Originally Posted by Roland Heilmann

Dear All,

but especially those who see wheel based bulk handling machines around themselves:

I've come across a wheel failure mode that I did not yet see anywhere: A ground away of part of the wheels circumference, as if the wheel stood still and the machine continued to move.



Message until now is, that everything was fine until the failure was detected (running ok for + 2 ys.), but there's hints that some misalignment was not corrected (the wear mark is not centrally located, and is rather cone shaped than rectangular).

Unfortunately there's still no solid evidence as to the interiors of the wheel. It is supported on 2 roller bearings which run on a bushing, the axle is then put through the bushing to support the wheel within the bogie.

My request is: Did anybody see such a failure mode / damage pattern with rail supported bulk handling machines, and if so, what was the root cause of the failure?

Thank you very much in advance, &

Kind regards

R.

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Hello Roland,

In the railroad business that would be called "flat spotting" where a steel wheel/axle is dragged along the rail

and the bearings are shot/frozen causing the axle to stick/freeze.

Heavy wear like this is something the railroads deal with every day and replace the bad wheel sets as needed.

Its too bad that they did not send along the opposing wheels image. There is a lot that they are not providing or do not know about this.

If the foundation has shifted that would also be an issue but it certainly looks like a frozen bearing set caused this to occur.

Is this axle a "stub axle" or a single solid axle connected to the opposing steel wheel?

Usually a cup and cone bearing set being "Timken Railroad Bearings" in the example is the rule for steel wheels.

A steel wheel like that should be replaced.

I am unsure as whether the builders of the various brands of stacker reclaimer's even grind the rails the machines are riding on

as they do wear and the track geometry changes over time to due to the repeated forward and backward movements for stacking and reclaiming bulk materials.

Having a railroad rail grinder would well be worth it as these rails would be trued quickly due to the wear on the rail head/ball section

of the rail.

The problem would be the design simply as it would have to be made road portable with its own power as a basic necessity.

Wherein the self propelled rail grinder would ride on a pair of railroad trucks and the body of the rail grinder would carry a series of at least six independently powered rail grinders for each rail wherein the profile of both rails would be ground to bring them back to the proper

angle and alignment for the specific stacker reclaimer.

The 12 independent rail grinders would grind and resurface both sides of each rail and the ball head of the railroad rail in one operation.

A small crane would be needed to install the rail grinder and be moved a second time with the crane to grind the area that the stacker reclaimer is resting on when the rails are ground UNLESS a hydraulic hack system is employed to raise and crab walk the rail grinder to and from the rails and also include a set of hydraulic drive rubber tires to move the unit from end to end and a second set of four "Super Single" road transport tires and wheels for road transport of the unit from job to job.

The rail grinding unit would have to be adjustable for the various track gauge widths used for the various brands of stacker reclaimer's used worldwide.

The problem is also in the wheel sets as the steel wheels of the reclaimers do wear and need to be replaced as well at some time.

The wheels could be resurfaced at the same time the two rails are ground if needed, but the issue is the quality of the steel used, time and money. Each axle would have to be raised and a portable lathe would have to be employed to true the individual wheel back to its original shape to correct the wear created by the stacker reclaimers travel along the bulk material storage area.

A hydraulic lift would be need to raise the axle set to allow the wheels to be trued with a portable steel wheel lathe that would be attached to the rail head while the wheel is brought back to its true original shape. The problem is time and how long it would take to raise the stacker reclaimer to then grind the wheel sets.

Depending on the number of steel wheels a stacker reclaimer has a set number of portable steel wheel lathes-perhaps four in this example could be used to true a set of wheels and then lower the reclaimer back to the rails and the process would be repeated with the next wheel set.

The portable steel wheel lathe carriage would also be rail mounted and be able to be road transportable like the rail grinder and be raised and lowered on the rail with a crane before the stacker reclaimer is raised with hydraulic jacks and supported with hardwood blocking and steel beams.

The rail grinder and wheel lathes could be mounted on a single power unit that is lifted with a crane and set on the rails to do the work.

The hydraulic jacks and hardwood blocking and steel I beams and jack pads would be carried by the power unit and easily placed under the stacker reclaimer prior to lifting and securing the stacker reclaimer.

Something to think about anyway. ■

It seems that large debris has got around the rail plough and become seriously trapped.

I am surprised that nobody heard the thing squealing for 2 years. ■

If the wheel is downside up then it might be reacting uplift on an extending boom. Trap could still occur although the tramp object most probably gets released and discarded when the direction reverses. However the abrasion period would be painlessly small and I would be looking for something loose suspended from the upper guidance.

Replacing the wheel is one thing but the wear pattern might appear again, in which case it can be observed. ■