From Cold to Heat: How Ziegler Cat Tackles on-site Maintenance All Year Long

With 34 locations across Minnesota and Iowa, Ziegler CAT is one of the largest Caterpillar dealers in the United States. The team regularly performs preventive maintenance on heavy equipment — including skid loaders, articulated haul trucks, excavators, large wheel loaders, landfill compactors and dozers — that runs in all kinds of weather, ranging from blazing-hot summers to freezing-cold winters.

Thanks to the range of weather the Midwest throws at them, they’ve worked hard to find PM solutions that keep their customers’ projects running and their technicians comfortable through every season. For Ziegler CAT, that includes a Sage Oil Vac Non-CDL Enclosed Lube Body. Here’s why.

The biggest preventive maintenance challenges in cold climates

There are two big issues for crews tackling on-site cold-weather preventive maintenance work: cold oil and frozen pumps.

Oil behaves differently in frigid conditions. As temperatures drop, oil viscosity increases. This slows down the flow, so routine preventive maintenance takes longer — and technicians spend more time out in the cold.

For some crews, pump-based PM equipment becomes a major problem in the winter. If it freezes, it has to thaw out before an oil change can even start. There’s also the risk of damaged seals when temperatures dip. Plus, the next trip to a jobsite can expose pumps to winter temperatures and freeze them all over again.

Owen Orr, field service technician for Ziegler CAT, has dealt with that headache more than once.

“With our old setup, I had a lot of problems with pumps freezing up. I’d have to stop and wait for them to thaw out and then go back to work,” he said. “And it’s a repetitive cycle that adds a lot of time to the process.”

So, why not just bring the machines to a heated shop for preventive maintenance during the winter? Because it takes more time. Every minute equipment is down, customers running heavy equipment are missing out on potential revenue.

“Downtime for my customers really means they’re not making money. If they’re not running their machines, they can’t do their jobs,” said Orr.

It’s much more efficient to finish maintenance on the job — no matter what the weather is doing.

A truck purpose-built to save time and streamline work

That’s where the Sage Oil Vac Non-CDL Enclosed Lube Truck comes in clutch for Ziegler CAT. It’s designed to help their team support customer equipment uptime, even in winter temperatures.

The biggest difference is the truck’s pump-free setup. Sage Oil Vac systems are engineered with exclusive pump-free technology that uses compressed air and vacuum pressure to remove used oil and replace it with new fluid. There are no pumps to freeze up, rebuild or replace. That translates into immediate time saved on system maintenance.

But that’s not the only time Owen and his team are saving. Pump-free oil changes are faster than those with pump-based equipment.  Sage Oil Vac systems can vacuum fill fresh oil tanks at up to 20 gallons per minute, dispense products at up to 5 gallons per minute and vacuum hot motor oil at up to 8 gallons per minute. And that efficiency can translate to completing more jobs in one day.

“The Sage Oil vac truck, for me, has sped up my process by an hour at least every day,” Orr shared. “It keeps me moving so that I’m not out here in the weather all day fighting problems from the cold.”

The truck’s enclosed, insulated body is another important feature that helps save time in the field. If the oil can stay warmer, it won’t thicken up and slow down the process.

“The enclosed body of this truck keeps all my tanks and all my oil out of the weather. I don’t have to deal with snow or ice on my tanks or anything like that,” Orr said.

When the weather warms up, that enclosed body creates an added layer of protection against jobsite dust and dirt. And that’s the perfect complement to the sealed tanks and enclosed system integrated into every Sage Oil Vac solution. They’re designed to keep contaminants out of fluids and prevent spills.

Why Sage Oil Vac stood out from other lube truck manufacturers

As manager of procurement and logistics for Ziegler CAT, Joe Packard looks for equipment that matches the company’s focus on innovation. Sage Oil Vac equipment fits the bill.

Packard first heard about the pump-free systems from other CAT dealers, which led to investing in a Sage Oil Vac jobsite trailer that’s now been in the field for four years. When the Non-CDL Enclosed Lube Body launched, he felt like it was the right solution for the team’s work.

“We wanted PM equipment that could keep up with our demands in the field and help us maximize uptime,” Packard said. “So, Sage Oil Vac stood out just because they offer solutions that are practical and forward-thinking.”

Practicality is built into every aspect of their lube truck, from the pump-free fluid exchange to the dedicated reel cabinet. And each factor helps the Ziegler CAT team tackle heavy-equipment oil changes in winter and summer weather — and every condition in between. Just ask the people using the truck.

“I do really like the storage and the hose reels on the back of the truck. It’s a big help for me. My old truck was set up with everything on the left side of the truck,” Orr said. “Sometimes, you can’t get next to a machine with the left side of the truck, but usually, I can always back up to a machine.”

One other factor that made working with Sage Oil Vac a done deal for Packard was the true partnership with the Sage Oil Vac team.

“I mean, the truck speaks for itself. But the vendor relationship there, it’s partnership. They’re collaborative. They want to make sure that everything works properly and that we understand how to utilize every aspect of it,” Packard said. “Just all in all, I think it’s just the values of the Sage Oil Vac team and how that correlates to our values.”

And what about the future? Will there be more Sage Oil Vac trucks for Ziegler CAT?

“I know the teams that have them in place right now really like them, and we’ve had other locations asking about them for future opportunities,” Packard said. “So that’s definitely something that we’re going to look at.”