Petron’s New Walking Cam Lube for Draglines



Petron’s New Walking Cam Lube for Draglines

Petron’s New Walking Cam Lube for Draglines

By Chuck Strait

Petron has successfully developed and tested a new product offering used to lubricate the Monighan Walking Cam mechanism for mid-size and smaller draglines. For those of you that are not familiar with mid-sized draglines, here is some basic information:

  • Draglines are the largest piece of equipment located on a mine site.
  • A mid-size dragline can weigh upwards of 8 million pounds.
  • Mid-size draglines can have a boom that is 345 feet long.
  • Draglines of this size can swing a bucket that can hold 80 Cubic Yards of material.
  • This size dragline is powered by a direct connection to the high-voltage grid at voltages up to 22 kV. A typical dragline, can use up to 6 megawatts during normal digging operations, which is the equivalent of over 5,000 homes.

Petron Open Gear Lubricants such as the Petrotac EP Premium 30B have performed exceptionally well on the large Hoist and Drag open gearing used in draglines, but our previous walking cam lubricant had average at best performance. This fact greatly reduced our chances to land large dragline lubricant contracts, until now; the new Petron Monighan Walking Cam lube will set the new standard for performance at a competitive price. Early indications show that it outperforms the competition in head to head trials and will over time, provide better equipment life. The initial trial phase was a measurement of how many steps a dragline can take without lubricant replenishment. The industry average is to lubricate every step. The best competitor walking cam lubricants would go 2-3 steps before the dragline would start to shake and shutter when trying to step. This shuttering is indicative that the lubricant is no longer keeping the walking mechanism moving parts separated from direct contact. The Petron Walking Cam lubricant consistently went 4-5 steps without any noticeable thinning of the lubricant film or adhesiveness of the cam and the walking shoe. With this new product offering Petron has once again demonstrated the ability to provide exceptional lubricants at a competitive price in an ever-changing mining market.