Gates Belt Drives Keep Terminal's Crane Operations Afloat

The Gantry cranes at a local Port have a wheel propulsion system running off a gear box that is powered by an electric motor and a roller chain drive.

In order to combat the effects of weathering and rust, maintenance contractors were constantly lubricating the roller chains. The hectic off loading schedule took its toll on the chain drives, which were stretching, and had to be shut down for retensioning.

A Low-Maintenance Solution

The local Kaman representative estimated that the 32-roller chain drives were costing nearly $70,000 a year for replacement parts and materials, maintenance, labour and downtime. It was recommended to them to convert the roller chains to Gates Poly Chain belt drives. The conversion resulted in substantial savings in maintenance and downtime.

Each Gates Poly Chain drive system is expected to last for more that three years at a fraction of the cost of the old chain drive setup.

For help converting your high-maintenance chain drives to Gates Poly Chain Carbon contact Gates customer service.