Tow Truck Rolling Rotator

This 75-ERP was custom designed and built for one of the world leading tow truck manufacturers. This roller features a radial keyway chain, track wipers, and ports for lubricating the rocker pin all in an ERP style frame.

In this application, the customer was building a special mount for the boom and winches on their heavy duty wreckers that would allow the entire turret assembly to roll fore and aft along the length of the truck giving the tow truck operators the ability to shift the position of the boom arm when performing heavy duty recovery operations such as up righting overturned tractor trailers and clearing accident scenes. Our customer also wanted to use a bearing product that offered lower friction and less maintenance requirements than their competitors.

An ERP style roller was chosen because the customer wanted to ensure the rollers would be evenly loaded; the rollers can rock about the pin mount making sure that there is full contact of the chain rolls with the track at all times. It also allows for flexing of the frame and track assemblies during operation while maintaining even contact across the entire chain assembly. The custom cut width also ensured the roller would fit into the pocket on the customers frame.

Because these rollers are used in extreme environments, a radial keyway chain was a requirement to provide a stronger, longer lasting roller. The grease ports allow tow truck operators to re-lubricate the rocker pin during preventative maintenance periods and since these tow trucks must operate in all-weather including snow, ice, rain and wind; a track wiper was included to brush any debris off the track.