Tag Archives: Heavy Equipment

Tips on how to run a track loader

Heavy equipment like dozer, excavators and track loaders are not so easy to run and require years of experience to understand how to deal with the machine in different conditions. For instance, if you are working on a rugged land or trying to clear trees in a forest, you will experience severe hardships to operate the machine. Simultaneously, not every machine is meant to do all kinds of work and therefore you should be depending on the best, the one that has the ability to perform the task. Operating heavy equipment is certainly not like driving a car and is a far complex subject. So for beginners, getting into something this complex without someone experienced beside you can lead you into a deeper mess. It has often been witnessed that the best of the operators had a tough time dealing with situations and they take a day’s time to complete a job that perhaps take few hours to complete in a normal situation.

We would be discussing in length on how to operate a track loader that is considered to be one of the most important and effective heavy equipment in the construction sector.

Brakes are your priority:-

When you are on the tracks of a crawler loader, you must ensure that no one gets under it. Proper functioning of brakes should be the uttermost priority of an operator. Once you slip inside the cabin, the first thing you got to check is if the brakes are in order. Try to push the brakes using your feet and see if it’s getting pressed smoothly. Anything wrong with it can have very serious consequences and also has the potency to damage the machines and injure people.

Making optimum usage of joysticks:-

Joysticks are the eyes of the machine. You need to learn how to use it optimally. In order to move the machine to your right, you need to make use of the joystick that is located to the right of the driver and in order to move it to the left, pull the one that is to the left of the driver. The joystick is also used to control the boom. The drive rods also play an important role as far as the movement of the loader is concerned. The drive rod is used to operate the tread at the bottom of the machine. The drive rod is also used to increase or decrease the speed of the tread. So if you move the drive rod forward, it tend to move ahead and pulling backwards will take the tread back. In case you want to turn the machine to your right, simply hold the drive rod located to the right of the machine and move it forward without doing anything to the one on the left. This will tilt the machine to the right.

Take help of the user manual:-

Referring to the user manual is another option one can go for. The user manual contains lot many ways and process to run the machine and especially when you get stuck on something, it is advisable to refer to the book and come out of the situation.

 

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Land clearing with big heavy equipment

Land clearing is probably one of the most difficult jobs in the construction business. It takes a good amount of time to get a small piece of land cleared especially when the work is to demolish an existing construction and take the debris from there and dump it elsewhere. You need to have several pieces heavy equipment in order to do this job. Just using a bulldozer or an excavator may not be sufficient to do the entire job and in case if you want it to be done sooner then you got to deploy more such machines. Clearing land can become quite a challenging task taking into consideration the existing structure that needs to be demolished. Quite often, a contractor may get the work to demolish a big house and may be given very little time to complete the work. It becomes very crucial for him to deploy suitable heavy equipment that have the capacity to complete the work in time. It has ideally been seen that contractors get nightmares when they are given contracts of land clearing within a stipulated time. They are of the opinion that land clearing is not a job that can be done in few days. It may take a long time to break an existing structure part by part and then carry the debris and dump them in the dump yard. They also suffer from the problem of not having sufficient number of heavy equipment. Either they have already deployed few heavy equipment at some projects and can’t get them off from there or they simply do not have the equipment with them and may have to arrange it from somewhere which might take long. The machines that are typically used for land clearing are bulldozers, excavators, backhoe loaders, wheel loaders etc. Then you also need trucks to transport the debris to the dump yard. It is highly unlikely for a contractor to have all the equipment with him and therefore it becomes a challenge for him to collect all the needed stuffs and then begin the job. When it comes to land clearing that has big trees on it, it becomes all the more difficult. The contractors then need equipment that can cut the trees, make logs of them and then transport it to the destined place. In order to do this job, they need grade chain saw and staff that knows how to operate the saw. Cutting the trees requires special skill. You need to cut the tree in a way that it falls at the spot you want it to fall. If it falls in some other place, it may cause serious repercussions. So in a way, you are dealing with something very serious and dangerous. If you manage to cut the tree properly, you also got to ensure that the tree doesn’t roll over on you or any other person present on the site. A lot of safety precautions are needed to be taken when it comes to land clearing.

 

Caterpillar 336E Excavator

Right from building a house or a tall rise to constructing bridges, dams and roads, you need an excavator for every type of work. Excavators are the machines that dig the earth and get the mud out. It is needed for several purposes. Most importantly, it is needed to prepare a foundation for the building. So you dig up the ground to start setting pillars from there and in order to do this digging business, you need a good excavator. Excavators are of different sizes. You can get a smaller one for small excavation works or deploy a bigger one for huge construction or mining projects. The size of an excavator depends largely upon the kind of project you will need it for.

All the construction equipment manufacturing companies produce excavators with different unique features that hit the consumer market every year. However, the excavators produced by CAT are simply outstanding out of the league. Caterpillar’s 336E excavator is one such extraordinary piece of steel that does not have much competition from its rivals. Caterpillar has always maintained its performance and has ensured that the trust consumers have on the brand remains intact. It is because of this CAT products get overwhelmingly positive responses whenever it comes out with a new model. People are dead sure that it will have something new to offer them.

Speaking more about the 336E excavator, the machine has a net power of 266 hp. The figure only suggests how good the machine is in terms of power. It has a displacement of 537 cu in and the total operating weight of the machine is 30498 kg or about 68,000 lbs. The fuel capacity of the excavator is 620 liters with the cooling system fluid capacity and hydraulic system fluid capacity of 40 and 410 liters respectively. One of the most intrinsic features of the machine is its engine oil capacity which is 40 liters. Not many machines of this size has this capacity of engine oil installed in it. The hydraulic pump flow capacity is 280 liters per minute and the swing drive fluid capacity is 19 liters and the speed of the swing is around 10 rpm.

Changing our focus on the undercarriage, the shoe size is around 800 mm with maximum travel speed of 5km per hour and a drawbar pull of 300 KN. The minimum and the maximum capacity of the bucket is around 1.2 yd3 and 3.3 yd3 respectively. This model of excavator can be installed with 3 different boom/sticks. HEX1, HEX2 and HEX3. The maximum digging depth for all the 3 options are 27 ft. in, 24.6 ft. in and 21.8 ft. in respectively.

If you intend to buy this machine, you can get in touch with the nearest authorized Caterpillar dealer or heavy equipment dealer and he should be able to help you with the proceedings to buy this stuff. Caterpillar has managed to keep the price within the range so that people do not find it very hard to buy it. One can even visit Caterpillar’s website and can order it online.

 

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Heavy Equipment being used in a Rock Quarry

We have seen the use of heavy equipment in the construction sector but the very same heavy equipment also play a pivotal role when it comes to the mining industry. Rock Quarry is one much business that requires good heavy machineries to work on it and get the minerals extracted. A rock quarry site is not so often seen like a construction site which can be seen at every nook and corner of the area we are living in. It is found more in an isolated area that is inhabited by no humans. The sight that you will get is a barren land with huge piles of rock all around and men working with big machines. However, what kind of machines can be used on those heavy rocks is a thought that must have pondered many minds. When you extract minerals from the crust of the earth, you got to follow few processes for that and you require the help of the machines to follow the required processes.

There is a need of stripping and drilling equipment when it comes to rock quarrying. In order to extract the minerals, you first need to quarry the rocks that is on the surface and for that you need to either strip the surface or blast it with some explosive. In case you decide to strip the surface, then you can make use of heavy equipment like crawler tractors. Bulldozers are used to break the rocks wherever needed and then the crawler tractors are used to carry the dirt using its big blades it has in the front. It can also rip the rock apart with the help of the ripper arms that is fitted at the rear of the machine.

A wheel loader also comes handy in quarrying rock. They are widely used to load the dirt in trucks or tractors. They use their hydraulic arm and bucket to perform this job. The intrinsic feature of the bucket is that they are real huge and has the capacity to carry dirt weighing almost 35 tons. A wheel loader is a must in a rock quarrying site and one can’t think of working without it. Other than just lifting dirt into tractors, they are also used to load the mined products on the trucks which can be then transported for further processing. If the rock quarrying site is huge, then it makes perfect sense to deploy big wheel loaders. However, if the operation is limited to a small site, then one can make use of small wheel loaders as they are available in different sizes.

Last but not the least an off-highway truck also forms an important component in the family of heavy machinery that are used in rock quarrying activities. These big trucks are used extensively to carry huge piles of stuffs from one place to another. You can’t take the service of ordinary trucks that we see on the roads. These are special trucks that are used exclusively for transporting mined materials.

Cat D6R Dozers

Big construction companies go for the best heavy equipment in the industry and when we talk about the best heavy equipment manufacturing companies, we have one name that has been very prominent all over the years in terms of upgrading its technology, delivering high level performance and ensuring that it has customer base is content with its service and quality and that name is Caterpillar. Caterpillar as we shortly pronounce it as CAT has been the leader in this segment for the last many years. Despite of numerous cut throat competitions from all corners, it has still managed to keep its position intact.

Though all the heavy equipment manufactured by CAT are of supreme quality, it specializes in producing excellent dozers for its customers. We will be speaking in length about the D6R dozer and would highlight few of its specification and the fact from where a person should buy this model.

CAT D6R dozer is a powerful machine with a net power of 175 hp and is turbocharged. It has a displacement of 638 cu in and the total number of cylinders it can hold is 6. The operational weight of the machine is 41900 lb and the fuel capacity is 383 litres. This is quite phenomenal as it has enough space for fuel and can run for days without having the need to refuel. The cooling system fluid capacity is 74 litres, engine oil capacity is 27.5 litres and hydraulic fluid capacity is 76 litres. The operating voltage of this dozer is 24V and the alternator supplied amperage is 70 amps.

Let’s change our gears and speak about its gears. It has 3 forward and 3 backward gears with a maximum forward speed of around 12 km per hour and backward speed of around 15 km per hour. It has a standard show size of 22in and the total number of shoes each side is 41. The total number of track rollers that it has on each side is 7. It has a hydraulic pumping system that has a flow capacity of 190 litres per minute which is pretty good. If we talk about the blade, the width of the blade it has is 3260 mm and the height of the blade is 1412 mm and the cutting depth it has is around 459 mm.

CAT D6R dozers are available at any CAT store or heavy equipment dealer or you can even order it over the phone. However, if you want to inspect the machine first before buying it, you can visit to the nearest CAT store or heavy construction dealer and check if they have the model available. You can then inspect the stuff and see if it suits your requirement. Caterpillar has tried to keep the rates modest and you can also check if the company can offer you any discount. Ideally, discounts are given on bulk purchases.

Buying the dozers online is another option that you can go for. You can compare the price of the dozers from other sellers and then take a wise decision.

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Tips on how to run a dozer

Operating heavy equipment is no child’s play and it requires good deal of skill and knowledge to operate any kind of machine. People who possess years of experience can also experience tough time operating equipment and if we consider someone who has just taken the cabin, he needs to ensure that he does not bump it off to people working on the site. Construction companies usually take due care of their machines and do not let it out to a novice. It will be a big risk to let a beginner operate heavy equipment without the presence of a senior person or veteran operator inside the cabin. He will definitely need guidance that will help him to learn to operate the machine and will eventually make him a better operator.

Out of the many machines, a bulldozer is the one that has been found to be extremely difficult to operate in rough terrain. If you try to work with a big dozer in a place which has been affected by some kind of natural calamity, you will get to know the sort of toll it can have on a person. When the land is hit by a storm or a hurricane and leaves everything wrecked, you need a dozer along with other set of heavy equipment to set the place back to normal. Few basic tips one should follow when they make their way to run a dozer.

Wearing good pair of boots:-

Wearing good pair of boots is a must when you are making your way inside the cabin of a dozer. Wearing anything below average can have serious consequences. Your legs may skid from the brakes when you try to apply them and that can lead to serious injuries. In order to avoid any such misadventure, one must invest in quality boots. Along with it, it is also advisable to wear a good pair of gloves as that will keep your hand protected from heat and dust.

Make proper use of the joystick:-

The joystick in the bulldozer is the eye and brain of the machine. You give orders to the dozer by moving the joystick to the desired direction. Make sure that you know which move of the joystick will take the machine to the direction you want it to go. When you get yourself inside the cabin, check if the joystick is in order and if it is moving freely. That ensures that the machine will move smoothly at your command.

Have good control on your pedal:-

In order to slow the dozer, you should make use of the decelerator pedal. You will locate this pedal just next to the brake. You may not want to make use of the brakes too often and can use the decelerator pedal to slow the machine whenever required.  It is important to check if the decelerator pedal and the brakes are properly oiled and are easy to apply or else there are high chances of you bumping off the person that comes in your way.

 

 

Caterpillar 740 articulated truck – Many vouch for this model

Heavy equipment are undoubtedly the most important requirement of the construction, mining and agriculture industry but there is something evenly important that pertains to all these sectors and that is the equipment to carry the soil from one place to another. It may become very difficult to work on a construction site if the unearthed soil is left idle at the very spot. One can simple imagine how much of soil will be excavated from a medium sized project and what kind of difficulty it may give to people working on board if they are not moved at the right time. Simultaneously, trucks are also used to transport heavy equipment, medium sized and small sized machines from one state to another. It is highly crucial for a construction company to invest in good solid and reliable trucks as they carry stuffs that are quite important for the company to carry on with the project.

If we check what all companies manufacture trucks, we may get many names but out of the entire lot, Caterpillar has been able to make a separate place for itself. Cat 740 is the kind of truck that companies can vouch for. They have a lot of confidence on this model as it has the capacity to carry huge loads and can travel for miles. Owners of this truck are of the opinion that this truck has rarely broke down and could be relied upon when you are ferrying huge debris.

If we check the specification of this model, we find that the gross power is 489 hp and the net power is 474 hp. It has a displacement of 926 in3 and can carry a payload of around 43.5 tons. Not many trucks produced by other companies in the price range of CAT 740 is sold has this sort of payload carrying capacity. The fuel capacity is 560 liter and cooling system fluid capacity and hydraulic system fluid capacity is 80 liter and 233 liter respectively. The engine oil capacity is 38 liter and the transmission fluid capacity is 72 liter. More or less every company offers similar specification but can be termed to be a bit expensive than CAT 740.

If we talk about the gears, then this model of truck has 7 forward gears and 2 reverse gears with a maximum speed of 34 miles per hour. The total weight of the truck when loaded is 70840 kg and when empty, the weight is 32840 kg. It has turned out to be the most sought after truck within the construction and mining industry and people who prefer Caterpillar brands usually go for CAT 740 articulated trucks.

These trucks can be bought directly from the company or can be purchased through a dealer. Buying it directly from the company will entitle you to get more benefits. However, it has been often seen that buying it from a dealer can fetch you the same discounts as having bought directly from the company.

 

Tips on how to run a water truck/water wagon

Driving any kind of heavy equipment needs good amount of carefulness. One needs to be highly experienced in operating heavy equipment if he wants to do it in the best possible way. Be it a dozer or an excavator or just a water truck, it requires high competency on the part of the driver in order to make sure that he is doing his job the right way. One has to be extremely careful in analyzing the situation on ground and need to wear all the safety accessories to ensure that he does not hurt himself or the people around the machine. If we talk about a water truck, it is used primarily in construction and mining sites to control dust. It is not so difficult to operate a water truck as it could be for operating any other type of heavy equipment but the operator has to be extra cautious while he is on it.

A water truck can also be used in case of fire. One can use the spray nozzles to spray water and extinguish the fire. So when the driver is in the process of such perilous tasks, he needs to be very careful about his safety and the people who are on the truck assisting to put off the fire. We would be discussing in brief how can should operate a water truck.

Make proper use of gears and steering:-

A water truck is almost same like any other truck used for transportation purpose. It has similar features as what is available in a normal truck. It is just that the water truck contains water inside it and it needs a spray nozzle to spray out the water. What is rather important to note is that the operator should make good use of the gears and should steer the truck correctly. The truck will not be moving at a high speed while it is pumping water out. So it has to maintain a constant speed keeping the gears consistent and got to pay heed to the steering that helps to keep the wheels in the right direction.

Do not speed up the truck unless it is absolutely necessary:-

While you are settling the dust in a construction or a mining site, you just can’t increase the speed of the truck. You have to keep a considerable pace and must ensure that you do not move fast or else the one who is spraying the water will have a hard time to cover the entire area. Other than this, if you are working on a rugged terrain, it will be just not possible for you to drive the truck at a high speed. You have to maintain the speed and keep it to a point from where you do not lose its control. Anything short of it will have serious repercussions.

Go through the user manual if you are new to it:-

A user manual is always helpful in situations where you will be driving a brand new truck. Any new truck will give you some kind of comfort issues which can be tackled by going through the user manual.

 

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Tips on how to run an excavator

We basically believe that working on a heavy equipment is as simple as driving a vehicle. It may have the same feature as what we see in a car but the ones who actually operate heavy equipment beg to differ. One can simply not compare working on heavy equipment with driving one’s car as the former is lot more complex in nature and the person working on the machine has to be extra careful while he is on it. He got to check a lot of things before he begins with his work and needs to be sure that all the things that he needs during his work are working just fine. In case he notices any issue, he should be reporting it to the supervisor in charge or should take things in his control and ensure that the machine is in order before he kick starts with the job.

Not all the heavy equipment are tricky to work on but there are machines like excavators that can really takes its toll on the operator. Especially if the operator has to function in an extremely rough and rigid terrain, things may become all the more strenuous for him. Only with the help of experience will one be able to manage the machine smoothly or else things may go out of his control and the consequences can be intensely severe.

We would be discussing few important tips that one should be following while they work on an excavator.

Proper usage of the joystick:-

One needs to understand that the joystick in an excavator is the brain of the machine and the way you use the joystick, the machine will flow accordingly. The joystick is used extensively to keep a control on the movement of the cabin and the bucket attached to the machine. So if you are moving the joystick correctly, the excavator will move the way you want it to. By using the one to your right, you will control the scooping that will help the boom to move in the upwards and downwards position. The joystick to the left of the driver controls the cab. So if you use the one to your left correctly, it will move the machine to the place you want it to go. It also helps in enlarging and shortening the length of the boom.

Drive rods are equally important:-

If you want to increase or decrease the speed of the excavator, you can do it with the help of the drive rods that lies between the legs of the operator. Each rod has its own exclusive purpose. It works co-related with the tread and when pushed forward or backward will move the tread of that side. If you want to drive the excavator straight then you simply have to push both the sticks at the same time in the forward direction and it will speed up and if you pull them back will drive the machine backwards.

Alongside with lot of experience in operating an excavator, following these simple tips can be really useful to operate the machine.

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Excavators And Their Usages-An Outline

The excavators are the engineering and the construction vehicles, which have a really unique look with a cab mounted on the pivot arm, a long arm and an undercarriage that includes wheels or the tracks. These machines have the customized buckets to fit with the required job as there are various types of buckets available for the usage in the construction. Often the look of these heavy vehicles can be customized perfectly with the capability of changing the buckets or the thumbs.

These heavy vehicles are generally specified or defined by the arm power, the digging depth and the dump height power rating. But these days, these excavators also come with various types of attachments like as the breakers, augers and the grapples. Besides, the buckets also come in various types, for example the rock, sorting, and the general purpose buckets.

The excavators either can be mounted on the tracks or the wheels. These are mainly used to help these heavy vehicles for the mobility and therefore these are used in various types of environments. The track hoes are one kind of excavators, which are basically mounted on the tracks.

 

Now let’s have a look at the different roles played by these excavators.

 

These heavy vehicles are mainly used for different types of roles like as the purpose of digging the holes, foundations or trenches. Besides, these are also used for some other purposes like lifting and placing the heavy materials like the pipes, demolishing, river dredging, mining and landscaping. These are also used for the purpose of brush cutting aided with the hydraulic attachments. The multipurpose roles of these excavators allow these to be used in different types of locations. Other important roles played by these heavy vehicles are handling different types of materials effectively.

The excavators come in various sizes and types on the basis of the different types of jobs these play. The small excavators are generally called compact or mini excavators and these mainly come equipped with the bulldozer blades at their front part. These are capable of fitting through the doorways. On the contrary, the large ones are capable of weighing around 180000 lbs.

The compact excavators are mainly found in two different types known as the zero tail swing and the tail swing models. Usually, all the compact models used to come with the tail swing models and these also had a rear counterweight attached to these in order to prevent the chances of tipping during the digging process. But the counterweights make these really hard to maneuver these vehicles as these extend beyond the tracks. On the other hand, the zero tail swing machines have counter weights, which don’t extend over the rails and therefore these make it really easy for the operators to maneuver the jobs.

These days, it is also possible to take these heavy vehicles for rent from the renters as per your business requirements. This way you can get all the facilities that these excavators offer without the requirement of paying too high.

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