There was a time when no thinking person drove a car with more than 100,000 miles on a long-distance trip. A standard warranty was 12 months or 12,000 miles. A three- or four-year-old car was in the back row of the used car lot. Today, we assume a new car will easily provide reliable service into the 100,000 mile plus range. The average age of a car in the United States is something like 11 years.
Similarly, industrial gearboxes are now expected to last multiples of the once-accepted “5 to 7 years.” Better materials and higher quality components are part of the prescription for longer service life, but equally as important is a thorough understanding of the “duty cycle” the equipment will experience.