Ball Stud Inspection

Heavy earth moving machinery such as CAT® Mining Trucks contain ball studs that may require ultrasonic testing every 1000 hours to determine whether they are cracked or not. The risk of not performing the inspection is that if the studs were to fail in service the operator would lose steering control.

This is a readily preventable safety incident. Additionally it reduces unplanned downtime and haul road/pit breakdown repairs. Prior experience has shown that a strong emphasis should be placed on performing the inspection as scheduled. The ultrasonic inspection takes only 15 minutes per truck to perform. ARI has researched and developed proprietary ultrasonic testing techniques using custom made equipment to test from the bottom of the stud, eliminating the requirement to remove the grease caps, saving 45mins downtime per truck. Our research has been published at an academic level.

Please contact ARI to discuss your ball stud inspection needs.