Beating the wire wrap
Whether it’s wire from a construction or landfill site, a radial tire manufacturing plant or from a million other sources, the result is the same –wire wrap is one of a trash compactors worst enemies.
Wire wrap is when compaction wheels start to wrap accumulated wire up into and around the axles. Once wire gets between wheels and planetaries, it acts like a lathe – grinding and cutting until finally it cuts through the seal on the axle and causes failure. When that happens, planetaries need replacing which can mean very large repair costs.
Wire wrap is just one of the many maintenance challenges you have on a landfill. But, surprisingly, it is one that some operators don’t pay close enough attention to, until after a wire wrap problem damages one of their compactors.
Owners should inspect for wire wrap every 250 hours. Inspection plates in the wheels allow maintenance staff to look back into the axle assembly to determine if a wire problem is developing. There are solutions to reduce or eliminate wire wrap on planetary drives. Terex includes wire wrap kits on its 3-75 and 3-90 compactor models.
Replacing the planetary will be in the range of US$30,000 to US$40,000, parts and labour. To install a wire wrap kit is about half the repair cost of a failed planetary for the full set. Over the life of the compactor, this is a very inexpensive safeguard.
Wire wrap is when compaction wheels start to wrap accumulated wire up into and around the axles. Once wire gets between wheels and planetaries, it acts like a lathe – grinding and cutting until finally it cuts through the seal on the axle and causes failure. When that happens, planetaries need replacing which can mean very large repair costs.
Wire wrap is just one of the many maintenance challenges you have on a landfill. But, surprisingly, it is one that some operators don’t pay close enough attention to, until after a wire wrap problem damages one of their compactors.
Owners should inspect for wire wrap every 250 hours. Inspection plates in the wheels allow maintenance staff to look back into the axle assembly to determine if a wire problem is developing. There are solutions to reduce or eliminate wire wrap on planetary drives. Terex includes wire wrap kits on its 3-75 and 3-90 compactor models.
Replacing the planetary will be in the range of US$30,000 to US$40,000, parts and labour. To install a wire wrap kit is about half the repair cost of a failed planetary for the full set. Over the life of the compactor, this is a very inexpensive safeguard.
