The construction industry is a hardworking, fast-paced and safety-conscious enterprise filled with constant change and innovation, but no one knows that better than the team at CL Boyd. CL Boyd is a three location, John Deere construction equipment dealership based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with over a century of experience.
“CL Boyd has been around since 1913, so that means we have over 100-plus years in the construction equipment business,” said CL Boyd Service Manager, Dwight Nix. “We sell and service all types of construction equipment.”
With this long history in the industry, one can only imagine the steady and endless stream of maintenance jobs and oil changes the CL Boyd crew completes every year. So, it’s no surprise they’re constantly looking for efficiencies. Enter Sage Oil Vac.
CL Boyd is currently using Sage Oil Vac equipment in three forms throughout their operation. They have several installed LubeBuilder systems with 60-gallon tanks, a Heritage Lube Skid within a utility truck and a custom stationary shop vac system that features a 1200-gallon waste capacity.
“Before we installed the Sage shop system, we just had a large waste tank located outside of our building and a big container that we would fill with used fluid,” said CL Boyd Shop Foreman, Andrew Troutman. “Then, when the container was full we would roll that out across our parking lot to dump it into the holding tank. We would have to drag a big air tank and hose out there too to evacuate it.”
Nix said the old way was about as conducive as it sounded.
“What you’d get stuck with was a waste oil tank that was always full — someone would go to grab it to use it and it would be full because the last guy didn’t want to go through the work to take it outside and empty it,” Nix explained.
The CL Boyd team now uses smaller Sage Lube Carts to evacuate oil, then they empty those into their custom Sage Shop Vac system that has been piped along the ceiling of their shops. The system uses two holding tanks for waste within the maintenance area with hoses and reels located at every bay.
“Now, the technicians don’t have to leave their bay to empty waste oil,” Nix said.
Additional efficiencies have been found with their Heritage Lube Skid, which can hold up to 240 gallons of new and used oil in four separate product tanks – Giving their team the capability to vacuum used oil when out in the field.
“Our Heritage Skid allows us to execute multiple equipment services, without having to carry buckets and buckets of oil on a truck,” Nix said. “Plus, it’s nice to be able to suck up the waste oil on the spot. It’s got a hose reel and nozzle right there, so you can just transfer it directly into the machine as opposed to pouring into jugs and through funnels and all that kind of stuff.”
With their previous lube exchange system, Nix said there was often excess new oil left over from a job which created waste.
“The Heritage skid makes it a lot easier — we can pump the exact amount of oil we need,” Nix said. “If it requires 17 quarts we can do that as opposed to using three 5-gallon buckets and a 2.5-gallon jug and then having oil left over.”
Nix said he’s also looking forward to installing more LubeBuilder systems onto company service trucks. CL Boyd’s custom system came with two 60-gallon used oil tanks which allows them to vacuum used oil when they’re out on a jobsite.
“In February of this year, we installed our first LubeBuilder system on one of our main service trucks, and everybody has preferred that set up over the old system that we used to use,” Nix said. “I think we have four systems installed now. Our old way used diaphragm pumps which were kind of slow and we ended up having issues with those.”
With three established locations in Oklahoma; Oklahoma City, Ardmore and Lawton. Nix said the CL Boyd team has plans for more Sage Oil Vac products down the road.
“We plan to phase in more LubeBuilder systems as we continue to upgrade our service truck fleet,” Nix said. “We like the simplicity and the oil level controls using Sage Oil Vac and the fact they use compressed air, not pumps.”
For more information about Sage Oil Vac products and customization capabilities, contact us today or find your local dealer.
