Heavy Equipment Demonstrates BAND-IT’s Joining Strength with Irregular Shaped Components

September 06.2022 | Essential Infrastructure

When you think of road, railway, and utility projects the images in your mind are sure to contain heavy equipment like dozers, loaders, and excavators.  Those bright yellow machines are iconic, but they are operating in extreme environments subject to abuse from high heat, precipitation, vibration, and abrasive materials inherent in these types of projects.

One component which has become critical in these machines, as emission standards have become more stringent, is the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Cooler.  The EGR reduces the temperature of the exhaust gases that go back into the engine through the intake manifold, in turn reducing the Nitrous Oxide in the diesel exhaust dramatically improving the emissions from these large vehicles.

The EGR cooler is attached to a mounting bracket before being bolted onto the engine block of heavy-duty earth moving and construction equipment. Before adopting the Ultra-Lok Band System, the previous joining solution would fail due to the extreme thermal cycling, vibration and disparate temperatures of the joined components. The Ultra-Lok bands wrap the odd contours of the EGR cooler and the mounting bracket to form an incredibly strong bond that is highly resistant to vibration, corrosion, and thermal cycling.

Furthermore, Ultra-Lok’s unique locking mechanism formed under full tension provides unmatched strength when joining irregularly shaped objects and installation time with the UL4000-D Cordless Tool is up to 3 times faster than conventional band and buckle hand tools. Installation doesn’t require repetitive motion, hand tightening a bolt or trying to weld in tight spaces. This secure attachment reduces maintenance and downtime for heavy machine owners and operators. 

Ultra-Lok Band System Features:

• Offers a much lower profile compared to the larger and eccentric shape of a a T-Bolt clamp
• The band will conform to the shape of the cooler when it is tensioned, so no tooling is required to form the clamp to the shape of the cooler.
• Tension around the part minimizing the effects of tolerance stack up from part to part.
• No long lead time for prototype parts because the parts are already available
• Saves time and prevents unnecessary safety hazards during the installation:
  • There is no additional install time needed to weld on the clamp after it is tensioned and installed.
  • The excess clamp tail is cut off by the tool so no need to saw off excess material
  • No need to sand or remove sharp edges after the install is complete.