Extra-robust plain bearings in track vehicle

Profile

Area of application: Bearing points of the swing axles and the tension axle on the tracked vehicle
Industry: Commercial vehicles, construction machinery
Customer requirement: Failure-free bearing that is unaffected by mud, sludge and bog
Solution from igus®: igutex ® TX1 plain bearing

For this application with igus® plain bearings, Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG received the golden manus® in 2021.

Transporting drilling attachments, cranes, lifting platforms or shovel excavators through rough terrain: This is the task of the PowerBully tracked vehicle from Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG in Laupheim. All components must be absolutely reliable and survive journeys through mud, sludge and bog. Failures are a no-go, as the nearest road is often kilometres away.

This also applies to the plain bearings in the chassis. Despite elaborate seals, it is not always possible to keep dirt out of the bearing points. If the bearings get stuck, the chain could, in the worst-case scenario, wear out. To prevent this, the vehicle manufacturers rely on igutex® TX1 plain bearing bushes on the four swing axles and the tension axle. igus® has manufactured and tested the bushes in unprecedented dimensions especially for Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG.

In search of the right material
"Due to the positive experiences with the igus® bearings in other projects, I contacted Reiner Nusser from igus®in May 2020," recalls Marius Holder. "We then set up a trial test with three different igus® materials as well as a metallic bearing and the previous machined competitor bearing and carried out a long-term test under real conditions on the Kässbohrer shaft," explains Reiner Nusser, technical sales consultant at igus® GmbH.

"It turned out that igutex® TX1 is the ideal material for use in the PowerBully." The tests were carried out in the in-house 3,800 square metre igus® laboratory in Cologne on the standard heavy-duty swivel test benches. To determine the wear rate, the wall thickness of the bearing was measured before and after the test using a micrometer in the direction of force. The test shows that TX1 has a service life eight times longer than the previous plain bearing. In figures: The turned plastic bearing has the highest wear rate in dry condition with approx. 832 µm/km, the lowest iglidur® Q2 with approx. 73.5 µm/km. In the lubricated state, the metallic bearing shows the highest wear rate (approx. 199 µm/km), igutex® TX1 the lowest (approx. 70 µm/km).