Across Australian mine sites, maintenance crews face the daily challenge of completing high-risk tasks under tight schedules.
Traditional methods like hammering, grinding, jacking, and thermal lancing introduce serious hazards and can damage equipment, requiring costly corrective work.
Geographe’s Specialised Tooling and Enhanced Performance (EP) components are transforming this landscape, helping crews work safer, smarter, and more efficiently.
One of the most dangerous maintenance procedures is thermal lancing, commonly used to remove seized components on haul trucks. It involves hot works, permits, specialised supervision, and often causes collateral damage.
For steering arm maintenance on Caterpillar 785, 789, and 793 haul trucks, Geographe has developed the award-winning Ball Stud Removal Tool (BSRT) and more recently, the Ball Stud Bearing Installation and Removal Tool (BSBIRT).
The BSRT uses hydraulic force to release seized ball studs safely, without damaging adjacent components. Designed for single-person operation, a typical removal, including setup, takes minutes rather than hours as is the case with traditional methods. By eliminating hammering, grinding, and hot works, the BSRT also helps reduce injuries such as hand bruising, pinch points, and eye damage.
The BSBIRT also features hydraulic operation plus an in-built guidance system to safely remove and install split shell bearings. It eliminates exposure to heat, impact, and manual strain, helping crews avoid high-risk procedures, permit delays, and potential injury. Together, these tools make steering arm maintenance predictable, safer, and aligned with site safety initiatives.
For Geographe safety advocate Hassan Qadri, it’s all about thinking of the bigger picture.
“When you remove the hazard completely, you’re not just making the maintenance safer,” Qadri said, “you’re also reducing the labour required, eliminating corrective actions, and getting the asset back to work faster.
Geographe key account manager Brita Phillips echoed Qadri’s sentiment.
“Whether removing ball studs or changing bearings, our specialised tooling allows maintenance teams to complete the job efficiently and safely, without improvisation or high-risk workarounds,” she said.
Separate from steering arm tooling, the Geographe Enhanced Performance Colleted Pin Assembly (CPA) addresses safety in rear strut, A-frame, and rear suspension locations on Caterpillar and Komatsu haul trucks.
Unlike conventional designs that rely on friction or expansion, the CPA uses a tapered collet system that creates a self-wedging effect between the pin and frame bores, effectively preventing pin seizures. This often eliminates the need for thermal lancing and reduces associated risks and workshop labour.
“When we’re thinking about developing a part so it qualifies as Enhanced Performance, we aren’t just wanting to improve the design, we’re rethinking the whole job,” Phillips said.
“Our CPA tooling allows pins to be often removed without hot works, and that alone can save hours in the workshop.”
For planners and reliability engineers, EP parts offer strong economic value over the life of an asset. In some cases, even a single late-life installation can result in cost savings through reduced downtime, simplified maintenance, and better asset availability.
“Even if an EP part is installed during the last cycle of a truck’s life, the time saved and the extra hours in production can be huge,” Qadri said. “That’s revenue that might otherwise be lost.”
Fitters have embraced Geographe EP parts not only for their safety benefits but also for their practicality.
“Across a few trials with Tier 1 miners, we’ve documented real-world results, and achieved no thermal lancing on some sites and quicker installs,” Qadri said. “In addition, we’ve had great responses from both install crews and planners about how efficient our CPAs are.”
When asked what she thinks makes Geographe different, Phillips said the company has history behind it.
“We’re a third-generation Australian manufacturer,” she said. “We’re local, we’re responsive, and when someone calls, they speak to a real person who understands the problem and can offer a solution. That flexibility matters.”
As the mining industry continues to focus on zero harm, operational efficiency, and cost control, Geographe’s Specialised Tooling and EP range is proving that better design leads to better outcomes, for people, equipment, and productivity.
“We’re helping sites rethink what safe, effective maintenance looks like,” Qadri said. “It’s not just about tooling or parts, it’s about safety, uptime, and setting a new standard for how mining maintenance can be done.”
This feature appeared in the October edition of Australian Mining.
