A pulverizer 10 includes a journal assembly 19 with a grinding roller 18 that grinds solids in a grinding table 14. The oscillations of the journal assembly 19 are monitored by an angular displacement transducer (ADT) 32 that creates a composite signal. A controller 83 receives the composite signal from the ADT and compares it with known information of the pulverizer 10. It then identifies abnormal situations such as damage to a grinding roll 14, the grinding table 14, the spring assembly 20 and other parts of the pulverizer 10 before they cause major damage.