Planning Shop Lubrication Equipment with GRACO

Start with what you actually pour

Before picking any equipment, make a list of every fluid your shop uses. Engine oil, gear oil, hydraulic oil, transmission fluid, grease, coolant, diesel exhaust fluid. Next to each one, write down roughly how much you go through and where it's used: at a lift bay, on the shop floor, out in the yard or on service trucks.

That list drives everything else. A small independent shop that adds oil a few times a day has different needs from a fleet garage that services a row of trucks every morning. C & C Hydraulics & Lubrication is an authorized GRACO distributor, so the lubrication side of the business covers a good range of equipment. Here's how the pieces fit together.

Pumps move the fluid

The pump is the heart of a dispensing setup. It pulls fluid from a drum, tote or bulk tank and pushes it down a line to where it's needed. C & C lists LD pumps, Fire-Ball pumps and transfer pumps among its GRACO products. Different pumps suit different fluids and distances: thick gear oil and grease behave very differently from thin fluids, and a long run to a far bay is a different job from a pump sitting beside the drum.

When talking with the counter, bring the fluid types, the container you're pulling from, and the distance the line has to travel. Those details matter more than any brand name.

Hose reels keep the bay tidy

A hose reel mounted at the work area keeps a dispensing hose off the floor. Hoses on the ground get driven over, cut and tripped on, and they pick up dirt that goes right into the next engine. Reels are available for oil, grease, air, water and more, and C & C carries hose reels as well as pump packages that bundle the pieces together. If you're setting up a new bay, think about which side of the lift the reel should sit on, and how far it has to reach.

Meters tell you how much went in

A dispense meter measures what comes out, so you know what each job used. For a shop, that helps with accurate billing and with tracking how much stock you burn through. For a fleet, it helps spot a truck that keeps needing top-ups, which can be an early sign of a leak or an engine burning oil. GRACO's list at C & C includes fluid dispense meters and meters in the LD line.

DEF has its own needs

Diesel exhaust fluid doesn't behave like oil. It needs to stay clean, and it can be damaged by contamination from other fluids or the wrong materials in a pump or hose. If you service diesel trucks, it makes sense to keep DEF dispensing separate from everything else. C & C lists DEF pumps and packages from GRACO for that purpose. Label the line clearly, and never share a hose or nozzle with oil.

Fluid management and reclaim

As a shop grows, manual tracking gets harder. Fluid management systems tie pumps and meters together so every dispense is recorded against a job or a vehicle. C & C lists Horizon, Fluid Commander and Matrix total fluid management among its GRACO offerings. Whether a shop needs that level is a real question. A small garage may be well served by a pump, a meter and a reel. A busy multi-bay operation may find that a managed system pays back in less waste and cleaner records.

There is also the other end of the job: used fluid. Lubrication fluid reclaim equipment is on C & C's list too, and planning where used oil goes is part of a complete setup. Regulations on handling and disposing of used fluids vary, so check the rules that apply to your operation rather than assuming.

Think about the whole shop

Lubrication equipment rarely stands alone. It sits near lifts, air lines and compressors, and exhaust removal. C & C Hydraulics also supplies automotive lifts, compressors and exhaust systems, plus jacks for purchase or rent, so you can plan a bay as a whole instead of piece by piece. The goal is a layout where the fluid, air and power reach the work without hoses crossing walkways.

A simple planning checklist

• List every fluid, with rough daily or weekly volumes.
• Note what the fluid comes from: drum, tote or bulk tank.
• Mark each dispensing point on a sketch of the shop.
• Measure the distance from storage to each point.
• Decide whether you need metering, and whether you need records per job.
• Plan for used fluid and spill cleanup.

Talk it through

You don't need all the answers to start a conversation. Bring your sketch and the fluid list, or just describe the shop. Call C & C Hydraulics & Lubrication at (860) 582-0308 or email sales@cchydraulics.com. The shop is at 116 Wolcott Rd. in Terryville, and the lubrication stock, including GRACO hose reels, is right there for you to see.