Agriculture can be considered as the world’s most essential industry as it provides the food that sustains all life on earth. Rapid population growth means that agriculture must continuously develop to keep up with demand. Growth in this industry is also is fundamental to global food security and economic growth.
SKF’ wide range of quality bearings and bushings, geared hub units, seals and lubrication systems, suited for a variety of agricultural applications, are complemented by customer-specific solutions from its quality brand, PEER. Utilised on tractors as well as a selection of agricultural attachments, SKF Agri solutions add value to every stage of the crop cycle, from tillage, seeding and fertilizing/spraying to harvesting, mowing and baling. Our world-class, robust and reliable products contribute to the optimal and reliable performance of agricultural machines and equipment, enabling customers to maintain high production in less time to ultimately achieve profitable business outcomes. Moreover, our products are specially designed to have a positive impact on the environment.
Irrespective of the biome, the agricultural environment is unforgiving on machines, equipment and attachments. Added to this, farmers only have limited seasonal windows in which to complete their crop cycles. Subsequently, machine and equipment breakdowns in the field are simply not an option as it can result in catastrophic production losses. To ensure dependable performance and prolonged life cycles, all SKF and PEER products undergo rigorous testing to ensure that they are able to withstand the stringent field conditions including heavy vibration, temperature extremes and ingress of contaminants such as water, mud, dust, fibres and plant material.
Agricultural customers are also under mounting pressure to increase yields to meet demand, while keeping input costs to an absolute minimum in order to remain profitable. They subsequently look to OEMs for equipment that delivers ever-greater reliability, efficiency and performance.
We work in close collaboration with the agricultural OEMs and their engineers to help develop and supply complete systems. By ensuring that our products are fully compatible with OEM machines promotes high quality, cost-effective solutions for customers in terms of peak operational performance and long life, delivering low total cost of ownership and a rapid return on investment.
Our wide range of bearings, including SKF Explorer roller and ball bearings, insert bearings, plain bearings and bushings, are specially developed to handle aggressive agricultural conditions. The SKF Explorer range is recommended for tractors offering multiple features that deliver more uptime for these essential workhorses in the agricultural industry. Offering optimised internal geometry for reduced friction, wear and heat generation, these tapered roller bearings accommodate higher load levels (up to 23% increased dynamic load ratings). These extremely robust bearings deliver extended service life, resist contamination and offer long service intervals.
Our flanged insert bearing units are used on rolling baskets for independent tillage and gang discs. One of the most commonly used gang disc bearing arrangements is the trunnion housing. The PEER Tillage Trunnion Unit (TTU) delivers numerous benefits including increased productivity and bearing life. We also supply bearings for the full range of attachments used for seeding including opener and closing discs as well as for gauge, press and implement wheels, seed-meter drive shafts and row markers.
Combine harvesters are complex machines with multi-attachments and functionalities. SKF solutions for combine harvester applications such as baling and mowing include insert bearing units as well as a range of radial ball and roller bearings. In addition to increased service life and reduced maintenance and ownership costs, these units keep grease from contaminating the grain and are quick and easy to mount. SKF agricultural insert bearing units incorporate a relubrication-free design and a high performance sealing solution.
Years of research, development and rigorous testing in both the laboratory and in the field have shown that advanced sealing technology can significantly increase machine and equipment performance. SKF’s range of bearing seals suited for a great variety of agricultural attachments, deliver heavy-duty sealing performance. These application-specific agricultural products are specially designed to reduce the need for relubrication and can simplify installation, saving valuable hours needed for field work.
Moreover, our seal designs eliminate the need for grease purge thus ensuring a positive impact on the environment. Our bearing seal types include Single lip, two to 7 lip, Cassette, double Cassette, SKF Mudblock and SKF Mudblock plus Cassette.
SKF Agri Hubs have been specially engineered to boost farm productivity and profitability through increased performance and improved machine up-time while minimising the impact on the environment. This remarkable units, which are widely used on disc ploughs, fertiliser injector discs, opener and closing seeding discs, etc., are greased for life thus no re-lubrication is required, saving farmers both time and lubrication costs. These environmentally friendly grease-free units prevent land contamination.
The SKF Agri Hub’s hermetic sealing solution ensures that no lubricant loss will occur over the complete life span of this virtually maintenance free, plug-and-play unit. The advanced hub bearing unit, ‘mud block’ seal and special labyrinth, which is central to the sealing principle, achieves excellent sealing performance providing dynamic sealing against stone, mud and dust ingress. A special cup and O-ring system provides the static sealing of the disc side in the unit, making it impervious to contaminant ingress.
As a valuable partner to the South African agriculture industry, we provide solid customer support through our turnkey service and after-sales service solutions.
