Category Archives: heavy equipment

Heavy equipment safety topics

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Since we consider heavy equipment to be the most important tool in the construction business, we should also give some importance to the safety of this equipment. It is undoubtedly because of these equipment that the construction industry is able to make so much money. Hence, they must ensure that they keep the machines healthy, secure and safe from any sort of hazard. Big construction companies have adopted a number of measures for the safety of their heavy equipment. The mid-size and small companies are also doing their bit in make sure that their machines are always in order.

Few very basic yet important things that can be done to keep the machines safe are discussed herein.

Machines do fall sick if not checked in time:-

Heavy equipment like humans may fall sick if they are not checked at regular intervals. They do give signs of not feeling well. It is just that the one who is operating the machine should be able to catch those signs and treat it well. Signs like too much noise from the engine are clear indication that the health of the machine is deteriorating and it needs to be checked as soon as possible. Ideally once should make sure that he services the equipment at regular interval and while the machine is being given for servicing, the mechanic should inform the owner if he finds any part of the machine as faulty. Then it becomes the call of the owner to replace the faulty part at that point in time or during the next servicing.

The mechanic should reveal how urgent it is (if at all it is) to change the part. Just in case if it needs urgent attention of the owner, then that should be communicated and needs to be replaced immediately.

An expert mechanic should be the one working on your machine:-

Always try to ensure that you get your machine checked by an expert mechanic who has loads of experience in servicing as well as repairing machines like yours. A newbie will definitely take more time to repair the stuff and there are high chances of him doing a blunder which may not happen if it is worked by the expert guy. You can generate a good rapport with the mechanic so that every time you have him working on your equipment.

Take necessary steps to keep the equipment safe from extreme weather conditions:-

Extreme weather is another cause of worry that many heavy equipment owners have. They need to treat their machines differently at different weathers. Like during summer, they need to ensure that the engine of the machine remains cool and ensure that it does not get overheated. During monsoon, they need to check that the machine is cleaned regularly or else there are high chances of huge portion of dirt making its way to the interiors of the machine causing wreckage. Winters are again a headache. Due to huge blocks of snow all over the road, it becomes almost impossible to work at a site. There the heavy equipment owners should make it a regular business of checking if the machine is in order and if there are any issues that needs to be sorted with immediate effect.

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Construction equipment manufacturing companies putting stress on producing environment friendly machines

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Innovation is the key for any industry and so it is in case of heavy equipment manufacturing companies. They give a lot of importance to innovation and work relentlessly to make better products for the end user. They understand that in order to survive in this industry, they need to come out with products that are little different from others and especially when they have already established a brand name they do not want that to get ruined. Recently, their focus is to produce machines that are environment friendly and the reason they feel they should be putting their focus there is because of the tremendous increase in air pollution.

Air pollution has been a major cause of concern for everybody and more so to the owners of the construction companies. Many construction workers are falling sick due to inhaling toxic air and many are coming up with various kinds of serious respiratory ailments. They just can’t afford to lose their workers to such respiratory ailments and hence they are also looking forward to machines that are eco-friendly. Construction manufacturing companies are already in the process of producing machines that runs on gas and not diesel. What they came to know through various surveys is that diesel machines are major contributor or toxicants in the environment and if they can be replaced by eco-friendly machines then that will make things far better for everyone.

Government is setting laws to reduce release of intoxicants:-

Governments of many countries are also aware of the menace diesel run machines are causing to the environment and hence they are also making laws that could prevent the release of toxic gas in the environment. They have urged to the construction and mining companies to take due notice of this issue and to act accordingly. These companies on the other hand have moved to the heavy equipment manufacturing companies and specified their demands to them. It is quite evidently going to take some time for them to produce bio-friendly machines in large numbers especially when there are still some small companies that would prefer to work with diesel run machines. They say that they do not work on a larger scale due to which they do not do more harm to the environment. Government is also not going too strict with them but is keeping a close watch on what the big companies are doing.

Will save a lot of money that is otherwise used to buy diesel:-

Construction companies spend a fortune for buying diesel to run their machines. If they switch over to environment friendly machines, then they save a lot of money that they otherwise spend on buying diesel. The price of gas required to run such machines are not much and hence the day is not far when most of the construction companies will demand for these kinds of machines. Though the price of eco-friendly machines are quite higher than the ones that run on diesel but still it is worth buying in order to keep our workplace safe and healthy for everyone.

Be open minded when it comes to borrowing money for buying heavy equipment

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We often find ourselves in a state of confusion when it comes to borrowing money to buy heavy equipment. We are somehow unable to decide if it will be at all the right decision to borrow money from a financial institution as they will charge higher rate of interest and it may take a toll to repay the loan. On top of that, we also have to see that we have sufficient money to run the business. One who undergoes this situation will definitely see this to be tricky because he intends to buy new machines but taking a loan for that is what keeps him confused.

There are few tips one should take into consideration before they think of buying heavy equipment by borrowing money.

Study your financial standing well before your think of any procurement:-

Knowing your finances well is very important before you go with the decision of procuring heavy equipment. If you see the need to purchase the machine is quite immediate and you do not have sufficient reserves to buy the stuffs and run the company at the same time then you should consider options like renting the machine or for buying used ones. This will ensure that you have the much required machines and also keep up with your work. You only have to pay the monthly rent if you take it on rent and return it once the contract expires. Simultaneously you can also strengthen your reserves so that you can at least afford to pay the down payment the next time you think of procuring the equipment.

Study the financial institutions that lend money for business at affordable rate of interest:-

It is crucial that you do a thorough study of financial institutions that are willing to lend money for business at affordable rate of interest. At times, banks come up with various schemes which do not run throughout the year. It is kind of one time offer where they lend money at attractively lower rate of interest. This is done to specially attract businessmen to borrow money from them. You only need to check if they have any hidden cost attached with the loan. Most banks offer money at lower interest rate but they also charge high closing costs which becomes quite problematic for the borrower as he feels cheated after the deal.

Repayment plan should be in place:-

Once you are done studying the loan scheme of the bank and have decided to borrow money from them, the next important step would be to form the repayment plan. You have to ensure that you keep the installment money aside from all the recurring as well as non-recurring business expenses. For that, place a strategy well in advance where you have a contingency or a back-up plan in place. If things go wrong you know you can still survive with the money you have kept in the contingency reserve.

 

It’s better to use used equipment than investing in brand new machines

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If you have ever looked inside a construction site, you will come across various sorts of heavy equipment. Machines of all sizes and use are available and all seems to be brand new. Construction companies take immense care in maintaining their machines to keep them looking new. They also believe in investing their money in buying new equipment rather than buying it second hand. The new machine cost them thousands of dollars but it also ensures that the user gets all that he wants from the machine. Be it efficiency, accuracy, performance and low fuel consumption, they may get it all in that machine and therefore they often sell off the machine that gets old in the system. As far as the big construction houses are concerned, they can be better off with buying new equipment; however there are companies which struggle to keep their business running. They may not afford to buy new equipment whenever they desire to buy one.

For new businesses it is prudent to use used equipment rather than blocking their finances in buying new machines. Before they buy old equipment, they need to check if the machine is in proper order. Only when they are content with the quality of the machine and are sure that the equipment will deliver when it needs to they should go ahead with the deal.

It has been that many small construction companies who struggle with their businesses put away the idea of buying new machines and hunt for sellers wanting to sell their old equipments. The reason it is better to invest money for a new construction company in old machines rather than buying new ones is that they do not get marked down in the most important component of their business and that is taking care of their finances. Buying used machines helps them in saving a good chunk of money for future business requirements. Newbies experience lot of financial hardships in their initial phase and those who successfully make the right decision survive. It becomes extremely important for new businesses to understand their requirements and their limitations and do not get carried away by the likes of big construction houses.

Another challenge that often comes across new businesses is getting their loans sanctioned. They find it extremely difficult to get their loan approved by financial institutions especially when the loan amount is high. Therefore, if they decide to buy new equipment, getting the loan for it will be very difficult. However, buying used equipment will not become a huge debt on them and they may find institutions that will provide them with the loan amount.

It is not difficult to find sellers in the market. A buyer can make use of platforms like online sites that specifically deal in selling used heavy equipment. Buyers can check such sites and can expect to get a real good bargain there.

The unbeatable advantages of using modernized excavators

Probably everyone is acquainted with the name ‘Case’ in the field of construction. The big manufacturers of heavy equipment like LLC and CNH America make extensive use of hydraulics to pass on the power to the machines used in the construction sites. The use of hydraulics is nowhere more liberal as compared to the recently modernized compacted excavator CX55B. Its hydraulic cylinders with long feat provide a greater area of work – maximal depth of digging 3.91m.

Advantages of using modernized excavators

Hydraulic excavators are used for propulsions, braking, steering and beating speed of the cab. To accomplish the steering, the crawler adjusts the speed of the individual tracks. This single feature helps it to rotate on its center by forwarding and reversing the tracks. The engine of CX5B’s rambles a single pair of axial-piston pumps of flexible dislocation, each pump having a highest flow efficiency of 15 gpm. One can use half of the flow to carry out the auxiliary tasks which is almost 30% more as compared to the earlier model. In addition to this, optional second-rate auxiliary hydraulics can run apparatus with numerous capabilities or add a fixed circuit.

To go on with the work of propulsion, the excavators use dual-speed axial-piston motors. When the speed is low, the motors can turn the vehicle with the highest torque of speed of 1.7mph. Each motor transmit the power to a track drive sprocket with the help of erratic reducer of gear-speed. The combination of the gearbox of the motor permits the small-sized motor to hammer on the excavator with the needed torque.  The motor of CX5B in the mode of high-speed can drive the equipment at a rate of 2.9mph.

The hydraulic system of the excavator contains a total fluid of 16 gal of which only 9gal is stored in the reservoir. The reservoir’s size is comparatively smaller than the traditional excavator is. So, it becomes quite easy to keep the fluids clean in this case. The cleaned fluid of the hydraulic excavator boosts up the reliability and life of the component.

The setting of the standard relief of the hydraulic system is 3336 psig. This huge pressure permits small-sized actuators to be used which transport power identical to that of large-sized working at bigger-pressure.

The CX55B also contain a standard balanced controller of hydraulics which uses operator joysticks. A chain of the lines of pilot transfuse the feedback and input signals as compressed fluids. Though the valves of electro hydraulic are used widely in equipment of mobile hydraulic, the simplicity and authenticity of pilot’s efforts are picked up for big region of constructional machines.

Another great advantage of hydraulic excavator is that one can still operate the hydraulic works without kicking on the engines. This is possible due to the presence of an accumulator circuit which stores the power of the hydraulic. So, in case of sudden shut down of the engine, the pressure of the accumulator uses the in-cab controller to debase the attachments in a safe manner.

To sum up, modern excavators CX55B has all the advantages which makes its use more prominent in the field of construction.

  

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    Suction or Vacuum Excavator: Most Effective Construction Vehicle

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    Are you looking for heavy equipment that has the capability to dig potholes without damaging the existing utility wires under the ground? If your answer is ‘yes’, then without wasting any more time on browsing the other websites, read the following discussion and get to know about the most effectual heavy equipment for the accomplishment of your purpose.

    Vacuum or suction excavator is a construction automobile which has the capacity to dig exact and clear-cut potholes without leaving behind any muddle. Vacuum exhuming is a technique of applying air or water to excavate holes around the existing useable cables with the purpose of rendering them without any damage. As, loads of wires and pipes are assembled under the ground, there are strict guidelines for the contractors regarding the drilling technique of the land.

    Applications of Suction or Vacuum Excavator

    Vacuum excavator is transportable and twofold purpose weighty paraphernalia which is used to dig holes with high pressure water or air and with the help of varied potent vacuum systems. For electrical tasks, this suction excavator is employed in accomplishing several power line projects like setting up underground wires for traffic signal, lighting work in streets and highways and so on. This excavator is widely used in following areas:

    • Vacuum scathing produced by pavement saws.
    • Preeminent heavy apparatus for cleaning duct banks, manholes and vaults.
    • This excavator helps the construction sites to remain free from the drilling liquid that mostly surge from bore fissures.
    • It can easily dig small-sized trenches in less space area where the contractors are unable to bring any heavy excavating equipment.
    • This vacuum excavator has the ability to excavate holes easily for assembling light poles and other utilities.

    Reasons to Choose Vacuum Excavator in Construction Site

    In construction heavy equipment industry, vacuum excavator is acknowledged as the effectual damage avoidance apparatus best applied for digging holes under the ground surrounded by useable pipelines and flexes. Here in the below cited points, you will get to know about the several benefits of suction excavator:

    • Majority of the construction business owners consider this heavy equipment as the preeminent for cleaning mud and valve boxes.
    • This excavator can be measured as big-sized wet-dry vacuum that has the ability to eradicate easily any type of material whether solid or liquid.
    • It is a cost-effective construction weighty vehicle that never creates pointless congestion.
    • This excavator has the ability to be employed on varied types of utilities like thermal, water and gas distribution methods.
    • Depending on the condition of the soil and the kind of excavator, the machinist can easily dig a pothole of 12 inch square and 5 foot deep.
    • Often, it is utilized for excavating pole holes and acts as a vacuum for extracting water from the duct bank after a heavy rain.

    Nowadays, construction business possessors get plenty of options to find the best excavating heavy equipment manufacturers through internet. So, if you want to make your construction business productive, order upgraded version of suction excavator right now.

    How to change a transmission on a bulldozer

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    It is never easy to work on things that you do not know especially when it comes to fixing your heavy equipment and you have absolutely no knowledge how to go about with it. This is when you should depend on guys who are into fixing problem pertaining to heavy equipment. It is better that you give the machine to a mechanic who after checking the stuff will do what needs to be done with it. However, at times it becomes important for you to know a bit of fixing thing as well. You do not always get the mechanic handy and in situations like this you may experience the real trouble. You have work in hand and your machine is just not ready to work. It could be due to some problem with the transmission and in order to get it fixed, you need to open up a lot of stuff and the transmission out.

    Ideally in a bulldozer, the transmission is located near the engine crankshaft and it remains attached there with the help of a flywheel or a clutch. In order to change the transmission, it is first critical to remove the stuff carefully from the place it is located. In case of a bulldozer once has to be very careful while getting it removed beside the engine crankshaft. He needs to be make sure that he does not mess up with the crankshaft or that will lead to further complication with the machine. You got to be absolutely sure that you know how to work things out and get the transmission replaced.

    To learn things in a much better way, it is advisable that one should go through the user manual as the procedure is stated with pictures so that one does not go through a lot of hardship to understand how to change the transmission. You can also check how the mechanic works on your dozer. The way he spreads out the engine crankshaft and from there he pulls out the transmission. You can even ask the mechanic if you can give it a shot while he is there monitoring your work. In this way, you can practically try to change the transmission but if you feel that you are confident and can do it again, it is prudent that you do it in front of an expert so that in case you go wrong somewhere dealing with it, there will someone who can set things right for you.

    One more method that you can adopt to learn to change the transmission is through training videos. Well, you get to learn a lot of stuff from there. You only have to enter the things you want to see and you get ample of options. Just pick the one you feel you should watch and check if that is the one you are looking for. For instance, if you want to check videos where people are shown changing the transmissions, you can do that on YouTube. It really helps but if you want to do it practically, better try things in front of an expert.

     

    Construction equipment fuel consumption chart

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    While many construction companies are spending a good deal of money in doing some research work pertaining to what can be done to reduce fuel consumption and continue with the same productivity. They are yet to come out with some solid answers. Though many heavy equipment producing companies are already in the mode of producing machines that they claim are fuel efficient but it seems that in order to make it fuel efficient they have to cut short some features of the machine somewhere which is not appreciated by the construction companies. What the construction companies are looking for is a solution to this problem which does not compromise on the existing features. So you just can’t take away what you have already given in order to make lives a bit comfortable. It is perhaps not the way it works. The heavy equipment companies have to come out with some solid solutions that do not play around with what they already have.

    This has led to the need of creating a chart so that the companies can analyze where things are going wrong and what they can do to fix it. They also have to keep into consideration the cost that they will incur in making a machine which is highly fuel efficient as that might not have proportionate number of buyers. So overall, they might find themselves to be in a bigger problem which they might never want to be in the first place.

    Komatsu has introduced PC200-8 Hybrid excavator which shows an exorbitant reduction in fuel consumption. It claims that the Hybrid excavator is able to reduce fuel consumption by around 25% than the conventional excavators sold by the company. They are also planning to make their machines more eco-friendly. This has been a challenge that many heavy equipment companies are facing for many years. As per their claims, they also state that there has been a fuel reduction of maximum 41% on sites where the upper structure of the machine turns more often. In their tests they have taken 3 different types of companies. First is the one that deals with waste soil disposal, another is into civil engineering and the third one does sludge disposal. The PC200-8 Hybrid excavator has shown up to 30% fuel reduction in the first company, 31% in the second company and the maximum was 41% in the third company.

    Simultaneously there are other heavy equipment companies that have jumped in the race of producing machines that are fuel efficient and also provides a great deal of comfort to its users. Caterpillar wanted to ensure that people keep their trust on its products and do not change their loyalties to other companies and therefore they have brought in a series of different kinds of machines that are fuel efficient. However, the next big question that comes up is that are buyers ready to pay the cost of machines that promises of fuel reduction. Well, there are few giant construction and mining companies that are more interested in saving fuel and hence they would like to go for such products but for the rest, they have to wait for the prices of such machines to go little down.

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    Soil Stabilization- Cat Mixer

    When you need to build real solid house, roads, offices etc. you need to believe in the best soil stabilizing machine. It is the soil stabilizer that plays an instrumental role in giving the solid shape to your houses or to the pavements or anything that you see that involves cement. Earlier in most of the developed countries, soil stabilizing machines were not used to make roads. However, now it has become a common practice and you can see soil stabilizer being used everywhere where people are constructing roads. It increases the power of the soil and cement to up to 6 times or ever more than that thus giving a solid shape to the roads. This is why we see the roads to be in shape for a pretty long time. The amount of traffic that moves on the roads on a daily basis is immense and one can easily make out how solid the roads have to be to take the entire load daily.

    Nowadays, construction companies that take up work to develop roads make use of green technologies like co-polymer based products, synthetic polymers, tree resins, calcium chloride, calcite etc. By using these techniques, it actually prevents the water to reach the treated layer thus ensuring that the life of the road is lengthened and also the cost is minimized. Some of the companies that manufacture soil stabilizing machines are CAT, Terex, etc. However, the one that has shown incredible sale in the last few years in the one produced by CAT.

     

    The CAT Ss-250 and RM 300 are few of the much known brands that have been the eye candy of most of the construction companies. The RM 300 is compatible with both depth reclamation and soil stabilization. It has been installed with sliding operator’s station, automatic depth control, pressurized cab etc. It is perhaps the one that has been fitted with many instrumental features that one may find quite significant to use. The rear wheels in the machine can be driven by a separate hydraulic pump. This is done to give more tractive effort.

    Though Cat soil stabilizers quite expensive but a must in almost every construction site. The companies who do not compromise on the quality of their construction unarguably go for mixers made by CAT. Other companies are also good in terms of quality. However, it may be not as user friendly as one can experience with CAT stabilizers. Therefore, it has been the most preferred machine by countless of small as well as big construction and mining companies.

    If one needs to buy a CAT stabilizer, he/she can do it by directly contacting the company or can find it easily on internet. Buying it on internet will give him a lot of options and also at a price that he may not find anywhere else. He can also opt for bank loan or finance to buy the machine. So money will not be an obstacle when it comes to the overall growth of the business.

     

    Looking to buy a bulldozer? Get some help here

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    If you are a person who likes to do some research before deciding to buy a product, then you are moving on the right track in becoming a wise buyer. Not many give an intense research before buying an item and trust that the salesman tells them. If you go by the words of the salesman and then buy the product you end up with 2 possibilities. Either you get a good product that you will cherish using it or you will get something that is not worth your money. Eventually, you will lose some money in that transaction. Imagine the same situation when you are buying an expensive bulldozer. You just go by the words of the salesman and buy it. You later understand that you actually wanted some other features with some other benefits and now you don’t have much option.

    We would be stressing upon few points that you must do before you buy a bulldozer.

    Know your requirement and conduct an extensive research on the product:-

    It is very important to understand what you are actually looking for in a bulldozer. Today, heavy equipment manufacturing companies have come down with “n” number of models having various features and every additional feature will cost you more. Therefore, it becomes extremely crucial for you to first know your requirements before you even start your research work. If you have a mighty project in hand then the set of requirements will be different but if the project is small then you may need an altogether different set of machine. Once you have known your business need, the next step is to do some research on the machine. As stated, bulldozers are manufactured by various companies and they come up with different models. So you need to study the kind of model you may need for completing the project.

    Allocate funds for the purchase:-

    While you are on with your research, you should also keep in mind another important aspect which is the amount you can allocate for the purchase. Check if you have enough funds to pay upfront or you want to pay via easy installments at the beginning of every month. Only when you are completely convinced that your finances are in order and you won’t have any trouble financially after purchasing the dozer, you should go ahead with the purchase.

    Renting a dozer or purchasing a used one:-

    Just in case, you find the amount way high and can overtly pinch your pocket, you might even want to take the option of either taking the dozer on rent or buy a used one. A used dozer will comparatively cost lesser and he may evade from feeling the heat.

    Medium and small dozer are equally effective:-

    If you are of the opinion that big machines are more effective then it is time to change your thought. It has been seen that in most cases a medium/small sized dozer has been more effective than a large sized machine. So considering the kind of project and the site, you should be looking for a dozer that suits your needs.

     

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