Seven years ago, I started ordering replacement parts and coordinating maintenance for Kleemann crushing and screening equipment. It didn't go smoothly. I've personally made and documented 11 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $35,000 in wasted budget. That's not a brag, it's a warning. This FAQ answers the questions I get from operators, mechanics, and procurement people more often than you'd think.

What exactly is a Kleemann Siebanlage?

Siebanlage is German for screening plant. So a Kleemann Siebanlage is a mobile screening unit, not a crusher. You feed it crushed material, and it separates that material by size. It's a key link in the chain.

The confusion shows up all the time. People buy a screening plant expecting it to break down rock. It won't. It sorts material. If your feed size is too big, or your crusher is producing too many flats, the screen will struggle no matter how well built it is. The machine itself is solid. But it's part of a system, which means you need to think about conveyors, feed uniformity, and where each fraction goes after it leaves the screen.

What I didn't understand early on is that the setup matters more than the equipment. The first Kleemann Siebanlage I helped commission looked fine on paper, but we had undersize contamination because the transfer point was dropping material onto a part of the deck where it didn't get screened properly. That was my mistake, not the machine's.

How should I decide between a new Kleemann unit and a used one?

Resist the urge to compare sticker prices. I used to do that. A used machine can look like a great deal until you add freight, repairs, and downtime. Now I calculate total cost of ownership before I compare anything. The formula is simple: purchase price + freight + installation + first-year wear parts + estimated downtime cost - resale value. The $90,000 savings on a used unit can disappear quickly.

I remember the Lewis vs Francis Ngannou fight weekend in July 2018. Everyone said the fight was a letdown after all the hype. That same weekend, I was closing a deal on a used Kleemann Siebanlage that looked perfect on paper. It needed a bearing replacement within the first 40 hours. The repair bill was $18,000. The machine sat in the yard for another week waiting on parts. A new unit with a warranty, properly specified and tested, would have been working. That's when I started looking at the full cost instead of the initial number.

I'm not saying used equipment is always a bad idea. There are good buys out there. But you have to inspect it, run it, and factor in what it will actually produce in your specific application. If the seller won't let you inspect it fully, that's a red flag.

Where should I look for Kleemann parts for sale?

When you search for Kleemann parts for sale, you'll find official dealers, independent suppliers, online marketplaces, and more than a few questionable listings. My advice: the source matters less than the information.

In my first year, I made the classic rookie mistake. I ordered a set of wear parts using the model number from memory. I didn't check the serial number plate. The parts looked right in the photos, but they didn't match the machine. That mistake cost $2,300 and a week of downtime.

Harmon is the old mechanic who taught me the rule I still use: Parts are only cheap if they bolt on. He's been running Kleemann equipment since the late 90s. If you're buying from anyone, give them the serial number and ask for fitment confirmation. Ask about return policy before you pay. If they won't guarantee fitment, walk away. A low price is meaningless when you can't return the part.

Parts are only cheap if they bolt on.

That applies to every vendor, not just the ones with the lowest price.

Are OEM Kleemann parts worth the extra cost?

I'd argue yes, for critical components. Aftermarket parts can work for wear plates, screen media, and other simple items, but you need to know what you're buying. I once bought a replacement toggle plate for a crusher because it was 40% cheaper than OEM. It looked identical. It didn't line up. We spent two days modifying it, and the hassle made it more expensive than the OEM part would have been.

That's when I learned another lesson: never assume compatible means identical. Different suppliers interpret specs differently. Some use lower-grade steel. Some skip heat treatment. Some hold tolerances just barely enough to pass a visual check. In my opinion, anything that affects the core crushing or screening action is worth buying from a trustworthy source. For wear liners, ask for the exact material grade and hardness test results in writing. If the supplier can't provide that, don't buy.

The total cost thinking applies here too. OEM parts might cost more upfront, but they come with support, correct fit, and predictable wear life. If an aftermarket part lasts half as long, it's not really half the price.

How do I keep a Kleemann Siebanlage from clogging and blinding?

This is the peanut butter problem. When you feed a screening plant wet, clay-heavy material, the fines smear across the screen media and turn into a sticky paste. It blinds the openings, and production drops to near zero. The first time it happened to me, I thought the screen was broken. It wasn't. The material was too wet for that screen aperture and throw.

You can improve the situation with different screen media, spraying water, or adjusting the stroke, but you have to fix the moisture issue upstream. I've watched an expensive Kleemann Siebanlage sit there while the crew tried to keep raking the deck clean. The real fix was slowing the feed and mixing the wet material with drier material before it hit the screen.

If you don't deal with it soon, wet fines work their way into every joint and bearing surface. That's one of those hidden costs nobody mentions when they quote you a machine. A screen deck that looks like peanut butter costs you money in more ways than one.

What's the biggest maintenance mistake you see on Kleemann equipment?

Skipping preventive maintenance to save time. The job is behind schedule, the producer wants tons, and the maintenance checklist is the first thing to go. That's a trap. I had a bearing failure once that would have shown up in a 10-minute vibration check. The replacement cost me $4,800 plus five days of lost production. The check would have caught it a week earlier.

Now I plan maintenance before the busy season, not during it. And I keep a pre-start checklist for every machine. We've caught 47 potential issues in the last 18 months using those lists. Some were small. Others were the kind of thing that would have turned a minor fix into a major rebuild.

If you're buying Kleemann parts for sale, don't underestimate the value of a good shop manual and a written maintenance schedule. The manual is not a suggestion. Every hour of maintenance costs money, but it's way cheaper than an unplanned stop. That's the lesson that took me from 'I can fix it later' to 'I'll fix it now.'

How much should I budget for Kleemann parts in a year?

It depends entirely on your application, but you should plan a number rather than hope. For a typical mobile crusher and screening plant running 1,500 to 2,000 hours a year, wear parts can be a significant line item. I don't like publishing a fixed number because there are too many variables: feed material, moisture, abrasiveness, crusher settings, screen media type, and how disciplined the operator is. But I can tell you this: if you're not tracking wear cost per hour, you're flying blind.

I started tracking cost per hour on every machine after my 2018 disaster. It now takes 20 minutes a week and it changed how I budget. Use the machine's production data, record every part purchase, and divide by operating hours. That gives you your true wear cost. Then compare that to the cost of a breakdown. The humble spreadsheet is the most underrated tool in this industry.