Construction Case Study
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Construction

Polygon Composite Bushings Simplify Maintenance in K-Tec Heavy-Duty Earthmoving Equipment

Difficult maintenance point improved with greaseless bushings, even under heavy contamination.

Polygon Company has designed custom composite bushings for K-Tec Earthmovers for use in hydraulic cylinders and other pivot points on their heavy-duty scrapers and levelers. Used in extremely demanding mining and construction applications, the levelers and scrapers require bushings that can withstand vibration, strain, wear and significant contamination without requiring frequent maintenance.

Challenge

K-Tec Earthmovers was founded to perform well in heavy-duty earthmoving applications and landscapes that competing equipment simply couldn’t withstand. The company’s levelers and scrapers undergo extremely harsh conditions, including heavy loads, ingress of water, dirt, clay, and mud, and more. One significant component of leveling and scraping equipment is the hydraulic actuation system that sets the depth for each digging or scraping job. These hydraulic systems undergo significant strain and stress, and must remain functional throughout the equipment’s lifetime. They needed greaseless bushings on this equipment to reduce the need for daily greasing—which is where Polygon came in.

Polygon’s solution

With collaboration between engineering teams, Polygon was able to deliver a custom composite bushing to K-Tec that performs well even under the extreme stress faced by earthmoving equipment. The strong composite material can withstand the strain, variable speeds, and vibration that the bearings undergo, while Polygon’s proprietary bushing wear surfaces have eliminated the need for greasing or other regular maintenance. The bushings remain functional even when exposed to the harsh environmental conditions of earthmoving applications.

Results

Polygon’s custom bushings slow the wear process in this critical wear point, lengthening mean time between repairs and overall service life of the reliable K-Tec equipment. K-Tec and Polygon have a longstanding partnership, and multiple successful projects have been completed across several generations of K-Tec equipment using Polygon’s composite bushings. “Reducing daily maintenance by eliminating the need to grease daily is a huge selling point for our scrapers, and a major benefit for end users,” said Rick Ragbir, Purchaser at K-Tec. “Working with Polygon’s design team to get what we needed was extremely easy; the design experts we worked with could answer all of our questions, and when challenges about sizing arose, we were able to work together closely to solve those challenges effectively.”

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