Final drives are what “drive” the construction industry forward. Literally! Without working final drives, construction vehicles like excavators, cranes, and forklifts that depend on the final drive mechanism to power their tracks would be inoperable or dangerous to operate.
The final drive is composed of a reduction gear, a hydraulic motor, and a parking brake. On tracked machines, they serve the important function of driving the machine forward or backward by helping it navigate difficult terrain. This is accomplished by regulating the torque and stopping speed – and as you can probably imagine, an excavator with too much torque or not enough stopping power could be catastrophic on a job site.
The final drive helps keep company equipment running in the following ways:
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1. Reducing Overheating and Wear on Machine Parts
If you see an oil leakage underneath the gearbox cover of your final drive motor, it could mean that it’s time to replace the final drive. There are two main causes of leaking oil from the final drive:
Sometimes it means that the cover of the gearbox has become bent or distorted. When this occurs, simply replacing the cover is enough to fix the problem.
The other possibility is that there is a build-up of pressure inside the gearbox. Over time, this excessive pressure can rip apart the gearbox in its entirety.
Regardless of the cause, oil is essential for preventing the gears inside of the final drive from overheating and wearing out, and to keep the machine in operable condition. If you notice an oil leakage around your final drive motor, it is recommended to investigate the matter as soon as possible.
2. Provides the Necessary Torque to Traverse Difficult Terrains
As mentioned previously, machinery that lacks a functioning final drive motor would be risky to drive, assuming the machine was still operable at all. If your machine begins to have trouble traversing difficult terrain – and on construction sites, there’s usually a lot – it’s often a sign of a failing final drive motor.
Sometimes lack of power is caused by low hydraulic fluid levels or leaks. Other times, it may be caused by a worn-out travel motor or gearbox. In the case of the latter two, it is recommended to replace the final drive before more serious issues have the opportunity to occur.
3. Relieves Strain on Other Components
Keeping a machine’s final drive motor in good shape is an excellent way to prolong the lifespan of its other components. As one of the final components making up a machine’s drive unit, the final drive is very aptly named: it is one of the final components of the drive unit. If the equipment is struggling because the final drive cannot keep up, it will make the other parts sluggish as well.
Machines use the final drive motor to reduce torque to be increased only at the drive wheels, which has the previously discussed effect of allowing for difficult terrain to be traversed more easily. By doing this, however, the final drive motor also reduces stress on the preceding components in the drivetrain and protects them from unnecessary strain.