Hi, wondering if you can advise on where i am going wrong. I have CAT 323 excavator, its working on digging hard solid ground and I use a set of bucket teeth every week ( $580). Is this normal or am i doing something wrong? I use Cat K series, (K220-9091) Is there a way of reinforcing these? or to re-use them by adding some sort of reinforcement? I am new to the industry and this is my first machine in the market. Any help will be appreciated Thanks
Are you breaking them or wearing them out? What size bucket and are you having any trouble penetrating the material or do you have to work at filling the bucket? I guess I'm asking if you need better penetration also or just better wear life? The other question would be if you're buying genuine CAT or knockoffs? Lots of Chinese teeth out there so be careful. 232-0090 Heavy Duty Long (ARM) Tip K90 looks like a better choice without knowing more about your situation.
They are wearing out far too quickly, penetrating the material seem fine, but it's hard ground. Bucket size is 1.4 cubic meter. I am buying from genuine local CAT dealer. Generally how long would you expect teeths to last for?
Varies tremendously, but longer than that. If you can lay your hands on a set of the ARM (Abrasion Resistant Material) teeth give them a try. They're almost double in price so they'd have to last about three times as long to be worth having I think.
pretty much what lantraxco said. we called them rock teeth when I worked at cat. I had a 349e putting in utilities in Cheyenne Wyoming that was eating up 2 sets a week. they were using the fork tip teeth. i tried to get them to switch but the bean counters couldnt see the big picture.
Many thanks guys. I will try to source a set of ARM in Tanzania ( highly unlikely). I will also look at the option to re-enforce worn out teeths with a dozer shoe track or something. If any one has ideas how this is done will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
Working in Mozambique, in our CAT320c we used broken trucks leaf springs to re-enforce the teeths, they did go very well, cant find any pictures, but with a 500amp electrod welder we use to do a nice job
not Sure if they are heat treated (probably) but you could try building up an old set with some hard face rod.
A set a week doesn't seem that bad if it is very hard ground. We've had jobs where we were going through a set a day on a Cat 365c and a Hitachi EX700H. $1200 a set for the Cat and $1500 for the Hitachi.
In abrasive ground our shovels go through a set of teeth every day. How many tons or cubic metres of dirt do you move before the teeth are worn out..? To calculate GET cost you really need to be doing it in $/cubic metre or $/ton not in $/operating hour because that doesn't take into account how much dirt you're moving each hour. I'll see if I can find some alternative part numbers for the K90 type tooth you are using now that have more wear iron on them, or have ARM. Is penetration a problem for you..? Because the more wear material you put on the tooth the more it becomes like a boxing glove and the less penetration you will get with it. The whole thing is a trade off. Ok, your existing tip is a heavy duty long tip. The exact same tip with equipped with ARM is a 232-0090, an abrasion tip (aka boxing glove) is a 222-1092.
does anybody use the chinese teeth? of course quality might be not like original, but price is cheap and if you are changing teeth every week it could be with more profit?
Can I have some of whatever you're smoking..?
What is the material you are working in? Hard digging doesn't tell anybody anything if there is no mention of the composition. Are you working a quarry, laying utilities, doing mass excavation or what? We work a lot of glacial till in my area which takes out all ground engaging tools very quickly in high production applications. I've seen plenty of applications where a set of excavator bucket teeth a week would have been though of as cheap digging.