Abstract
Undercarriage management is a critical concern for heavy equipment owners that often can account for over half of the operating cost of a piece of machinery. Understanding the most economical time to stop a machine for undercarriage maintenance is critical in the management of the undercarriage system and for optimizing profitability for the equipment owner. There has been much laboratory research performed on steel track undercarriage system wear found on dozers and track type loaders, however there has been little formal research to determine the wear patterns based on geographic location. This research analyzed the entire population of track type heavy construction equipment within a construction equipment territory to determine if there are differences in the undercarriage wear rates based on geographic location. There are 5 sub-territories that are researched to determine if the wear rates are different between these 5 geographic locations. Two of these locations are in the coastal plains region of North Carolina and three are in what is known as piedmont area of the state. This research is important because the results will assist the machine owner in maximizing the life of the undercarriage system and will result in better machine maintenance recommendations for the equipment owners. The researchers tested two hypotheses, these are: (a) the median wear out rates are the same between all geographic store locations and, (b) the median wear out rate is the same between the regions. Both null hypotheses in this study were rejected indicating there are differences in the undercarriage wear rates.
Highlights
An undercarriage on a track piece of heavy equipment transfers power from the drive train to the ground which both propels the machine and applies force to the ground engaging tools in the dirt doing the work
The store location and region is the two significant categorical input factors that will be used in the Moods Median Test with the Service Meter Unit (SMU) being the dependent variable
It can be concluded that there are differences in median undercarriage life depending on the geographic location of the machine
Summary
An undercarriage on a track piece of heavy equipment transfers power from the drive train to the ground which both propels the machine and applies force to the ground engaging tools in the dirt doing the work. Undercarriage replacement costs account for up to 50% of the typical track machine operating cost and can greatly impact profitability and return on investment (ROI) to the machine owner. Knowing the optimum service meter reading to replace these wear items will increase the return on investment to the machine owner and will reduce the waste of unused sacrificial wear part life. It is suspected that this maintenance interval varies dramatically depending on the differences in geographical locations due to the different input factors and conditions the machine is primarily working in. The territory in this research has very different geological factors, topography and market segments depending on the geographic location.
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