A sawmill forklift has to operate under dusty conditions and over rough terrain. These unfavourable conditions coupled with poor lubrication resulted in the original bearings on the mast breaking down approximately every six months. To reduce the downtime, the six high capacity roller bearings were replaced with two Vesconite slides (500 mm x 140 mm x 38 mm thick) (20″ x 5.5″ – 1.5″ thick). The change to Vesconite slides resulted in the following improvements: Downtime on the machine due to bearing failure has been eliminated. Longer bearing life. Three years later there was no sign of wear.