Plain bearing for reliable tipping mechanism of lorry in dirt and dust

Profile

• What was needed: iglidur plastic plain bearings
• Requirements: Lubricant-free, resistant to dirt and dust
• Industry: Automotive, lorry attachments
• Success for the customer: While the bronze bearings are associated with high costs in production and problems in application, the iglidur plain bearings are cost-effective, lubricant-free, quiet and resistant to dirt and dust

Problem

Librelato S.A. Implementos Rodoviários, a Brazilian company, specialises in lorry bodies such as those for dump trucks. The attachment bearings were manufactured in-house. This involved the company purchasing, cutting, and processing the raw materials, which was time-consuming and costly. It had to implement the channels for distributing the lubricants along the axle. But the greases damaged the bronze plain bearings over time and generated unwanted noise during the dumping movement. Finally, there was also a problem with the accumulation of dirt around the bearings. All these bearing vulnerabilities led to time-consuming, cost-intensive maintenance work, so the company began looking for a new bearing solution.

Solution

Librelato S.A. has now decided to completely replace its bronze bearings due to their cost and great vulnerability to dirt. This did not only apply to the company's dump trucks, but to other machines such as reloaders and waste compactors where components experienced oscillating movements. The customer has a demand of about 500 units every seven days.
The retooling has paid off: Today, Librelato, using our iglidur plastic plain bearings, has cost advantages over the bronze plain bearings produced in-house. 
The polymer version also runs quietly and is completely lubricant-free. This last point saves the end customer a great deal of maintenance work and therefore significant cost savings in the long run. Because Librelato requires so many units, special-length special bearings were also developed and installed for this application.