NSK Agri Disc Hubs offer reliability in extreme conditions

Extremely harsh working conditions, along with high-pressure washing routines, place a raft of demands on the bearings and seals found in equipment for the agriculture industry. A low-quality bearing will not be sufficiently robust in its design or performance levels to provide the uptime necessary for reliable and productive operation. Instead, frequent downtime and costly failures will be the likely result.

NSK’s solution to this challenge is the Agri Disc Hub, a cost-effective, self-lubricating bearing unit that delivers a number of major benefits to users of farming implements. High-performance Agri Disc Hubs feature double-row angular-contact ball bearings that can support high axial and radial loads, while the meticulously devised configuration locates the bearings within a sturdy housing that connects directly (and simply) to the implement via an integrated flange.

Importantly, NSK can offer fast, Europe-wide availability of Agri Disc Hubs as manufacturing takes place in Germany. The Munderkingen facility can boast almost 70 years of high-quality production output.

Alongside high-performance bearing technology, Agri Disc hubs are equipped with a highly effective sealing system for robust protection against extreme condition applications. This comprehensive system is a combination of labyrinth and contact seal designs, which serves to prevent both the ingress of contaminants and the escape of grease. ‘Greased for life’ Agri Disc Hub bearings provide users with maintenance-free operation.

The innovative design of the bearings and sealing system significantly increases service life. Even under extreme stress, Agri Disc Hub bearings – and thus the implement which they serve – grant a service life that is several times beyond that of other commercially available solutions, while their modularity means they can be adapted very quickly to individual user requirements. In such instances, flexible manufacturing at the Munderkingen plant ensures rapid deliveries at competitive costs, even more so for custom requests.

Founded in 1954, the Munderkingen facility started life producing rolling bearings for a leading manufacturer of machinery for the agriculture sector. The plant’s takeover by NSK in 1990 soon led to the introduction of highly flexible production facilities that create the necessary conditions to manufacture even small batches of customer-specific rolling bearings with high efficiency. From stock, NSK Europe can offer disc diameters up to 800 mm.