Renold Couplings prevent costly excavations

Excavator manufacture chooses rubber-in-compression couplings to improve coupling life

When a large equipment manufacturer needed a long-term solution to protect against costly coupling failure on their excavators, they turned to Renold Hi-Tec Couplings.

The company were previously using rubber-in-shear couplings, which were failing after 4,000h of operation.  Each time a coupling failed the excavator had to be stripped down and the coupling replaced. This was proving costly as the excavator runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and any unplanned downtime means that the cost per tonnage, of material excavated, increases.

The coupling is fitted between the diesel engine and the gearbox, which has three outputs. These outputs drive three hydraulic pumps, which in turn, drive all the motions on the excavator. As the excavators are used on very demanding applications, good coupling life is very important. Renold therefore recommended the HTB-GS rubber-in-compression coupling. Its intrinsically fail-safe, maintenance-free and severe shock-load protection properties, coupled with its high temperature capability of 200 degrees C made it a suitable choice.

The HTB-GS has already far exceeded the 4,000h life of the rubber-in-shear coupling and is still going strong.