Undercarriage is a high value wear item and can represent 50% or more of the maintenance costs on large, tracked machines. That represents a huge maintenance cost. Managing the undercarriage can therefore deliver large savings. There are several basic principles to be followed to unlocking these savings.
- Correct Component Selection – Select the correct undercarriage for the application. For example, Shoes, should be just sufficiently wide enough to enable floatation of the machine, no more.
- Track Tension – Monitor Track tension regularly as tight tracks can be the single cause of accelerated wear and increased fuel usage
- Pin & Bush Turns – If your strategy includes turning Pins and Bushes, do not miss the turn. Set system reminders so these are not missed. At the same time, check whether track rollers should be swapped around to even out the wear.
- Component Rebuilding – Consider whether re-grousing shoes, re-shelling rollers and idler resurfacing are options to be included in the undercarriage repair and replacement strategy.
- Non-Genuine Part Options – Benchmark the performance of non-genuine part options which could fit within the strategy at an equivalent or lower cost per hour of operation.
- Operator Habits – Monitor Operator habits which can lead to increased wear, example favouring turning in one direction
- Monitoring Wear Continuously through Inspection – Watch for uneven wear of any of the components so that where this occurs, the cause can be rectified before the components become unusable
- Balancing the System Wear as a Whole – The undercarriage must be viewed as a system, and the system needs to achieve as high an average worn percentage as possible. Some components will be worn to destruction while others will still have life remaining. At each inspection, view the residual life of the components of the system to work out what needs to be adjusted so that all components wear at a corresponding average rate.
- Condition Based Component Replacements – Change the undercarriage based on the residual life available compared with the hours to the next scheduled maintenance intervention. Where there is sufficient life, continue to use. Every hour of extra life used is money saved!
- Plan Early – Plan replacements early, especially now during worldwide parts shortages and shipping delays. Replacements can be forecasted by reviewing the residual life and forecasted replacement dates from the inspection data
- Warranty Claims – Monitor components under warranty and support warranty claims with inspection data.
- Scheduling and Control – Scheduling maintenance rather than unplanned downtime improves:- costs, machine downtime and availability.
TrackTreads Undercarriage and Inspection Management provides all the tools necessary to manage your inspection data.
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