Complete tooth holder replacement on the Xcentric Ripper XR80 of Jan De Nul

An Xcentric Ripper takes a serious beating on site. The tooth and the tooth holder absorb the forces and wear down over time. On Jan De Nul's XR80, the moment had come to replace the tooth holder.

In the workshop of SAES, official dealer and service partner for Xcentric Ripper in the Benelux, the existing tooth holder was completely replaced with a new XR120 tooth holder. The old holder was removed and the new one expertly fitted.

Why the tooth holder is the part that wears

The Xcentric Ripper breaks hard material loose with accumulated impact energy rather than direct percussion force. The attachment is suspended from an intermediate frame by parallel moving arms and works with a closed energy chamber that cannot be affected from the outside by dust, water or dirt. This makes the ripper usable underwater without any modification, and equally at home in tunnels, in foundation work and in wet conditions.

The build is deliberately simple: wear-resistant steel, no vulnerable or expensive components and a low noise level compared with a hydraulic hammer. That makes it an attachment which needs little maintenance.

What does get used up is the tooth holder. It forms the contact point with the material and, on the XR80, handles around 850 blows per minute. All the energy the ripper builds up comes out at that point.

An XR120 tooth holder on an XR80

The XR80 is the second heaviest model in Xcentric Ripper's Series 0. The ripper weighs 8,700 kg without top bracket and suits excavators from 70 to 100 tonnes.

On this XR80, an XR120 tooth holder was chosen deliberately, the holder from the heaviest model in the range. This heavier holder provides extra wear material at the point where the forces during ripping are greatest. In heavy-duty work and hard ground in particular, that can mean longer uptime.

Once the tooth holder is worn too far, it loses its secure fit and production drops off. Wear on the tooth holder is therefore not a defect. It is a normal part of running an Xcentric Ripper. What matters most is determining the right moment to replace it.

Tooth holder replacement in the SAES workshop

Replacing an Xcentric Ripper tooth holder is specialist work. The existing holder was expertly removed in the workshop, after which the new XR120 tooth holder was accurately positioned and secured.

Positioning is the decisive factor here. An Xcentric Ripper works with high-frequency impact energy, and the vibrations have to travel through the tooth into the material and nowhere else. If the holder is not exactly in place, the way those vibrations are transferred changes. Part of the energy then ends up in components that were never intended to take it.

You notice that in three places. The new holder wears faster and unevenly. The suspension and frame of the ripper take on loads they were not designed for. And the operator feels it in the excavator, while limiting vibration towards the machine is precisely one of the strengths of this attachment.

Correct fitting is therefore not just a matter of finish. It determines how long the new tooth holder lasts and how the complete attachment behaves. After the tooth holder change, the XR80 is ready for maximum production again.

Existing tool, new service life

A worn tooth holder does not mean the entire attachment is due for replacement. The Xcentric Ripper is built from wear-resistant steel and has a closed energy chamber with relatively few vulnerable components. That allows the body of the ripper to last for years.

By replacing only the wear part that needs it, you save costs and avoid needlessly replacing a large share of the tool.