Tag Archives: Maintenance

7 Essential Tips for Maintaining Your Heavy Equipment: Maximizing Efficiency and Lifespan

Heavy equipment is an essential component of many industries, including construction, mining, and agriculture. These machines are designed to handle tough jobs and withstand harsh conditions, but they still require regular maintenance to function at their best. Neglecting maintenance can lead to breakdowns, costly repairs, and lost productivity. Here are some tips for maintaining your heavy equipment:

  1. Follow the Manufacturer’s Maintenance Schedule Heavy equipment manufacturers provide maintenance schedules for their machines. These schedules outline the recommended maintenance tasks and the intervals at which they should be performed. Following these schedules can help ensure that your equipment is well-maintained and can extend its lifespan.
  2. Conduct Regular Inspections Regular inspections are essential for catching potential problems before they become major issues. During inspections, check for signs of wear and tear, leaks, loose parts, and other issues that could affect the performance of your equipment. Addressing these issues early can help prevent more significant problems down the line.
  3. Keep Equipment Clean Dirt, dust, and debris can accumulate on heavy equipment and cause damage over time. Keeping your equipment clean can help prevent this. Regularly wash your equipment with a pressure washer or hose and scrub away any grime or buildup. This can help prevent rust and other forms of corrosion.
  4. Lubricate Moving Parts Heavy equipment has many moving parts that require lubrication to function correctly. Regularly lubricating these parts can help prevent wear and tear and reduce the risk of breakdowns. Check your equipment’s manual for guidance on which parts need lubrication and how often.
  5. Train Operators on Proper Use Operators who are not properly trained on how to use heavy equipment can cause unnecessary wear and tear. They may also use the equipment in ways that could cause damage. Providing proper training can help ensure that your equipment is used correctly and can extend its lifespan.
  6. Store Equipment Properly Storing your equipment properly when not in use can help prevent damage and extend its lifespan. Store equipment in a dry, covered area to protect it from the elements. Use proper tie-downs to prevent shifting during transport and store the equipment on level ground to prevent damage.
  7. Replace Worn Parts Even with proper maintenance, parts of your heavy equipment will eventually wear out and need to be replaced. Don’t delay in replacing worn parts, as this can cause further damage to the equipment and create safety hazards for operators. Keep an inventory of spare parts and schedule replacements as needed.

By following these tips, you can help ensure that your heavy equipment remains in top condition and functions efficiently for years to come. Regular maintenance and inspections can help prevent breakdowns and costly repairs, while proper use and storage can extend the lifespan of your equipment. When in doubt, consult the equipment’s manual or a professional mechanic for guidance on maintenance and repairs.

Dozer tips

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Operating a dozer is considered to be far simpler than perhaps operating any other form of heavy equipment. It is said that the number of applications you have inside the cabin are lesser comparatively other machines and this is why it is never a problem to learn to operate a dozer. On the contrary, first times users are recommended to first experience operating a dozer first than any other form of heavy equipment. Once you are able to achieve control over the different functions in the machine, life becomes simpler for you. Thereafter you can try out other form of heavy equipment and learn to operate them as well. There is specifically no ground rule to learn to operate a dozer. So if you ask for any sort of tips from a veteran who has been running a dozer for ages will not be able to say anything in particular. All he might say is that you got to concentrate on your work and understand the various functions of the machine.

To start with providing any tips that can be given on operating a dozer, one must begin with;

Knowing the various functions of the machine:-

You got to know your system well in order to work on it. As long as you are unaware of all the devices in there it will be rather difficult for you to manage the movement of the dozer. Once you are inside the cabin the movement of the dozer is your responsibility and you should understand that you are dealing with something very serious hence if anything goes wrong or a minor blunder form your end can cost the company in tons. Therefore it is crucial that you take your stuffs seriously and learn about the functions you have in the dozer, understanding the various utility of the functions and thereby work on it to access better control over it.

Proper maintenance in the key:-

Dozers are meant for rough working conditions but this does not mean that you can keep that going all along without giving proper break and not servicing it. The machine also needs rest like we do and timely maintenance is of utter importance. Failing which can lead to severe complications in the machine. Maintaining the machine also comes under the chapter of how to keep the dozer safe. This simply means that by changing the oil and properly greasing the machine you are lengthening its life and also ensuring that the machine performs safely without any hiccups at all times. If not done then there are high chances that its parts may start becoming rogue and you have to ultimately face the music of your boss?

 Best way to learn to operate a dozer:-

There could be no other better way to learn to operate a dozer other than watching a veteran does it and you sit along with him and see him working. You got to make a note of his activities and understand how he is working with the machine. This will prove to be a useful tip for you going forward in your career.

Regular maintenance is vital. It can fetch a good resale value.

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We have seen so many instances where we tend to forget things that are very important for us. For example, paying utility bills. These things however can be corrected if you pay them later but there are few things that are so important that you just can’t afford to delay and if you fail to take care of those things in a timely manner, it will have a big direct impact on your business and may take a good amount of money to get it resurrected.

One of the thing that you just can’t miss is giving your heavy equipment for regular maintenance. If you have construction business then you know it far better than any person the importance of heavy equipment in your industry. Heavy equipment is considered to be the lifeline of the construction, mining and agricultural sectors. Without the machines, one just can’t imagine to conduct his business smoothly. Machines do undergo a lot of wear and tear if they are put to work rigorously for all the days in a week and if not checked in time it will give up soon and may come to a stage where the cost of getting it repaired will become way too expensive. A wise businessman will undoubtedly want to save his money from getting spent in such unnecessary expenditures.

Apart from incurring an additional expense, if one manages to do timely servicing of his heavy equipment then he has far better chances of getting a good resale value. You can also fetch a good rental value if at all you plan to give it on rent. It has ideally been seen that big construction houses believe a lot in upgrading their machines that are more technologically savvy and far better than the old models. Now the question is what they do with the existing machines. Well, they either sell it off at a dirt cheap rate to small time construction companies or simply rent it out.

They probably do not make any money by selling it at a cheaper rate. It is because they were never bothered to give their machines to a mechanic for servicing. They are perhaps so busy with work that they hardly care about the maintenance part or assign a person who will take care of the maintenance part of the machines. If the man fails to do his work properly, then the machine starts showing problems and eventually it gets sold at a very cheap rate. It is therefore important to assign somebody really trustworthy who can take up this work quite seriously and won’t fumble with his responsibilities.

Other than this, if one services his machine at regular intervals, it increases the longevity of the machine and it can sustain under tremendously difficult terrains. People buying used equipment will definitely pay a good price for something that’s reliable and won’t give up when they really want the machine to work.

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Highway Construction and Maintenance to Reduce Accidents

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We all know that road is a chief means of transport that helps in developing the nations in all aspects. Roads help the nations to unite with each other. Earlier, travelling from one nation to another by roadways is quite problematic for the people but as the world is developing technologically, different modernised equipments are discovered to make the roads smooth so that travel becomes easy. Highway construction is basically a part of the civil engineering course that comprises of planning, design, construction, operation and preservation of roads, flyovers, and subways to provide safe and time-saving travel to the people. The highway engineer planned and design highways keeping in the mind the augmenting problem of traffic. There are many methods in constructing highways.

Various Designs of Highway Construction

The location, configuration and the shape of the highways are decided in the designing phase by the engineers. The engineers design the highway after completing the phase of planning and development. The designs of the highways depend on three features that are human, vehicular and roadway. It is the duty of the highway engineers to design the road properly so that the number of the accident cases reduced a little bit. There are many designs involved in highway construction that are as follows:

  • Lane width
  • Alignment, super elevation and grades
  • Level of Service (LOS)
  • Design traffic volume
  • Design speed
  • Number of lanes
  • Sight distance
  • Cross section
  • Horizontal and vertical clearance

Other than these there is a kind of design that is known as flexible pavement design. This design comprises of three or four layers and the longevity of this type of designed highways is 15 to 20 years. The speciality of this design is that the pavement is made up of hot mix asphalt.  Rigid pavement design is another important genus of highway construction design. This design is chiefly employed in building airports and foremost highways. Portland Cement Concrete is the most common substance that is used in this design. The longevity of this sort of design is more than 30 years and is constructed in three layers.

Methods of highway construction

  • Subbase course construction is a technique of highway construction that is positioned between the subgrade and base course of the path. The width of the subbase usually comes in the range of 4 to 16 inches and it is planned to support the structure of the pavement. The different materials used in this method are gravel, crushed stone, fly ash, cement or lime.
  • Base course construction is another kind of highway construction mode that is placed directly under the surface course. The usual thickness of this base course varies from 4 to 6 inches. When the heavy loads are put on the surface of the pavement, this base course becomes powerful to handle that load. The materials utilised in base course construction are often applied with cement, calcium chloride, sodium chloride, fly ash or lime. This amalgamation helps the base course to carry the heavy load of the pavement properly.

 

 

 

 

Skipping Monthly Maintenance Can Deteriorate The Quality Of An Equipment

The heavy equipment working on the site has to go through a lot on a daily basis. For instance an excavator which is given the job to dig the earth becomes covered with dust by the end of the day and if it is not washed properly, it may start developing problems. This instance suggests that we need to clean the equipment daily if it is completely drenched in dirt. But it also needs something more than just a mere washing. It is very important to service the machine at least once in a month. By servicing a machine, it implies that an expert hand is required to undo the parts of the machine so that it can go to the depth of it and wipe away the dust that gets accumulated in the most interior parts of the machine.

It is not particularly the engine that needs to be taken care the most. It is perhaps the overall stuff that needs to be properly checked and if anything seems to be not working up to the mark needs to be replaced by a workable part.  Let us first do a “Root Cause Analysis” of why do we need to service the machine and then we may talk about how we maintain it.

Not cleaning the machine may pave way for the dust to settle in the most interior parts of the machine:-  We all have seen how a construction site looks like. It’s way too dusty and becomes almost suffocating for a person to stand in and work all day. Imagine what a machine has to go through. Just because it can’t react doesn’t means it doesn’t go through complications. Not trying to win any human sentiments, machines convey a lot to us through its performances. If it is not washed daily, there are high chances of dust getting settled down in the most interior parts of the machine causing blockage. With time, this will deteriorate the quality of the parts of the machine which eventually will make the part obsolete. Getting a new part in the mid of work will day the entire day’s productivity for a toss and will eventually lead to losses to the business.

May result in blockage in the engine:-  The dust may settle down near the engine blocking the flow of oil to the engine. That will cause more friction in the piston which will ultimately crack down the engine.

Certain preemptive steps should be taken to minimize the problem and that could be done only through servicing the machine on a monthly or on need-on basis.

Follow the manual stringently:-  The user-manual gives you plenty of steps that can be taken to prevent any complication with the machine. One should make it a rule to read the user manual before he starts using it. It also states how one should keep the machine to increase its longevity.

Take help of an expert to get things fixed:-  If there happens to be any problem with the machine, it’s prudent to take help of an expert to get it fixed. Please don’t try to fix it yourself or you may make it worst.

Tips for Maintenance of heavy construction equipment

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With new construction taking place all over the world, the construction companies are always in need for heavy construction equipment that is in proper working condition. As there is a huge work load at the construction sites and the equipment has to perform for long and break-less hours, it is very likely that the equipment gets damaged and as a result it decreases the quantity and quality of its performance. So following some simple yet useful tips of maintenance is very helpful.

Why do you need to maintain the heavy construction equipment with special care?

As the heavy construction equipment performs heavy duty in the work field or construction site, it faces severe damage. From damage to the parts of the equipment and to the engine mal function, there can be many types of damages caused to the heavy construction equipment. If these damages are not treated from the very beginning, it will gradually lead to severe problems and as a result, it will stop the construction work for long. So it is always better to deal with the damage and keep a proper maintenance of the equipment so that the owner does not have to spend a lot of money in taking the equipment to the service center.

Tips to maintain the heavy construction equipment:

  • There is no better alternative than to go for a daily checking of the heavy construction equipment. While you do this, you must see to all the worn out parts of the equipment, and note carefully if it is damaging the performance of the equipment.
  • The nest most important thing is to notice if there is any oil leakage from any part of the equipment. If there is something in the notice, then it must have an immediate attention.
  • Clearing the air filter and checking if it is working properly or if you not it may cause equipment failure. Damage to the air filter means reduction in the life of the equipment.
  • Every day, at the beginning of the working hours and at the end of the working hours, the equipment should be fuelled properly. This is because, an empty fuel tank will damage the hydraulic engine and the load on the engine will increase. Not only that, a full fuel tank increases the performance of the equipment.
  • Check whether the electrical cords are in proper condition or not. If the casing gets damaged, then it might lead to accidents or the equipment might also not work properly.

Benefits of maintaining the heavy construction equipment:

The heavy construction equipment needs regular maintenance. (Call B&R Equipment Mechanic or Lube Technicians).  This is because it will decrease the cost of servicing and increase the life of the equipment. With higher performance rate and reduced fuel consumption rate as a result of regular change in the engine oil, hydraulic oil filter and engine oil filter the profit of the user will be more than satisfactory.