FARGO, N.D. – The fastest wearing component on an auger is the dump point where product enters the tube.
Although the problem is worse with abrasive products such as granular fertilizer, flighting wear eventually shows up on all augers.
Typically, a producer will deal with the problem by replacing the flighting on that bottom auger section. If there is shaft damage, the entire bottom section might need replacement. It’s no big deal, but it is an inconvenience.
A company in Georgia thinks it has a solution to the problem. Poly Tech Industries sells a line of auger wear shoes made of preformed UHMW poly sections that are moulded to fit the flighting pattern on more than 300 common auger sizes used in agriculture.
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In its display at the fall Big Iron Show in Fargo, the company demonstrated how each section neatly fit one turn of the auger.
It’s a matter of placing the first poly shoe at the base of the auger, drilling the holes and then bolting it to the flighting. From that point, farmers add as many turns as they think they need.
The recessed holes on the working surface ensure that the bolt heads don’t impede the flow of grain or fertilizer. The bolts and locknuts that protrude on the backside aren’t an issue with the flow.
The wear shoes are made in the typical diameters and pitches usually found on farms. Poly Tech said it has wear shoes for combines, grain carts, transport augers and all other grain handling augers.
The poly shoe thickness is either quarter inch or three-eighths inch and the units are available in left hand or right hand spirals.
Ordering is no small matter. Poly Tech needs to know the outside diameter of the flighting rather than the tube. It also needs to know the flighting width and the outside diameter of the centre pipe.
It also needs to know the pitch, which is the distance between auger spirals as measured parallel to the centre pipe, if the auger has ever been replaced or reflighted, and left hand or right hand rotation.
The price per pitch varies with the size of the auger. A four inch diameter auger wear shoe costs $23.90 per pitch while a pitch for a 24 inch diameter auger costs $82.95.
The special quarter inch by 1.5 inch capped bolts cost 80 cents each. Depending on the auger diameter, the bolt requirement ranges from three to six bolts per shoe.
For more information, call 800-542-7659 or visit www.polyskid.com.
