With excavator owners and operators always looking for more productive, reliable and safer tooth systems for their buckets, Kprime, a new generation of ground engaging tools now offers significant advances over previous systems.

Komatsu’s new Kprime Tooth System from Hensley Industries is now available as standard on new Komatsu excavators and has been designed as a stronger and longer lasting product, offering additional safety and productivity enhancements.

Replacing Hensley’s market leading KMax and XS Tooth Systems range of teeth, Kprime Tooth System is suitable for excavators with operating weights from four tonnes to 400 tonnes.

According to Sifiso Dubazana, Komatsu South Africa’s GET Specialist, the Kprime Tooth System builds on Hensley’s experience and expertise with its KMAX and XS Tooth system, offering significant advances in safety, ease of use and extended periods between tooth changes.

“With Kprime, we have built a truly unique product that delivers significantly more strength, productivity, reliability and is safer,” he says.

“We did this by listening to our customers and developing the best solution for their issues.

“Kprime Tooth System sets new standards for what GET should do for a customer’s business.”

Safety enhancements to the Kprime Tooth System include an intuitive locking system, pry slots on the tooth and wear cap for easier removal of worn parts, a low-torque pin for easier tooth changes, and the weight of individual units marked on each part.

Reliability has been improved through a 10 per cent stronger adapter nose design, an improved pin design that reduces the potential for accidental unlocking even after extended use, and an optimised design to reduce wear on adapters.

Stability of the tooth on its adapter has also been improved through a tighter fit.

Productivity has been significantly improved through a number of design advances, including increased wear material – so teeth don’t need to be changed so often – improved penetration, and a design that ensures the tooth stays sharp throughout its life.

“Kprime teeth are rotatable, to further extend life, while wear indicators on the wear cap and fastener let users know when those parts need to be changed,” Dubazana says.

“And losing teeth into a crusher or conveyor is far less likely to occur with Kprime due to a new locking system that means no torque loss after multiple cycles, ensuring the holding pin remains locked throughout the life of the tooth.”

A range of tooth types is available for all machine sizes across both the excavator from light-duty applications, through to the toughest and most challenging rock and abrasive material conditions.

Buckets fitted with Kprime adaptors have the option of using different styles of teeth to meet individual digging and loading requirements.

“While Kprime teeth will be offered as standard on all Komatsu excavators this system is also ideal for all other brands of earthmoving and mining equipment, from compact utility-class machines up to large mining machines,” Dubazana says.