Chance Castillo of Sage Oil Vac Inc. demonstrates the workings of a giant lube truck on display at the company’s 2019 Work Truck Show booth
A Sage Oil Vac lube truck on display at the 2019 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis this March featured the Amarillo, Texas-based company’s Next Lube system.
The automated system replaces panels for each tank and a four-way dial used to create pressure and control the vacuum, said dealer development manager Chance Castillo during an interview at the Sage stand.
“The guys are able to create pressure in their tank or create vacuum and leave it in that position,” Castillo explained. “So if their vacuum goes down to negative 10 inches of mercury, that compressor will kick on for them without them having to do anything.”
The version of NextLube on display at the Work Truck Show differs slightly from the NexLube Pro system unveiled at the 2017 International Construction & Utility Exposition in Louisville, Ky. The Pro version has a touch-screen panel whereas the one display in Indianapolis had analog dials.
“All the brains are the same,” Castillo said. “The only difference is we have actual manual panels for the end user to get his hands on, rather than a touch screen.”
The fuel readout is still digital, but other dials, such as the pressure gauge, are old-style analog displays. It’s not just a retro design thing, however.
“The end user is still very much mechanically minded,” Castillo said. “They want to be able to turn a ball valve. They want to be able to know how much oil’s in that tank. The touch screen for some of them isn’t what they are looking for. So we’ve created the best of both worlds.”
The truck body itself is built at the Sage plant in Amarillo.
“We start from scratch and we build the body and install everything — tanks, reels, compressor,” Castillo said.
Sage recently redesigned its lineup of lube trucks for class 5, 7, and 8 chassis.
The standard layout displayed at the Work Truck Show includes several Reelcraft reels and four-drawer CTech toolbox.
“This truck’s going to have seven tanks on it,” Castillo said.
They include a 120-gallon waste oil tank, and another 120-gallon tank for fresh oil, “most likely either hydraulic or 15/40 engine oil.” Three 60-gallon tanks can hold other oils, coolants, or antifreeze. Then there’s a 1,000-gallon tank for diesel, and a 60-gallon tank for diesel exhaust fluid.
The truck is mostly used in the construction industry, such as in highway rebuilding, “where all their equipment is on the side of the road,” Castillo said.
“This truck is going to go out in the morning to refill all those dozers, those excavators with diesel,” he added. “And then if there needs to be preventative maintenance, it could do that as well.”
The truck is also “perfect” for servicing equipment in any remote location, “where it’s not going to make it economical for them to bring that equipment back to the shop,” Castillo pointed out.