Bearings serve an important purpose in machines -- they maintain the position and alignment of shafts and gears, reduce friction, transfer loads, and reduce the wear and tear on other more expensive components. When they fail, the damage can be devastating. In this Shop Talk Blog post, we take a look at a real life bearing failure, discuss how to tell if a bearing is about to fail, and share some tips on what you can do to maximize the life of your bearings.
Recent Posts
The use of compact equipment for mining has grown significantly over the last fifteen years, and included in that trend are skid steer loaders. In this Shop Talk Blog post, we are going to look specifically at how skid steer loaders are used in the mining industry and why they work so well.
We understand that fleet managers face the challenge of reducing costs as much as possible. Premature repair costs can pack a huge punch, especially when you're in the middle of a job. The point that we always try to hammer home is that maintenance should not be ignored. In this Shop Talk Blog post, we are going to discuss six shop policies that you can put in place to aid in minimizing your maintenance costs.
We’ve talked before about how 50% of your O&O costs are tied to the undercarriage of your CTL / MTL. In this Shop Talk Blog post, we are going to discuss the impact of underfoot conditions, operating techniques, and typical applications on the undercarriage. We also talk about how a little bit of job site planning can go a long way in helping to reduce wear and tear on your heavy equipment.
This post involves something people either love or love to hate: MATH! Sometimes, it’s handy to be able to calculate things like speed, torque, and flow rate for your hydraulic motor. In this Shop Talk Blog post, we are going to show you some common hydraulic motor calculations and provide examples on how to use them. Impress your mechanic or sales contact with your newfound technical knowledge! Let's start!
Which is better -- a compact track loader, a skid steer loader, or a compact utility tractor? If you're asking this very question, you're not alone. This topic comes up more often than you might think! In this Shop Talk Blog post, we endeavor to find some answers to that question, and the results may surprise you.
The equipment rental industry is growing fast, and many experts attribute this growth to a customer base looking to access late model equipment without tying up their capital -- and without the overhead of maintenance. Maintenance is then the responsibility of the rental company, which poses a unique set of challenges. In this blog post, we are going to focus on some of those challenges and how they are successfully being met.
New Holland is a well-known brand in both the agricultural and construction markets. In construction sites around the world, you can find backhoe loaders, compact crawler excavators, crawler dozers, crawler excavators, graders, skid steer loaders, and wheel loaders brandishing the bold mark of New Holland. If you live in a more agricultural area, you'll often see New Holland tractors, spreaders, combines, headers, and utility vehicles working on farms and ranches. New Holland is a brand that has truly permeated the heavy machinery industry, and is an interesting study for the history of heavy equipment manufacturers.
Bearings, axles, and gears inside a hydraulic final drive motor can be seriously damaged by abrasive contaminants in the lubrication or hydraulic fluid. However, many people don’t realize that all final drives generate contaminants as part of their regular use. In this Shop Talk Blog post, we are going to discuss generated contamination in your final drive motor, as well as how to keep that contamination to a minimum.
In this Shop Talk Blog post, our goal is to cover the basic facts about case drain lines, case drain filters, and filter elements. Topics include what case drain filters are made from, how they are made, and whether you clean them rather than replace them.
