ROBUSTUS to increase the life of all mining machine crawler undercarriage components and cut costs

At Bauma 2010 Berco ROBUSTUS launched its brand new ROtating BUShing Track Undercarriage System. Normal experience is that 50% or more of the maintenance costs during the life of a crawler dozer or other crawler-mounted machine comes from undercarriage maintenance and repairs. Increasing the life of undercarriage components is a winning strategy to reduce ownership and operating costs.
The core feature of the new system is the rotating bushing. In a machine with a traditional undercarriage the sprocket slides on the external surface of the bushing during normal operation, causing bushing and sprocket wear. In the new system the bushing rotates when in contact with the sprocket, reducing the bushing and sprocket friction and wear and thus enabling longer life. Berco says that as a result, “it is not necessary to turn bushings and pins and replace sprocket segments during the whole life of the undercarriage.

“A wider track link rail (‘big footprint’ track link) provides an extended running surface area, balancing the wear of all components and eliminating scalloping wear in the contact between chain and roller and between chain and idler. The reinforced hardware improves joint stability. The resulting dampening of vibrations and noise assures more comfortable ride and maximum control of the machine during the operations. Berco Pin Retention (BPR) and an improved seal design produce a lasting seal capacity and assure long life to the complete system.”

The new system is fully compatible with existing frames and standard components: older machines can be easily upgraded to increase their productivity and the life of the undercarriage. In the same way ROBUSTUS is compatible with the new generation undercarriages equipped with parallel or twin links. The innovative rotating bushing tracks system can be easily installed on any machine at any time. Berco field tests demonstrate that the new system increases the track life by 35% with a maximum of 6,000 hours of operation, reducing operating costs by 15 to 25%.