, boom foot, bucket pins and tensioning stations.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 17 – 40 per machine. (To be validated during the machine scan.)

Typical setup: bulldozers usually get a heavy-duty P203 pump with SSV blocks. On a mini excavator, installation space is tight fast: the ultra-compact AECP cartridge pump is the answer there (a cartridge is swapped in the AECP just as easily as in a grease gun).

Dump trucks, articulated dump trucks and mobile cranes

Why critical: dump trucks drive through everything; mud and wet weather hit the tipping mechanism hard. Mobile cranes have the highest number of lubrication points of any construction machine (outriggers, slew ring, axles), making manual lubrication practically impossible or incomplete.

Critical components: tipping mechanism joints, suspension, steering system, outriggers, and the heavy slew ring bearings.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 28 – 60 per dump truck and 45 – 90 per mobile crane. (To be validated during the machine scan.)

Typical setup: heavy-duty P203 or the P253 Smart pump (connected), supported by extra-tough, protected high-pressure hoses. Grease: LGWA 2 or LGHB 2 where high loads and heat (differentials) come into play.