Quicker change of grouser plates
THE introduction of into the maintenance workshop of Queensland Bulk Handling (QBH) at the Port of Brisbane has made bolting tasks far less strenuous, safer and quicker as well. Among the equipment serviced at the terminal is a D10R Caterpillar Dozer. The grouser plates on the track chain must be replaced as they wear out every 16,000 hours or so – a big job, says maintenance engineer Steve Blaik. “To secure the plate bolts we had been using a 16.1 torque multiplier, about 500 mm long, employing arm power. This was hard work” said Blaik. “As well as being labour intensive, it was also very time consuming. One person could do it, but we used two for safety’s sake.” The bulldozer is serviced for one day at a time whenever the maintenance team can get access to it. Of its total of 86 grouser plates, each secured with four bolts, about ten plates are replaced per maintenance session – which means the release and resecuring of around 40 bolts. Blaik asked Enerpac for a demonstration of their hydraulic torque wrenches and chose one of the S Series of double-acting square drive hydraulic torque wrenches. They weigh from 2.7 kg to 31 kg, with outputs of 1898-34,437 Nm. The nose radius of the wrenches ranges from 25 to 63.5 mm, with the square drive ranging from 19 mm to 63.5 mm. QBH’s hydraulic torque wrench is powered by an Enerpac ZU4 electric pump. “I didn’t think the previous system we used was satisfactory – and it was also taking us too long,” concludes Blaik.
Source: Construction Contractor
7-Dec-2007