56%

of premature bearing failures are caused by contamination and poor lubrication

More than half of your bearing damage is therefore a lubrication problem, not a bearing problem. In a dusty, abrasive environment, that share isn’t a fluke — it’s daily reality.

up to 33%

less lubricant consumption

By switching from manual to automatic lubrication. Less grease, precisely dosed — and therefore also less grease ending up on the platform, the belt or the ground.

15–20 min

per machine per maintenance cycle

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

40–60%

of your maintenance costs stem from poor lubrication

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

Level 1 · Basic

Manual lubrication

The right tools for points you deliberately keep manual

• SKF Lincoln 1882-E — 20 V Li-ion battery grease gun with two-speed gearing: high gear for volume, low gear for pressures up to 690 bar.
• 1142 / 1151 / 1035 — manual grease guns, also available with flexible hose or as a complete set
• LAGM 1000E grease meter — measures the actual amount of grease delivered per point.

Strengths: low investment, few components, no installation complexity. Worthwhile on secondary installations with few operating hours and easily accessible points.

Limitations: a bearing block halfway along a belt bridge, a lubrication point on a screen housing, or the spider bearing of a cone crusher: these aren’t points you can casually pop over to. Manual lubrication there means climbing, stepping onto a platform, or crawling under an installation — and it usually means the machine is stopped. For heavy equipment, SKF puts the figure at around 30 minutes per machine per cycle just to carry out the lubrication correctly. And that’s exactly the hard-to-reach point that often gets skipped.

Level 2 · Consolidation

Semi-automatic lubrication

Bringing twenty points up high down to one nipple at eye level

• SSV — progressive divider block, distributes grease from a single supply point to multiple outlet points in a fixed, positive sequence
• SSVD — adjustable progressive divider block, for when points require different quantities from one another.
• VPK — sectional progressive divider block for larger systems
• Armoured, canvas, polyamide, steel lines — custom-made in length and connection, with optional hose protection.

What it delivers: instead of searching for twenty points on a dusty, vibrating installation across four levels of height, your technician lubricates one central nipple at a safe, accessible location. The distribution is mechanical and positive: if one outlet blocks, the entire block stops.

Ideal for: older crushing and screening installations you don’t yet want to fully automate, mobile or semi-mobile installations you move regularly, and all those points that are only accessible with a ladder or a shut down and locked-out installation.

Level 3 · Continuous · Most popular in mining

Fully automatic lubrication

Lubricating while the crusher is crushing and the belt is running

• CLP / PLP / P203 / KFG — electrically driven grease pumps for the screens, belts and crushers.
• P 205 / P 215 / ZPU — multi-line or dual-line systems for large stations with high consumption, available in ATEX versions. SKF names as a typical application, literally, “screens and crushers in quarries.”
• BPH — hydraulically driven drum pump, specifically intended for dumpers and other heavy equipment.

Why this matters so much in a quarry:

• Lubrication takes place while the installation is running — exactly when the bearing needs it, not when the maintenance window allows it.
• The constant grease flow actively pushes dust and dirt out.
• The dosing is fixed, so both under- and over-greasing disappear.
• Your technicians no longer need to go onto platforms or under belt routes for routine lubrication.

Why dual-line is often the answer here: A quarry is the exact scenario dual-line was designed for — many lubrication points, spread far apart, with widely varying doses, in a dirty, wet and vibrating environment with high back-pressure.

Level 4 · Data

Connected lubrication (SKF eLube / IoT)

See what every pump on the site is doing, without stepping onto the platform

• CLP / PLP Smart / P253 Smart — connected grease/oil pumps with three operating modes.
• Datalog controller — system controller with data logging and a Bluetooth connection to the eLube app; compact enough to fit in a cab.
• SKF eLube app — reads fill level and pump function wirelessly.

What you can do with it:

• Spot a blocked line or a nearly empty reservoir within minutes instead of at the next round — and step in before the bearing suffers damage.
• Keep a log of cycles, consumption and faults.

Why this is relevant in a quarry: Your critical lubrication points are rarely at eye level. They’re on a ten-tonne screen housing that’s vibrating, or on a crusher down in a pit. Every check you can do remotely instead of on site is one less climb and one less LOTO procedure.

Crushers: jaw crusher, cone and gyratory crusher, impact crusher

Why it’s critical: a site usually has only one or two, and there’s no bypass. If the primary crusher fails, the entire chain stops. SKF sums up the operating regime succinctly: heavy loads, low speeds and exposure to dust. At low speeds, a bearing never builds up a proper hydrodynamic lubricating film.

Critical components: pinion shaft and pinion bearings, eccentric bushing, spider bearing, thrust or step bearing, open gear drive, motor and gearbox.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 15 – 45 points per crushing installation, increasing with the feed table, thrust adjustment and drive station. (To be validated during the installation scan.)

Typical setup: a dual-line system with a ZPU pump when the crusher is part of a larger site system; a P 205 or P 215 multi-line pump when you want to equip the crusher as its own island. For open gears: a spray lubrication system. Grease: LGEV 2 or LGEM 2 for the slow-turning, heavily loaded bearings.

Screening installations, vibrating screens and feeders

Why it’s critical: a vibrating screen does exactly what you don’t want for a bearing: it vibrates, continuously, under imposed imbalance. A vibrating-screen bearing that starts to fail also gives poor warning: it sits in an environment where everything already vibrates and makes noise. The first indication is temperature — and by then you’re already late. On top of that comes poor accessibility on a vibrating part up high.

Critical components: vibrating bearings of the screen housing, unbalance drive and eccentric unit, drive motor and gearbox, bearings of feed tables and vibrating feeders, and the bearings of the apron feeder under the bunker.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 8 – 30 per screen unit. (To be validated during the installation scan.)

Typical setup: progressive system with a CLP or P203 pump on the fixed frame and flexible high-pressure hoses to the screen housing. Where you don’t want to run a line: a TLSD or LAGD single-point lubricator. Grease: LGEP 2 (SKF explicitly names vibrating screens) or LGEV 2 where the load and vibration are more extreme.

Conveyor belts: idlers, drive and return drums

Why it’s critical: the belt is the longest and most inconspicuous component of your site — and the most overlooked. SKF describes the operating regime as long distances over difficult terrain, with high dust contamination and remote locations. The number of points is large, the individual value per point low, and accessibility poor. Manual lubrication creates safety risks here.

Critical components: bearings of drive and return drums, tensioning drum and tensioning station, carrier and return idler stations, and the bearings of head and tail stations.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 30 – 200+ per belt run. (To be validated during the installation scan.)

Typical setup: for a single belt section, a progressive system with a P203 pump. For a complete belt network across the site: a dual-line system with a ZPU pump — the exact scenario dual-line exists for. Where piping is impractical: TLSD or LAGD single-point lubricators. Grease: LGWA 2 for high loads, LGWM 1 for pumpability at cold temperatures, LGHB 2 where water is structurally present.

Mobile equipment: dump trucks, wheel loaders and drill rigs

Why it’s critical: the equipment that drives around a quarry works in the dust the installation itself produces. SKF is explicit about it: rock dust, sand and water form an abrasive paste in your bearings. On a wheel loader, rapid direction changes and heavy loads add to that; on a dump truck, weather conditions and a tipping mechanism that hinges under full load every single cycle.

Critical components: hinge points of the tipping mechanism, suspension, hydraulic cylinders, differentials and final drives. On drill rigs: the mast guides and the rotation torque.

Indicative number of lubrication points: 28 – 60 per dump truck, 23 – 50 per wheel loader and 20 – 45 per drill rig. (To be validated during the installation scan.)

Typical setup: progressive system with a CLP or P203 pump and hose protection along zones exposed to flying rock. Refilling with a BPH hydraulically driven drum pump. For remote reading: CLP Smart with the Datalog controller. Grease: LGWM 2 for off-road applications, LGWA 2 for wheel bearings, and LGEM 2 for slow-moving pin joints.