A Key Part of Heavy Equipment Maintenance: Avoiding Pin and Bushing Wear
Pins and bushings are generally the first structural parts on your machine that require maintenance. Their wear rate will vary based on factors such as the operating environment (soil, rock, gravel, or pavement), frequency of machine usage, and operator behavior. To help you extend the lifespan of the pins and bushings on your tracked equipment, we’ve put together a list of best practices and recommendations that you can follow.
The importance of preventing pin and bushing deterioration
Replacing damaged or excessively worn pins and bushings can cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Your equipment might also need to be relocated to an offsite facility for repairs, resulting in expensive downtime. Plus, if the worn components have caused damage to the equipment’s structural steel, you could face not only the expense of pins and bushings replacement, but also costs for line boring, welding, and refitting.
Two primary methods for preventing pin and bushing wear and avoiding these expenses and downtime are lubrication and rotation.
Maintain proper lubrication
Insufficient lubrication leads to excessive and uneven wear on pins and bushings. The pin wears on the side that makes contact with the bushing and on the mating surface of its inner diameter. Worn out pins and bushings cause the tracks to stretch (also known as pitching), which reduces track performance and negatively impacts the longevity of your undercarriage.
Modern pins and bushings often feature ‘grease channels’ on their inner diameter. These channels allow lubricants to form a protective film for pin rotation. Applying lubricant at manufacturer-recommended intervals is a key part of heavy equipment maintenance, slowing wear rates and helping expel contaminants from the bushings by forcing foreign materials out of the channels.
Rotating pins and bushings
To prevent pitching, pins and bushings must be regularly rotated, ensuring that wear isn’t concentrated on the side contacting other components. This rotation exposes new surfaces to working areas both internally and externally. By distributing wear more evenly across different load bearing sections of the components, rotation can restore proper track pitch and extend undercarriage life by helping the chain last until links and rollers require attention.
We recommend inspecting your pins and bushings as part of heavy equipment maintenance before deploying your machine for the season. Visible track pitching indicates that pin and bushing attention is necessary. The frequency of required rotation can vary depending on your operating conditions, but it’s typically needed around the 2,000 hour mark.
If you have any questions about pin and bushing wear or need us to handle turning or replacement, contact our team today!