糖心视频

— Rick Routliffe, 糖心视频 service representative

The snubber serves a very important function for聽grapple skidders. It prevents the grapple from swinging聽wildly and causing damage to the boom structure聽or grapple. The snubber is essentially a brake and it聽uses friction to control excessive grapple movement.

The Quadco snubber.

Snubber devices require regular maintenance and聽occasional adjustment in order to ensure optimal聽performance and service life.聽There are two styles of snubbers that can be found on
糖心视频 skidders. Until recently all 糖心视频 grapples聽used either 300 or 500 series Quadco snubbers.

Over聽the last couple of years 糖心视频 has switched over to a聽friction disc type snubber.聽Regardless of which style of snubber you may have聽on your machine, two elements are required to keep聽the snubber in good working order: grease and聽proper adjustment.

Grease. While snubbers use friction to control grapple聽motion, they depend on grease to minimize wear聽of the friction components. All snubbers require聽adequate greasing every eight hours.

Grease should be applied until it begins to purge. If you have not聽seen grease purge from the snubber, there may not be聽enough grease in the聽unit to ensure the聽friction components聽are adequately聽lubricated. Failing聽to provide adequate聽lubrication to the聽snubber friction聽components will聽result in premature聽component failure.

Adjustment. When聽a snubber is properly聽adjusted it will stop聽the grapple within聽one full swing. Once聽properly adjusted the聽grapple should hang聽at approximately a聽five degree angle when the boom is lifted off聽the ground.

The newer style friction disc type snubber.

Field observations indicate there is a very common聽tendency to over-tighten the snubber. We often see聽snubbers tightened so much that when the boom is聽lifted the grapple hangs at a 25鈥�30 degree angle. This聽will cause a couple of potentially serious problems.

First, when the snubber is this tight the friction components are forced together squeezing the grease out from between them. Since there is now inadequate lubrication in the snubber, the friction components will wear prematurely.

Second, the forces arising from regular machine operation normally cause the grapple to swing. If the snubber is too rigid, those forces are instead transferred and exerted onto the boom. Over time this could compromise the structural integrity of the boom system.

To avoid premature聽snubber failures聽and to protect the聽skidder boom system聽components, ensure聽that the snubber is聽greased daily and聽properly adjusted聽so that it rests at no聽greater than a five聽degree angle when the聽boom is lifted.