Category Archives: heavy equipment

Rental equipment for sale

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Quite often when you feel that the heavy equipment you were putting on rent is no longer liked by people and they are not accepting that machine on their jobsite, it is better that you sell it off after making few repairs on it. There is a possibility that technology installed on the heavy equipment has become outdated and people are looking for more up to date equipment that has its relevance in the construction industry. No one would like to pay any amount of money on something that has very less relevance to his work. He would rather want to go for updated items something that can help him to complete his work in less time and is also low on fuel consumption. In a situation like this, it will be wise to just sell the heavy equipment that you have been renting for a long time.

There are few important aspects that one needs to take into consideration before you put the machine on sale.

Give a new look by painting the machine:-

When you are up for selling an item, you can only sell it if it sounds appealing to the buyer. The buyer may not be able to know the intricacies of the machine just by having a look. But the impression he may take could be either positive or negative. Now if you clean up your machine, get it painted and repair the dents, the chances of it getting sold become high. The first impression that they will have is that you have taken good care of your machine and it will most likely not give them any issues after buying it from you. This positive impression will go a great deal and even if he feels that the equipment does not have a couple of features which other machines are giving, he may still go for your equipment/machinery. So the entire point in getting the machine painted is that you set such an impression on the buyer from where he should not have much reason to refuse the purchase.

Repair the internal parts and replace faulty parts:-

Selling heavy equipment that was once put on rent can be bit difficult. It is a no brainer that people who have the machine on rent must have used it the way they wanted and the overall health of the machine may not be in good order. Therefore, it is crucial that you first take help of an expert technician and repair the internal parts of the machine. If the technician finds any faulty part that needs to replaced, then do that immediately. No one likes to buy equipment that will not work for a long time no matter how cheap you sell it to him. They will always expect something better to come out of used equipment.

Ensure that you do not overprice the equipment:-

Selling the heavy equipment at its right price should be your focus. You should think about making lot of money but anything decent enough should be your motto. Hence, keep the price that you feel is considerable and is not overpricing it.

Volvo Articulated Trucks vs. Caterpillar Articulated Trucks

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Trucks play a very important role in both the construction and mining industries. They do not get directly involved in any of the activities but both the sectors can’t even move an inch further without the help of trucks. They are the ones which is responsible to ferry important items from one place to another. Be it heavy equipment to sand or bags of cement, they are all transported using these trucks. It can also be referred as the lifeline of both the sectors. It is also extensively used to ferry huge piles of debris from the construction site to the dump-yard. As you can’t think to function without heavy equipment, in the same fashion you can’t think to begin or complete your job without putting the trucks to any use.

There are specifically two companies that are renowned for manufacturing articulated trucks. The first one is Volvo and the second is Caterpillar. Though caterpillar is known for making premium heavy equipment, they are also into manufacturing articulated trucks. We will talk in brief about the specifications of trucks manufactured by both the companies.

Starting with Volvo A40D, this truck has been in the news for all the right reasons. The company has marketed it well and it seems to be doing pretty well with the buyers. The spec for this truck is as follows.

The gross and the net power of Volvo A40D is 426 and 420 hp respectively with a displacement of 732.3 cu in. The total fuel capacity of this truck is around 126.8 gallon. The hydraulic system fluid capacity, cooling system fluid capacity, engine oil capacity and the transmission fluid capacity is 66 gal, 30.9 gal, 13.2 gal and 12.8 gal respectively. The operating voltage of the machine is 24 V and the alternator supplied amperage is 55 amps. The maximum speed that it can take is 34.8 mph and the total number of forward and reverse gears it has is 6 and 2 respectively.

The total weight of the truck when empty is 31270 kg and when it’s full the weight is 68270 kg. The weight of the front axle when loaded is 19170 kg and 16300 kg when empty. The weight of the rear axle when empty is 14970 kg and when loaded it is 49100 kg. The overall length, width and height of the truck is 37 ft in, 10.7 ft in and 12.3 ft in respectively.

Talking about the CAT articulated truck; we would be speaking about the much known CAT 740 articulated dump truck.

The gross and net power of the truck is 464 hp and 445 hp respectively with a displacement of 927.6 cu in. The total fuel capacity of the truck is 147.9 gal. The hydraulic system, cooling system and engine oil capacity is 61.6 gal, 21.1 gal and 10 gal respectively. The maximum speed of the truck is 34 mph and the total number forward and reverse gears are 7 and 2 respectively. The total weight of the truck when loaded is 70840kg and when empty it is 32840kg. All the other features of this truck is pretty alike the Volvo A40D with very minimum deviations.

Overall the customer will not be at loss by going for either of the truck as both will be highly prolific for him.

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How to prevent your heavy equipment getting stolen

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Thieves always have one thing in mind. Steal a highly priced stuff and sell it at a lower price. It will still leave them with a bounty. It really does not matter much if the item they want to steal is the car parked at your backyard or the heavy equipment that is lying at your construction site. For them, it is good money lying unprotected and definitely a chance to earn a lot of money in a comparatively shorter span. They know for sure how highly priced heavy equipment are and therefore if you have left your machine unprotected, it is definitely a cause of worry. If you feel that keeping the equipment in the construction site will keep it away from the eyes of the thieves, then you have completely mistaken them. You will never know what they have set your machine as their next target and one fine day you will get to see the equipment missing from the site.

It is better to be safe than sorry for not doing the right thing at the right time and therefore it is important that you keep your heavy equipment protected. Thieves will never let you know when they are planning to steal your machine and therefore installing a camera or keeping some sort of security will deter them to take this step. Efforts that you should take to keep your machine safe are stated below.

Install cameras at major points in the construction site:-

Installing cameras at all the important points can work a great deal in keeping the thieves at bay. It has been noticed that thieves do not want to get inside the compounds that has cameras all around the place. Trying to steal a machine from a place that has lot of cameras has more chance for them to get caught and therefore they kind of like to play it safe.

Deploy security men to protect your machine:-

Alongside installing cameras you can also deploy security men at the site who will keep a constant check. It will be too much of a risk to try any misadventure when you have the security guys available at the site. They would rather not dare to drive away a big machine especially when there are people around and guarding the place. This would act a big deterrent to the ones who enter the site with the intention to steal the equipment.

Give a suitable indicator to all your machines:-

If you have a lot of machines with you, it becomes difficult for you to identify which equipment is yours and which one you have taken on rent (if at all you have taken any machine on rent). What needs to be done is tag the machines with numbers or codes engraved in it. The numbers should be visible to everybody which if stolen will not be easy to sell in the black market. The thieves will also not want to make the selling part difficult and hence will not lay their hands on machines that have those numbers or codes.

 

 

Repo Heavy Construction equipment

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Have you ever wondered what happens to the heavy equipment that are not loan free and the buyer of the machine is unable to pay any further installments. Well, those machines are taken away by private repo companies and the bank sells them at a significantly cheaper rate. If you look deeply there are many people who have made good sum of money after getting into the repossession business which is also known as the repo business. Repossession need not happen on only construction equipment. It can be on your vehicle or anything on which you have taken a bank loan and are now unable to pay it off. This is how it works. After having received repeated reminders from the bank to pay the installment if you are still unable to pay the money, they get in touch with people who are into hauling of heavy equipment. The banks pay them descent money for this work. They come to your place either by letting you know that they are taking away the machine or just do this by keeping you uninformed.

Once the bank is able to repossess the construction equipment, they try to auction it in the open market where they are bound to sell it at a considerably lower price. However, they still manage to recover the money which would have otherwise remained as bad debts in their book of accounts.

If you are a person who is always on the hunt of repo machines, then the best thing for you would be to keep a constant watch on the industry websites or keep on checking the industry trade publications. Such news is published out there and many people have benefitted by making a deal there. All you have to do is locate the heavy equipment that you may need and then place your bids on it on the website. In order to ensure that the machine is in order and not wrecked, you can go for a personal inspection. Just in case if that is not allowed you can go very carefully through the description of the machine mentioned on the website. In this way you will get to know the state the machine is in and the price that you should stick to in the auction.

Once you have placed your bid and see that your bid is the highest priced one, the next important step is that you start making arrangements for funds. You need to ensure that you have the entire sum of money with you before the auction ends. It is because most of the banks demand cash immediately after the auction ends or you should be ready with cashier check. There are only a handful of banks that allow you to make the payment via credit card or allow you to make the payment after few days. Since banks are selling the machine at a cheaper rate, they expect the money immediately and do not wish to wait for days to get it.

Heavy equipment that is used by the military

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If we think that heavy equipment are used only by the construction or the mining industries then we are only partially correct with our thoughts. There is another sector which is presumably larger than the both the sectors which also uses number one quality heavy equipment and accessories and this is the military. The US military uses various types of heavy equipment for its different uses and they give the order of its requirements to some top notch companies. The requirement is given to the heavy equipment manufacturing companies and they in return give the quotation to the military officials. Once they get the clearance from the higher officials, the procurement process starts off.

The reason why military needs advanced heavy equipment is that they always get involved in activities that can’t be done without the use of sophisticated machines. Machines that some construction companies have probably never heard or have seen are procured by the military for doing everything that a logical mind can think of. They use bulldozers, excavators, cranes, loaders, crawlers etc. and they train their men for the work. They at times also recruit operators from outside but for work that is done in highly confidential places, they prefer to put their men at work. Therefore, they also provide training of operating heavy equipment to the men in uniform so that they can curtail the use of civilian operators in highly confidential zones.

The heavy equipment used by the military may not be similar to the ones used by civilians. They are more sophisticated and technologically advanced and have the potential to do the work at a comparatively lesser time than the machines used by big construction houses. You may have witnessed some companies using machines that seemed to have served the military. Well, it all works this way. Once the heavy equipment gets older or outdated and the engineers in the military feel that they no longer need their services, it will auctioned at dirt cheap price to the civilians. These heavy equipment still have their worth in sectors other than military and therefore you will get to see large number of potential buyers interested to buy such machines.

Other than that the quality of metal used in such machines is outstanding and hence everybody knows that they will end up buying something worthy at a lesser price. The US military not only used heavy equipment produced by American heavy equipment manufacturing companies. They do not mind going for machines that are produced by French, German, Canadian or Australian companies. They primarily need quality to be number one and second the machine should deliver by consuming less time.

There is not set model of a machine. They may produce a dozer and make it look like something else. It may not look like a dozer that we all know. It may not necessarily be deceptive but the model that is used for military purpose is quite unique but will be highly reliable and efficient.

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Thumb attachments on Excavator

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An operator working on an excavator understands who difficult it is to get every bit of work done with the help of the bucket. If it is all about pushing the dirt inside the bucket, the operator may do it with ease but when it comes to picking up the branch of a tree or lifting a concrete or a rock, it just turns out to be one of the most difficult task for him to complete. However, if he is provided with a thumb that is attached with the bucket of the excavator then things get pretty simplified. It works like fingers on your palm. As you can lift anything using your fingers, in the same fashion when the thumb is attached to the excavator it also gives great deal of comfort to the operator and he can easily lift items like huge rocks, concrete etc.

Ideally there are 2 types of thumb that can be installed on an excavator. The first is Progressive Link Thumb and the second is Stick Pivot Thumb. The Progressive Link Thumb gives more pressure throughout the complete cylinder range. It can achieve a rotation of more than 180 degree which allows it to pick items that are very close to the excavator. This means that the machine does not have to move back in order to pick up something that is lying close to it. The operator would rather find this to be more comfortable than driving the machine back to pick stuffs. This kind of thumb can be used for multipurpose work such as picking up heavy materials, clearing the land, clearing the forest (picking up big log), cleaning the debris after demolition. Since it allows you to pick stuffs close to you, it saves a lot of time and fuel which is otherwise spent in repositioning the machine and also makes it convenient to work in place that is space crunched.

Stick Pivot Thumb can be used both on an excavator as well as on a backhoe loader. Here the thumb rotates with the original bucket pin. In order to ensure that the thumb has a greater grip on the load, the pivot point sets the thumb tip with the bucket in such a way that during the complete bucket rotation, there is no chance of the material to set off the grip and come out of the clutch. The stick pivot thumb can be used for all the work for which one will use a progressive link thumb. However, it depends on who wants to use what.

Other than that there are also other products that are used extensively by mining and construction companies like Graptor, Jaw Bane etc. The main motto of preparing a thumb attachment is to ensure that the machine do not lose it grip while holding heavy materials and also that it is able to put them in its grip. The thumb attachments can be bought online or directly from a store that deals with accessories and they are certainly the stuff that everybody can afford to buy.

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Heavy Equipment Operator jobs overseas

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The job of a heavy equipment operator is a highly paid one across United States but if someone likes to seek for opportunities outside US, they have a much brighter prospect. Job opportunities for heavy equipment operator in the overseas markets are huge and they are always in search of highly skilled men who have ample of experience working in the same profile. Years of experience in this domain will only make you more and more better with machines. You not only know how to operate heavy equipment in different work conditions but also learn how to fix machines when they go bad. It is not always possible to have a mechanic handy who can come at their beck and call. In situation like these, it is the operator who puts his foot ahead and takes up the responsibility to resolve the problem.

People outside United States have not received such kind of training that is given to people here in this country and this is why operators from US are in great demand in countries in the Mideast and the Gulf. The job opportunities of a heavy equipment operator is not only limited to these countries but their work are highly appreciated in many other developing countries that engages hugely in construction and mining works. Heavy equipment operators have huge scope in these countries.

The most convenient way to know if there are any opportunities for heavy equipment operator jobs overseas is through advertisements in newspapers. If you are looking for any such opportunities, then you should keep an eye on the newspaper on a daily basis. Just go through the paper once in the overseas assignment section and check if you have anything for you. It is advisable that you do not involve any kind of agent in between. Try to do things on your own and establish contact with the employer via emails. Check if you are eligible for their requirements and then send your resume to them. If they find you eligible, they will respond to you via email. You can then further establish contact and check the procedure on how you can get the visa and work permit. Also check the package they are ready to offer. You should have a clear communication on these things as it may turn into a big problem once you land up in a foreign country.

The other better option is to search for overseas heavy equipment operator jobs online. Checking newspaper advertisement is terms to be primitive and more people are latching on to internet for the smallest of things. Here you can get ample of options and also select the country you want to work. If you want to work in an English speaking country, then you can even opt for countries like Australia, New Zealand etc. They have immense opportunities for heavy equipment operators. However, they want you to give your best to them. Working as a heavy equipment operator overseas will turn out to be a rewarding career for you and you will end up making good chunk of money after having worked for few years in a foreign land.

Heavy Equipment being used in the Military

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The role that heavy equipment play in the construction and the mining industry is known to all of us but few know the importance it has in our military. The United States Military depends a lot on the heavy equipment and they go for the best in the market. Therefore, you will get too see machines manufactured by CAT, John Deere, Hitachi and other popular brands being used by them. One of the most common reasons why the Military requires heavy equipment is to load the weapons in a truck and then transport it from one place to another. It is pretty obvious that the kind of weapons US Military has can’t be lifted by ordinary machines and the need of big strong machines are evident.

The Military also needs heavy equipment to build their bases. They ideally do not give works like these to any private contractors due to reasons of security. There is a wide possibility of intelligence information may get leaked in case they hand over the job of building bases to private contractors. It is therefore that they buy the equipment directly from the company and use them to construct the bases. The use of different kinds of heavy equipment is more in constructing air bases and air strips. There you need the strip to be absolutely smooth take-off and landing and for that you require the best of heavy equipment to put them in use.

The heavy equipment manufacturing companies majorly produce customized machines for the Military. They first receive orders from the Military upon the kind of equipment they are looking for and in turn they present few designs which are based on the needs of the Military. The Military in turn approves the design and give them the order to manufacture “X” number of machines. This is how they go about manufacturing heavy equipment for the defense sector and probably this is why you will hardly find any similarity between construction equipment used by a contractor and the ones used by the defense personnel.

The heavy equipment manufacturers also ensure that they dedicate few employees to service the machines built for Military purpose. These men are not given any other job and are only entitled to service the machines the companies have produced for the defense. These men are given special ID’s that suggests that they belong to a private concern but are allowed to work inside the military compound. At times, these men also have to work on naval ships, sometimes on the water and at times beneath the water.

The companies have to ensure that the service they offer to the Military is of top notch quality and they do not receive any sort of complaints from them. The US military is using all sorts of heavy equipment right from dozers to grader to loaders. Special training is also given to the military personnel to operate the machine. It is evident that the guys in the force do not have much knowledge how to operate it and hence giving proper training to them becomes very ess

How to operate a bulldozer

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Operating heavy equipment can be easy only if you have hands-on knowledge and know which gadget has what function. It is definitely not a child’s play and just in case you do not know how it works and still try your hands on it then you should be also ready for the consequences. Guys who are new to the construction world are often found to be curious to work on a construction machine and they try their luck when the operator is not around. However, that is not a healthy thing to do as they can cause serious damages to life and property. Out of the many heavy types of equipment that one can see in a construction site, the one that is very frequent is a bulldozer also known as “Dozer”. It may not be difficult to learn to operate a dozer but it is absolutely difficult to operate it in vulnerable places like on the mountain slide or on muddy surfaces. This means that one needs a lot of practice to become an expert operator of the dozer and therefore can also become a highly priced driver.

We will speak about some basic techniques that one can make use of to operate a dozer.

Start the engine and keep your foot on the brakes:-

The first thing that you will do to operate a bulldozer is turn the machine on by turning the machine into ignition mode. Once you find the dozer has started, keep your foot on the brakes so that just in case it starts off and catches speed, you should be able to control it well within time and stop it by applying those brakes.

Start moving the machine:-

Once you have started the dozer, it is time that you start moving it a bit by having complete control on the machine. Now you should hold the joystick and move it slowly on the place you need to go. The joystick of the machine is smooth and will facilitate you to move the machine the way you want it to.

Keep good control on the speed:-

You can’t treat a dozer like your car and therefore you need to take immense care and ensure that you keep the speed of the dozer in control. You should make use of the decelerator to bring down the speed of the machine. You hit the decelerator with your foot which is located just beside the brake and can slow it down.

Make the ground smooth:-

The sole purpose of the dozer is to keep the surface of the ground smooth like butter which is done with the help of the blades that runs on the ground. You have to lower the blade so that it can hit the ground in a way that it is making it look smooth. You have to make use of the pedal and the joystick to maneuver the entire area and make sure that the face of the blade is always hitting the ground as you move over it.

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Knowledge always pays off in the heavy equipment and construction sector

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A man with abundant knowledge is respected and greeted well wherever he goes and specifically if he intends to make money by selling his knowledge, he will have many takers. We currently live in a society where people tend to know more about gadgets and less about the industry they are in. This does not mean that they should not know about gadgets but this means that they should give equal importance to the subject they are dealing with and therefore it becomes very hard to find someone who is an expert in their respective domain. We are perhaps more attuned to things that are kind of not so important to us and less interested in what we should know. Other than that, many people like to keep themselves restricted to the work they are doing. It seems that they have killed their hunger of learning something new in life. The curiosity has just died down and this seems to be a very dangerous sign.

Keeping the current trend into consideration, many heavy equipment companies are hiring people who have enormous knowledge in their field and are also paying them handsomely to work for them. Something that was abundant at one point in time is now rare to get and for which companies are ready to pay good sum figures to ace engineers and machine designers. Knowledge does not necessarily come out of books. In order to get more knowledge, one has to work endlessly and also have the urge to learn more. It is only then that he will get to learn new things in life. If you get to check with some real good engineers that deal into manufacturing of heavy equipment, you will find that they used to work for hours at a stretch just to understand how things work and what can be done differently to simplify things for the comfort of the user.

Time was only restricted to a word for them as they did not know the literal meaning of it. Companies like Caterpillar, Hitachi, and John Deere are said to have such experts working for them which is why they are such renowned heavy equipment manufacturing companies. People who use their equipment do not want to switch to any other brand. They have complete faith on their products and know that it will last for many years. It is very difficult to generate this kind of trust in the minds of the user. You can only get this trust if you can give them the number one product that you have manufactured and every product of yours should be number one.

Heavy equipment industry is a highly rewarding industry. Many people have made their career being a part of this industry and are dwelling a decent live. However, in order to get to this place they had gone through rigorous training and acquired enough knowledge which they have used for the development of the company and for the betterment of the users.

 

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