Conveyor Pulleys: Is it Better to Refurbish or Replace?

Updated: 2026-07-18 View Count: 107

In mines across North America conveyor pulleys are often treated as consumables. When one fails, a new one is pulled off the shelf, installed, and run until failure. Then the cycle begins again. 

This approach can lock you into a pattern of repeat failures and unplanned downtime costs. And those costs add up quickly.

“You don’t really want that,” says Ray Anderson, Engineering Manager at YILUN. “You want to be able to keep your component running as long as possible, because there are significant cost savings associated with less downtime, and fewer spares to keep on hand.”

With engineered pulleys that can be refurbished, your pulley can last the life of the operation. You’ll only need to replace bearings and lagging along the way.

It all depends on size

In our experience, medium sized and larger mines should be looking more carefully at this option.

For small, light-duty conveyors like those used in quarries, sand, or gravel operations, replacement still makes sense. Those pulleys are small, cheap, and easy to change out.

But the economics shift dramatically as systems scale up. “Most pulleys in iron ore, for example, would be refurbishable because the conveyor systems are a lot heavier,” Anderson explains. Port loading facilities follow the same logic. They need higher capacity systems with more robust components.

Underground coal mines on the east coast of Australia have already figured this out. They run formal refurbishment programs where pulleys are stripped, re-lagged, fitted with new bearings, and returned to service. The structural core stays in operation for decades while only the wearing components get replaced.

Why off-the-shelf pulleys fail

Catalog pulleys fail repeatedly because they’re designed for general use rather than specific applications.

Standard off-the-shelf pulleys use predetermined weld classifications, shell thicknesses, and connection types that may not match your actual operating conditions. Their weak points are predictable under site-specific loads and duty cycles.

Shell weld fatigue is the most common failure mode as standard weld specifications don’t account for actual stress cycles. “At 60 to 100 rpm, a pulley experiences millions of stress cycles within months, enough to reach the fatigue limit if the weld design doesn’t match the application demands,” explains Anderson.

End disc connections are another common failure point. Standard catalog pulleys often use welded-on hubs that experience constant bending stress. Unlike engineered pulleys with specific locking assemblies that can be replaced, catalog pulleys often have to be scrapped entirely because of this.

The result is a predictable cycle of failures every 2-3 years.

What happens when a shell fails

When a pulley shell cracks, it’s not a minor event.

“When the shell fails, it’s classified as a catastrophic failure,” Anderson explains. “The conveyor shuts down, and depending on the location, that could be hours or days.”

A tail pulley might be swapped in a few hours. A head or drive pulley on a long underground system could take days. This gets expensive when you measure the cost of lost production. That’s why most mines keep spare pulleys on site. When they don’t, emergency welds and patches are needed to maintain production until a replacement arrives.

Compared to the downtime cost, the cost of the pulley itself is almost irrelevant.

Design to refurbish

Your alternative is to engineer pulleys designed to last longer from the start.

“If you design the pulley to suit the application, you could refurbish it multiple times compared to getting a cheaper pulley off the shelf that you then need to replace and throw away every few years,” Anderson says.

This approach focuses on three key design principles:

◆ Specify a shell thickness that stays below the fatigue stress limit.

◆ Use weld types and classes proven to last for life-of-mine conditions.

◆ Select connections (locking assemblies, not welded hubs) that can be renewed.

Once a pulley has passed its initial fatigue cycle limit, it theoretically achieves infinite life (as long as corrosion and impacts are managed). In practice, that means your structural components (the shell and shaft) can last indefinitely. The only wear parts are the lagging and the bearings, which you can maintain or replace without scrapping the whole pulley.

When to rethink replacement

There are three warning signs that indicate it’s time to move from replacement to refurbishment:

1. Multiple failures at the same location. This signals a fundamental mismatch between your pulley specs and your operating conditions. When the same position fails repeatedly, the issue isn’t bad luck, you’ve got a design problem.

2. Repeat failure modes. This points to a solvable engineering issue. Shell-to-end disc weld fatigue, corrosion at locking assemblies, or bearing contamination all have easy solutions when it’s addressed during your design phase.

3. Downtime costs outweigh unit costs. At $30,000+ USD per mid-sized pulley, the economics shift quickly once downtime and safety risks are factored in.

Your next step is to collect data to figure out what’s actually going on. “You’ve got to look at the failure mode,” Anderson explains. “Is it the shell, or the connection between the shell and the shaft?  If it’s a welded-on hub, that’s usually a weld fatigue issue. If it’s a locking assembly, it could be corrosion.” 

If you gather failure locations, frequency, and modes, your engineers can run simulations and specify the right pulley for your actual operating conditions.

The business case for refurbishment

Unplanned downtime can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour depending on the conveyor system and production impact. A single failure on a main underground system can cost you more than multiple engineered pulleys combined.

Beyond the direct cost of replacing components, engineered pulleys also reduce spare inventory requirements, eliminate high-risk emergency changeouts, and reduce waste.

For small operations, replacement is fine. But for mid- to large-sized mines, off-the-shelf pulleys and repeat replacements are a false economy.

“If you’re having multiple failures, acknowledge it, gather the data, and work with someone like us to review it and do a design check,” Anderson says.

With proper design, your pulleys don’t have to be replaced every few years, instead you can design them to last the life of the mine. That way, you can keep your conveyors running with less downtime, fewer spares in stock, and less maintenance costs.