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How to fix the tracks on an excavator when falling off

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While you are at work in the construction jobsite, you can’t afford to see the heavy equipment not functioning due to technical snags. That is perhaps the last thing you want to happen. This is why many construction companies these days hire mechanics who come to the jobsite the moment they get a call and try to fix the issue in the next few hours. However, if the problem is grave then it may even take days for them to resolve and this will have a severe impact on your day’s work. You then have to make it up once you have the heavy equipment up and running and you got to ask your employees to stretch to cover up the pending work. This is a big problem which many construction companies encounter when they are not vigilant about the current status of the machine.

Another big issue is with tracks of the excavator getting off the machine. They just come out while you are at work and you are not sure what to do to get that fixed. Calling up a mechanic may not always be the right option though it is a recommended one. But the fact of the matter is mechanics at times have their own commitments and they may not answer your call or may take their time to come. So you got your work tied up as you are heavily dependent on a mechanic to get the track of the excavator fixed.

When you see the track of the excavator is falling off, you can try things on your own to get it resolved and may not even need the assistance of any mechanic for that matter. All you have to do is make use of the boom to lift the side where you see the track has gone derailed and use a heavy piece of wood to prop it up. In this way you simply back off the tension and then can make use of a bucket to put the track on the line by pressing it against the track. Once that is done you drive the track on from the cab. A word of caution will be do not move the excavator from its place till you fix up the track. You did not need any special tool to get this going and was also quite simple.

In case you do not see that to be working then the next best option will be to call up a mechanic or someone who had encountered this issue previously and was able to fix it on his own. He may be the guy for you and can but it back. What you got to do is check how the mechanic puts it back on track so that if it happens the next time you know what you have to do to get it resolved on your own. There are many things in heavy equipment that does not require the intervention of a mechanic and one can get things done on his own and fixing the tracks on an excavator is one such job.

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How to purchase worthy heavy equipment

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Be it a construction business that owns heavy equipment or contractors who uses their heavy equipment in various construction sites, they all are worried about one basic thing and that is have they bought worthy heavy equipment? Is the machine going to work for many years as promised by the dealer or the heavy equipment company? These thoughts do make several rounds in the mind of the person who has recently bought heavy equipment and it is also very obvious for them to worry about the worthiness of the machine. They buy heavy equipment after investing thousands of dollars and they want suitable outcome of their invested money. They just want the machine to function when it is required to.

There are few things that one needs to do before he decides to go for procuring heavy equipment. These steps are simple but many skip doing them due to several reasons better known to them.

Go for a good brand:-

Purchasing heavy equipment from a famous brand has a lot of merits. A famous brand will not afford to play around with the quality of the machine and therefore whatever they will manufacture will be of top notch quality. Though they may sound to be expensive but will be very reliable when it comes to performing on the jobsite. You may have to shell more money while buying the item but then it will save your money as far as fuel consumption is concerned which becomes another major cause of worry to the owners of heavy equipment. Moreover, they will cost less on maintenance and will be more productive unlike machines of less popular brands which start giving problem after few months of purchase.

Take valuable suggestion from industry experts:-

It makes a lot of sense to take suggestion from few people who knows the in and out of the subject and then take your call. The heavy equipment company will speak all positive about the machine but you will get to know about its negative side from industry experts who have been working on different kinds of heavy equipment for the last many years. They might be in a better position to give you valuable suggestion about a particular machine. You might also consider taking suggestions from more than one person. However, refrain from involving too many people as that might confuse you and weaken your decision making ability.

Take an expert with you to shop for heavy equipment:-

Ask an expert to accompany you whenever you decide to buy machines. This is perhaps one of the best options you can take to purchase worthy heavy equipment. It will actually allow the expert to personally check the machine and also ask certain intrinsic questions which are technical in nature that you may have skipped to ask. This will always prove to be advantageous to you. The only criteria will be that you should know he is a trustworthy guy and will not mislead you.

 

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How to level the land using a grader

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For a construction activity to begin on a site, it is very important that you have the site leveled so that when the heavy equipment moves on the roads, they do not feel the unwanted jerks and bumps. The work of a heavy equipment operator is never so easy and when you do not have the land leveled it causes all the more trouble to the person working inside the cabin of the machine. He is just not able to position himself properly and this might have some serious implication on his work. It is therefore very crucial to have the ground at a same level so that it makes working for every individual safe and hassle free. Now the machine that can do the work for the construction laborers as well as for the operators is nothing else but a grader.

Generally, a grader is made up of 3 axles. The first axle is located with the engine and on top of the cabin, the second axle is at the front end of the machine and the third one is located at the rear end. It also has a blade in between which does most of the cutting work. So the operator who will be working with the machine needs to check if the blade is sharp enough to do the job and once he is sure about its efficiency, he can begin with grading the land. When we talk about grading it means removing the unwanted substance which is the reason to bumpy roads. So the work of the grader is to cut lose those unwanted substance which can then be disposed in the dump yard truck. A grader is also used to set native soil foundation pads which helps to finish grading quickly before large buildings could be constructed.

Since not all lands are the same. In the same way we can’t use just one type of grader. Graders are of many types but with the basic function to weed out anything and everything that comes in its way. We will normally see a grader with a blade in between but now we can also find graders without blades. Instead of a blade, they have a fork front which becomes fruitful to knock down the hard substance that is quite solidly attached to the ground. The fork fronts of the grader are of different sizes and it also largely depends upon the kind of land it has to work on. If the land is rock solid and quite vast, then the bigger size will be brought to use but if it is for a small place with not much to cut then perhaps the smaller one can do the trick.

The blade of the grader is not only restricted to cutting process but is also used for spreading and leveling. You can flatten a surface if you do not spread soil over it and it sounds absolutely insane for someone to use another machine for spreading soil. Therefore we have the grader taking care of this part of the work.

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How to tighten the tracks on heavy equipment

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Though been one of the most important components in the construction industry, heavy earth moving equipment is sadly the most ignored element of all. Construction companies are all running a race against time. All they know is to complete the assigned work in time or for that matter before time so that they can catch up with another piece of work and in this entire process they fail to remember that they need to give a bit of attention to an important segment which is the earth moving heavy machines. Construction companies are heavily dependent on mechanics whenever they see an issue with any of their equipment. This is not a bad thing to do but depending completely on something can also take a toll on your work when you do not find the team around to get your work done and you do not know how to get things moving in the absence of the team. This can certainly leave you in a high and dry situation and can also cost a fortune to the company.

So the ground rule is you got to take enough notice of your heavy equipment and learn a few things that you can do to fix things in the absence of a mechanic. One of the most common problems is with the track of the heavy equipment. They come out way too often and you are unable to figure out how to get rid of this issue. Well, you will not be able to get rid of it completely but maintaining the overall machine on a timely manner which also takes into account the track of the machine can certainly reduce the frequency of the problem. But when you have encountered a problem like this and have nobody around to help you out, here are few things that you can do yourself to get it track back.

Firstly, you have to ensure that you turn the upper part of the machine so that the boom is at a 90 degree angle to the travel direction. After that you got to check that the bucket floor level is to the ground by positioning the arm upright to the ground. You then need to press down the boom so that the track is elevated on one side and then gradually it is completely suspended above ground level. Once that done, you need to ensure that the track makes several revolutions so that the debris and other dirt can come out. Once that’s done, stop the track from moving and move in the cab. Ask your assistant to measure the bottom of the track frame to the track shoe and compare it with the measurements given in the user manual.

You may also have to inject grease in the small hole of the track frame and for this purpose use a grease injector. This will help to tighten the track. Once the tracks are tightened, make use of a wrench to loosen the fitting and get the track on the ground. Just in case you see any issues and can’t figure out to fix it, stop there and seek help of an expert.

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How to clean your heavy equipment

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We tend to be very particular with it comes to completing our job and sending the invoice to the client to make the payment but there is one thing that we neglect a lot and which can cost a company dearly. We for variety of reasons do not give a lot of importance to maintain our heavy equipment. It is perhaps the only most important thing in a jobsite that remains covered with filth and hardly catches the attention of anybody. The operator is perhaps the only person who is concerned about it as he has to work inside the cabin and he can’t work with all the filth covering the face of the machine. Well, it does not make any sense to keep earth moving machines in dirt just by assuming that there is no use to clean it as it is going to become dirty again the next day.

On the contrary, what makes sense is to keep the machine clean, properly oiled and always up and running. Not cleaning the heavy equipment can lead to serious implication that may even result to sudden break down of the machine or replacing vital parts that will cost a lot. What is rather needed is to clean the machine couple of times in a week and if possible more than that. This will not only keep the machine clean but will also lengthen its life.

You can make use of a power wash machine if you know how to use it or can give it to a cleaner who will charge you a petty sum to clean the machine and you get back washed earth moving equipment with no filth on its body. Firstly, if you want to clean the machine on your own, you can buy a power washer and can begin with cleaning the machine right from the word GO. However, you may want to read the manual first before you start handling it. You may have used a power washer previously but if you have a new one now, you may want to try it out steadily.

Put the power washer on high pressure so that the water is sprayed with high pressure and it reaches the interior of the equipment. The interior of the machine is known to accommodate most of the dirt and grease. In order to degrease, the water should be sprayed at high pressure and should hit right at the target. This will help to clean the most critical portion of the machine. However, it is also important to add some detergent which creates foam and helps to degrease easily.

Using cold water will take more time and water to clean the machine. Therefore, it will be advisable to use warm water for this purpose. The water should not be boiling hot though. Just mild warm and it will do its work. Please note that cleaning heavy equipment on a monthly basis will not allow the grease to harden and can be easily removed.

How to protect your heavy equipment against theft

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A construction business gives a lot of importance to its heavy equipment as they understand how crucial it is for the smooth running of the business and which is why they take every care to ensure that it works fine all the time. They take necessary steps to keep the equipment well maintained, service it at regular intervals and if they see a need to replace any of the faulty part with a new one, they do it immediately. But there is one particular thing which not all big construction businesses give due importance to and it is protecting their heavy equipment against theft.

There have been a lot of instances of theft in many parts of US and the number is simply rising. The cops are also having a hard time to get hold of the gang who is into this. So it becomes the responsibility of the owners to take utmost precaution of their equipment when it comes to theft. Please do not consider it to be a trivial matter. There is a parallel industry operating who are into selling stolen machines at a considerably cheaper rate. The modus operandi is fairly simple. They first lay their eyes on machines that are not sufficiently guarded. Once they have identified such equipment, they do a thorough study of the zone and chalk out a plan to get it out safely from the zone without letting anybody get a sniff of it.

Let us now talk about the solution. First and foremost once you buy heavy equipment, ensure that it is registered with National Equipment Register. They are the organization that preserves the databases of heavy equipment. So in case if your machine gets stolen, you can raise an alarm and let the cops know about it. The cops will then get the relevant information from the National Equipment Register’s office and will find it helpful to track down your machine.

It is also crucial to do a background verification of all your employees. It is not that your employees will steal the machine but they can turn out to be an accomplice. The gang ideally will first send one of its members to your company and will get employed as a laborer. But his main intention is to know how well you guard your equipment and will try to draw loopholes. Taking benefits of those loopholes they will hatch a plan and execute it before you even get to know anything about it. Therefore, doing stringent background verification is way too important.

You got to keep the jobsite well-lit at all times. Thieves can make good use of darkness and can steal away any heavy item. They are smart and therefore you got to be smarter. If possible, install heavy duty cams all around the jobsite whose visuals shall be monitored inside the security cabin so that they get to know who is doing what with the machine. Following these basic steps can help you in a big way to keep your heavy equipment safe.

How to buy second hand heavy equipment

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There have been often instances where you get a lot of construction projects but you are unsure if you can take them all. The issue is with the limited resources that you have at your disposal. You may not have sufficient manpower or heavy equipment to start working on the new project. Hiring additional manpower is no big deal as you can hire people in a matter of days but the real challenge will be with procuring heavy equipment. Construction companies always run tight on budget and when all of a sudden they get some new projects that they were not expecting can really leave them thinking if they should indeed agree to take them. Taking new projects means spending funds on buying heavy machineries and then to sit tight for months till you get any payments from the project givers. This actually makes your position vulnerable and can also give you thoughts to deny accepting the work.

Well, this entire situation may definitely sound to be quite challenging but there is a solution to it and that is to buy second hand heavy equipment. It is also amply simple to buy used machines at much lesser price than the market price for the new ones. First thing first, you can get in touch with the authorized dealer in your area and check if he has any used machine with him or if he knows anybody who is willing to sell second hand equipment. These guys often have information and they can pass it on to you. The transaction may happen by keeping him in the loop which means that he will take a cut out of the deal. However, you can be assured that you will get the best deal.

The next option is to check with guys in your circle if they know anybody selling used machines. If you need more than one machine, it is better that you stick to the dealer but if you are looking for just one machine, you can talk it out to guys in your circle and you may get some lead.

The third option is probably the best that one can avail. You can search for second hand heavy equipment on the internet and it will throw number of options to you. You do not have to compromise on anything out there since you have plenty of options and you can take your time to select the best deal. Just go through the description as you will get to know a lot about the heavy equipment through its description. You can then establish contact with the seller and close the deal if you like the stuff.

There is one more option which some people prefer to take. They get in touch with the guys who pick up old machines, refurbishes it by installing new parts that makes the machine run smoothly and can give a good fight to the new ones. They sell such heavy equipment at an unbelievably low price and therefore it does make some sense to buy machines from them. However, it is not much recommended one.

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How to protect heavy equipment during winter

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Heavy equipment has to go through a lot of hardships and unlike humans it does not complain. Well, it does break down when it is unable to take any further but it has a very high level of endurance which makes it the most important component of the construction industry. However, it also becomes futile in front of extreme weather and rough terrain. Be it the hot summer or the wet monsoon or the harsh winter, it is expected to perform throughout the year but there is always a chance of it breaking down if the weather becomes extreme. More so in the winter, when the weather outside is frozen and the inside of the machine needs to be hot. Most of the times, it cranks up and does not start. It is therefore that the heavy equipment owners have to take extra care when it comes to their heavy equipment operating in chilled winter season.

Check if the engine is well lubricated:-

Most of the parts of the machine need to be well lubricated in order to function without any hick-ups. Hence, the operator needs to keep a very close watch and check time to time if the machine is well lubricated and special care needs to be taken with the engine of the machine. The engine oil should be changed on a regular basis and especially during winters, it should be changed once in a month. Due to the frozen climate outside, the oil becomes thick and it does not act as a good lubricator then. This may also affect the health of other parts of the machine which will eventually lead to complete replacement of that part. It absolutely makes no sense to invest money on buying new parts when you can easily change the engine oil at regular intervals.

Clean the fuel tank:-

Cleaning the fuel tank may sound to be trivial but is very crucial when it comes to the overall health of the heavy equipment. You need to clean the fuel tank cap and ensure that the cap is doing well. The fuel should be clean and should not contain any sediment or water. The presence of these components can become a big problem pertaining to fuel injection system failures.

Ensure that the batteries are in good health:-

It is perhaps the batteries that are the affected the most with the beginning of the winter. In order to ensure that the batteries are doing well, the operator should check the battery electrolyte and make sure that it is up to the full indicator and also above the plates. Another trivial but important part is to clean the top of the battery. There happens to be a lot of dirt on the top of the stuff and that can result in energy drain. You can make use of baking soda and terminal bush to clean any corrosion that exists around the posts. If you see that the heavy equipment will not be used during the winters and will be needed some other time, you can just remove the batteries and keep them in a storeroom so that it avoids any direct contact with the outside freezing weather.

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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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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.