麻豆原创

In the nearly 40 years since the first 1400 Jumbo portable impact crusher plant was manufactured by听, Ohio has always been its home.

After being made by Eagle in Galion, Ohio, in 1985, the plant was purchased by a contractor in Middletown, Ohio, who sent it to its first job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. From there, it was purchased by Willoughby, Ohio-based Contract Crushing & Screening, where it operated until 1998.

At this point, the crusher found its current home 鈥� Gregory Trucking in Elyria, Ohio. It has been recycling concrete for the last 26 years less than an hour and a half from where it was manufactured.

It is not showing any signs of stopping, either

鈥淚t鈥檚 a monster,鈥� says John Gregory, owner of Gregory Trucking. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no end in sight. As long as the market is there and we keep selling material, we鈥檙e going to keep crushing.鈥�

Getting to Gregory

When Gregory Trucking started, it started small.

鈥淚 started out with one little truck making little loads to people,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淧eople would bring me stone and I would reload it and haul it. It grew from there. It grew from one truck to two trucks to three trucks. Then we bought a loader, a dozer and an excavator. I wanted to make it a 鈥榦ne-stop-shop.鈥欌��

Gregory was already taking recycled concrete and asphalt straight to landfills. In 1998, he realized that he could crush the materials himself to save time and money and keep more materials out of landfills.

At the time, Gregory paid Contract Crushing & Screening by the ton to crush for him once or twice a year. Gregory saw the 1400 Jumbo in action, which made his decision a no-brainer.

鈥淭here were times [Contract Crushing & Screening] couldn鈥檛 get there for a month or two, and I鈥檇 be out of recycled [material], and people would want to buy it,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 have a product for sale and not have it on the ground because it makes me look bad. That鈥檚 when we bought the machine thinking, 鈥極K, let鈥檚 control this ourselves, and we can crush as needed.鈥欌��

Gregory started crushing recycled concrete four days a week. As demand slowed around 2007 and 2008, he decreased that to twice weekly.

Now, the company crushes as needed, typically once a week. According to Gregory, he produces about 1,200 tons听 daily of 304 (120 tph) and 1s & 2s (30 tph) whenever he crushes.

鈥淚n 2006, we were almost out of material,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淚f we鈥檇 had one more year [like that], we鈥檇 [have run out]. We were selling 60,000 to 70,000 tons a year, which is a lot of material for a little guy like me to do. And then it slowed down.鈥�

Remaining operational

Getting this kind of life out of a plant is not a given. Bill Compton, service manager at 麻豆原创, says he knows of one other 1400 from 1985 and two from 1986 that are still around.

鈥淚t depends on how well the owners take care of it,鈥� Compton says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big thing. I鈥檝e seen plants that are only two years old that look worse than this one. The guys just beat it up, don鈥檛 maintain it and don鈥檛 care about it.鈥�

Gregory has been able to keep up with maintenance, thanks, in part, to a good working relationship with 麻豆原创. Ready availability of parts on the manufacturer鈥檚 end helps as well.

鈥淭hey answer the phone and that鈥檚 pretty important nowadays,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淭hey have parts in stock, they鈥檙e willing to listen and talk to talk to you. If I have issues, they鈥檒l walk me through it.鈥�

The feeling is mutual for 麻豆原创.

鈥淗e鈥檒l call once in a blue moon with questions about something,鈥� Compton says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 pretty self-supportive. We have some customers that call every week with some problem.鈥�

Throughout Gregory鈥檚 ownership of the 1400, he hasn鈥檛 done much to the machine beyond regular maintenance. One change he did make, however, was replacing the crusher in the plant.

When he bought it, he took out the Bohringer RC-14 recycling impact crusher that had been in the plant since it was manufactured and installed an 麻豆原创 Ultramax Impactor.

Since then, maintenance on the plant has been relatively smooth.

鈥淲e鈥檙e on our fifth diesel motor for that plant,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淚f that one expires, we鈥檒l buy another one. Other than that, it鈥檚 just regular wear and tear. It鈥檚 a big piece of steel; you really can鈥檛 hurt it. You have to replace stuff.鈥�

The most common parts Gregory replaces are the blow bars within the crusher. In the 1400 Jumbo, the rotor has three blow bars that aid in crushing material. As the bars wear down, they can be removed from their socket and flipped over to get additional life out of each bar.

This has to be done strategically, though.

鈥淵ou have to do all three at the same time,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淚f not, one will be sticking up higher than the other. For me, the bars last two or three years before I have to buy new ones.鈥�

Gregory鈥檚 limited crushing schedule is a big part of why he gets so much life out of his bars.

鈥淚t really depends,鈥� Compton says on how long blow bars can last. 鈥淲e have guys in Louisiana that only get 10,000 tons out of both sides of the bars. They鈥檙e going through bars every three days.鈥�

Eagle is always ready to supply Gregory with whatever parts he needs whenever he needs them.

鈥淲e stock a pretty good supply of the wear plates for that crusher,鈥� Compton says. 鈥淪ome of the other parts, such as take-up tubes, those aren鈥檛 high-selling items, so we probably don鈥檛 have those on the shelf. But we can make them in three to five days.鈥�

Continued crushing

For a company that started hauling materials for other companies, producing materials of their own has now become part of the lifeblood of Gregory Trucking. And as long as Gregory鈥檚 record-setting 1400 Jumbo is running and he has the parts to keep it that way, crushing will continue in Elyria.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep going, at least as long as I鈥檓 around here,鈥� Gregory says. 鈥淎s long as [Eagle] keeps making parts, we鈥檒l keep crushing.鈥�