Crawler Systems

The majority of the world’s mining regions face abrasive wear due to the quantity and nature of mineral fines on-site. Rock dust, combined with water, creates an abrasive slurry that plays a significant part in accelerating wear and reducing undercarriage service life. Our unique induction hardening processes achieve greater case depth than competitor products, resulting in greater wear life of these components. Our proprietary, through-hardened alloy, offers an alternative unique to Bradken undercarriage products, prolonging shoe life in systems that have sufficient space for interconnecting parts to wear. Finally, all Bradken undercarriage designs are optimised to maximise wear face contact areas, minimising contact pressure and reducing the detrimental effect of abrasive wear.

Bradken’s undercarriage components are designed to withstand the extreme mining conditions of the Arctic regions (Russia, Canada, Mongolia and Kazakhstan) where temperatures can drop to -60°C. Bradken’s proprietary alloys and processes maximise impact strength and toughness over a wide range of operating temperatures. While our alloys ensure reliable performance in extreme temperatures, we also carefully select our lubricants for our range of rollers and idlers.

Extremely corrosive conditions such as those experienced in sulphurous volcanic geologies, particularly when water combines with volcanic fines to create a corrosive slurry, can adversely affect the life of undercarriage components. Bradken’s precision-machined components and sealed-for life rollers minimise ingress of detrimental material, and Bradken uses only the highest quality alloys to ensure component durability in corrosive environments.