Calculating Expander® System´s cost benefits in construction
Learn how switching to Expander can lower the total cost of ownership of your construction equipment.
If you run a construction operation with heavy-duty machinery, then you know that each machine’s total cost of ownership (TCO) affects your bottom line.
For construction equipment with pivot pins – such as wheel loaders, excavators, articulated haulers, and dozers – the upkeep and repair of traditional pin designs can significantly increase TCO. The lifecycle of a pivot pin is a critical factor, and one also multiplied by the number of pins in a machine. What’s more, while some of the expenses of pivot pin maintenance are obvious, like regular replacement or routine lubrication. Others are not.
HOW TRADITIONAL PIVOT PINS INCREASE TCO
There are hidden expenses to traditional pivot pin maintenance that accumulate over time and significantly increase the TCO of machinery.
- When a machine’s pivots wear with traditional straight pins, it becomes increasingly inefficient in its movement, gradually reducing productivity.
- Worn traditional pivot pins eventually seize, and the equipment is unusable until the pin can be removed and replaced.
- Any unplanned downtime for pivot pin maintenance lowers output unless a replacement machine is rented (another expense).
- Removing a seized pin and repairing the wear it created in the pivot’s lug holes to install a replacement is time-consuming, labor-intensive work, usually with some combination of torch cutting, grinding, line boring, and welding.
But switching to the Expander System avoids all of that.
LIFECYCLE COSTS: EXPANDER VS. TRADITIONAL PINS
We calculated pivot pin maintenance expenses for both Expander and traditional pivot pins, across the same timeframe for some of the most common heavy-duty machines in construction. We then assessed immediate total costs (with and without downtime) and total lifecycle costs (also with and without downtime).
You can download our lifecycle cost calculations via the links below and see for yourself how the Expander System lowers the cost of ownership.
