Excavator with slewing bearing marked in blue

Excavators

Excavators are put to use wherever the movement of earth is required: This begins with gardening and landscaping, where so-called mini or midi-excavators are used, and extends to street and house construction with medium-sized excavators, culminating in opencast and large-scale mining, where large excavators and mining excavators provide reliable support.

Rothe Erde plays a crucial role in ensuring that this machinery is able to perform its hard work on construction sites every day. And it does this all around the world. Designed in close collaboration with the manufacturer, our slewing bearings constitute a key component of the respective excavator models.

Our excavator bearing solutions

Small excavators

The use of so-called small or mini excavators is becoming increasingly popular for gardening, landscaping, house renovations, and for road reconstruction. The operating weight of these types of excavators is around one to six tons for mini excavators and around seven to ten tons for midi excavators. These excavators mainly move on rubber tracks. The demands on the slewing ring between the chassis and body are particularly high here.

Typical products: Four-point bearings I Double row four-points bearings

Crawler crane

Crawler cranes are used if the field of application is not accessible for a hydraulic excavator, for example, if a large height difference must be overcome but there is not enough space. They can extract from water and also be used in sand and gravel pits. Not even trenches for diaphragm walls are a problem for crawler cranes.

Typical products: Four-point bearings I Double row four-points bearings I Three-row cylindrical roller bearing I Blanks I Machined rings

Medium-sized excavators

Medium-sized excavators have an operating weight ranging between 10 and 60 tons, and can have both a wheeled or a tracked chassis. The fields of application for this type of excavator are very diverse. They range from house and street construction to loading and unloading activities. This places particularly high demands on the slewing ring between the chassis and body. Since the slots at the construction site tend to be very tight, downtime must be avoided. Irrespective of whether you have interior of exterior gearing, the slewing ring must be easy to service, durable and robust.

Typical products: Four-point bearings I Double row four-points bearings

Drilling equipment

If pits are required without pit inclinations, as is the case for fence posts, fountains or heat pumps, drilling equipment can be used. For this, great depths must be conquered, which will result in high speeds and long intervals of operation on the slewing ring. Their malfunctioning would delay the work, and perhaps even lead to the tool being damaged. Rothe Erde can draw on its experience from various different areas of application here and develop robust and long-lasting solutions.

Typical products: Four-point bearings I Double row four-points bearings I Three-row cylindrical roller bearing I Turntables I Profile bearings (LKD) I Cross roller bearings I Double-row ball bearing

Bucket excavators

Bucket excavators are amongst the largest excavators in the world. They are mainly used to extract raw materials in large-scale and opencast mining. They are particularly well suited to lignite mining, given their considerable output levels of up to 240,000 tons per day. Rothe Erde bearings are used in several parts of these types of excavators to ensure that the several hundred metres high and several thousand tons of heavy machinery can be used effectively. This begins with the paddle wheel bearings, which must be especially protected against dirt, and extends to the portal bearing, which makes the swivelling of the upper structure on the chassis possible. Pivot bearings are used on the conveyor belts and spreaders, which are necessary for the handling of the spoil piles. Other applications include for bridge bucket wheel machines and drumming machines, which are used for the handling and mixing of bulk materials, and for the often 100-metre-long cantilever to which the bucket wheel is attached. Several slewing rings with various rotation axes are also used in a bucket excavator. The accumulation of dust and dirt during extraction work is a big challenge for the technology.

Typical products: Four-point bearings I Combination bearing I Axial ball bearings I Three-row cylindrical roller bearing I Double-row ball bearing I Cross roller bearings

Large excavator / Mining excavator

The term mining excavator refers to the group of largest excavators with a bucket capacity of over 50 tons of material weight. These machines are mainly used in mines for the extraction of coal, ores, and other raw materials. Their higher levels of mobility constitute an advantage over bucket excavators. This is achieved by means of the bearing, which ensures a connection between the upper structure and chassis of the excavator, enabling you to swivel around the whole work area. Large excavators and mining excavators have an operating weight of around 50 to 200 tons. They are used in quarries and other, similar spoil pile areas. These excavators’ chassis generally have a chain drive. Harsh operating conditions and high levels of dust and dirt accumulation are also particularly challenging for the slewing rings between the chassis and body. Thanks to its many years of experience, Rothe Erde is always able find a suitable solution for the manufacturer, ensuring that unnecessary operational downtime is avoided.

Typical products: Four-point bearings I Double row four-points bearings I Three-row cylindrical roller bearing