Gearbox for agriculture fleets: Managing seasonal demand and asset wear

In agriculture, timing is everything. Whether it’s planting, spraying, or harvesting, a missed window can set your operation back by days or even weeks. Downtime during those peak periods isn’t just inconvenient, it’s costly. With increasingly tight margins, labor challenges, and complex equipment needs, agriculture fleets are under more pressure than ever to stay operational and compliant.

The reality? Many fleets are still managing maintenance and compliance using outdated systems like whiteboards, spreadsheets, and paper folders. That might work when you’re running a small crew or managing a couple of tractors, but as operations grow in size and complexity, those tools become major bottlenecks. Gearbox was built to solve this exact problem.

The real-world pressure of seasonal operations

Agriculture is a seasonal business, and fleet usage reflects that. Tractors, harvesters, sprayers, trucks, and even generators might sit idle for months, only to be worked hard for weeks at a time during planting or harvest. That kind of sporadic but intense usage brings a unique set of maintenance challenges:

• Infrequent use can lead to equipment failures due to battery drain, stale fuel, dried seals, or unnoticed wear.
• Peak season overuse causes accelerated wear on critical components, especially when daily pre-trip inspections and servicing are skipped under time pressure.
• Tight labor availability means less time for inspections, and fewer hands to notice or report faults.
• Turnover in seasonal workers creates inconsistency in reporting and upkeep.

These pressures don’t just wear out equipment. They expose businesses to real compliance risks, especially in North America, where both DOT and provincial regulators like CVOR or NSC require documented, ongoing maintenance. Waiting until something goes wrong is no longer a viable strategy.

Gearbox: built for real fleet challenges

Gearbox is a fleet maintenance and compliance platform used by operators across North America and Australia. For agricultural fleets, it offers a way to take control of maintenance workflows, ensure compliance, and extend the life of high-value assets. Here’s how.

1. Live asset status: know where your attention is needed

Every asset in Gearbox has a live traffic light status based on key compliance and maintenance factors: registration, inspections, faults, and scheduled servicing. At a glance, you know which assets are good to go, which are due soon, and which need urgent attention.

For operators managing dozens (or hundreds) of assets across fields, depots, and work sites, this simplifies decision-making and prioritization, especially before harvest.

2. Smarter inspections with the Gearbox Prestart app

Seasonal operators or temporary workers often aren’t familiar with the mechanical nuances of your fleet. The Gearbox Prestart app solves this by walking users through simple, structured checklists on their phone or tablet.

• Each question is answered with pass/fail/N/A.
• If a fault is flagged, the system automatically generates a fault report.
• You can attach photos, notes, and even mark known issues.

This gives managers real-time visibility on what’s working and what needs fixing, and ensures daily inspections don’t get skipped when the season gets busy.

3. Maintenance planning around actual usage

Agricultural equipment often operates on engine hours, not mileage. Gearbox supports service scheduling based on hours, calendar intervals, kilometers, or any combination of these. You can:

• Set customized service intervals for each asset
• Create specific job cards and service checklists
• Automatically update next service due when a task is completed

This means less guesswork, and fewer surprises when you go to start a tractor that’s been sitting for months.

4. One place for everything

With Gearbox, you can ditch the folders and spreadsheets. All asset documentation lives in one place:

• Service history
• Faults and work orders
• Inspection checklists
• Registration and insurance records
• Parts usage and costs

Need to provide proof of compliance for an audit or insurance claim? It’s just a few clicks away.

5. Proactive alerts that reduce downtime

Gearbox is built to prevent missed tasks and eliminate reliance on memory or manual lists. You can set alerts and reminders for:

• Services due based on time, km, or hours
• Registration and permit expiry
• Equipment inspections and risk assessments
• Medical checks and training for employees

Instead of reacting to problems, your team can stay ahead of them.

6. A better way to manage parts and inventory

Agricultural fleets are often spread across multiple locations. Gearbox includes an integrated inventory management system that allows you to:

• Track parts across sites
• Set reorder and max stock levels
• Link part usage to specific assets and work orders
• Manage purchase orders and costs in one place

This helps reduce downtime from out-of-stock parts, and gives visibility on what your fleet is really costing to run.

7. Scalable for small or growing fleets

Whether you’re managing 20 assets or 2000, Gearbox is designed to scale. Many operators start small – replacing spreadsheets and whiteboards, and grow into more advanced features as needed. There’s no need for a big IT team, and support is handled by people who understand fleet operations, not just software.

Is Gearbox right for your AG operation?

If you’re not sure whether it’s time to move beyond spreadsheets, ask yourself:

• Do we manage 20+ heavy vehicle or farm equipment assets?
• Are we still manually tracking service schedules?
• Have we missed maintenance due to paperwork gaps?
• Can we show full maintenance history for each asset?
• Are inspections consistent across our team and sites?

If you answered yes to any of these, it’s worth a look.

Focus on farming, not admin

Running an agricultural operation is already full of variables you can’t control: weather, markets, supply chains. But your maintenance system shouldn’t be one of them. Gearbox gives you the structure, visibility, and reliability to keep your fleet running during the moments that matter most.

With 15,000+ users managing over 200,000 assets globally, Gearbox is a proven tool for AG fleets that want to work smarter, not harder.

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Want to see how other agriculture operators are using Gearbox? We’re happy to walk you through examples or run a tailored demo for your operation. Click here to book a demo.