The knee-jerk reaction to “plastic” replacement bushings is, “Why’d they sell me this cheap junk?” In reality, many OEM’s are switching from traditional sintered bronze bushings to high-tech polymer bushings to gain significantly better performance.
“Bronze bushings are relatively soft, tolerate up to 8,000 pounds of pressure and need to be exposed to continuous rotation to disperse lubrication,” says Nick Van Tol, with IGUS, a leading manufacturer of high-tech polymer bushings, bearings and other components. “The new polymer bushings can handle up to 30,000 psi of pressure and work well in non-oscillating situations because their lubrication is a dry lubricant that doesn’t require full rotation to extract.”
Van Tol offers a few suggestions for farmers who receive polymer-style bushings as replacement parts:
- Make sure the shaft isn’t worn from the bronze bushing being replaced. Polymer replacement bushings sometimes get blamed for premature failure when the failure was actually due to shafts that were already worn by the failed bronze bushing. Measure the shaft and install a Redi-Sleeve or Speedi-Sleeve to give the poly bushing full opportunity to perform to specs.
- Don’t worry about the grease zerk. “That’s one of the benefits of poly bushings,” says Van Tol. “They don’t need greasing, so they reduce maintenance time.”
- Consider upgrading to polymer bushings in wet environments like manure handling equipment or machinery continuously exposed to moisture (think: grain handling system sumps that accumulate damp, rotten grain during the off-season.) New polymer bushings specced for damp or corrosive environments dramatically outperform traditional bronze bushings in damp environments.
In short, don’t worry if your parts person hands you what appears to be “plastic” replacement bushings. If they’re actually hi-tech polymer, he’s doing you a favor.
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