Case provides tips to obtain increased life and lower costs from excavator operations.
The eight tips are as follows:
- Regular Maintenance. Perform basic maintenance as recommended by the operators manual. Make sure that you’re checking your filters, sampling the oil, greasing the attachments and checking fuel quality.
- Cooling System. Heavy equipment is usually used where there is lots of dust and debris. The radiator and cooling systems must be cleaned out regularly.
- Undercarriage. Making sure the undercarriage is kept clean can prevent costly wear and tear, and prolong the life of a machine. It’s also important to check for wear on your pins and along the track regularly. Look for scouring along the hydraulic cylinders, idler and sprockets—any kind of debris in there can speed things up along those wear points and lead to costly downtime. It’s also important to make sure that the track tension is set properly—having it too loose or too tight can cause unnecessary wear on those components.
- Buckets and other Attachments. If you’re working with a worn-down attachment, it’s going to make your excavator work harder.
- Fuel Quality. Any kind of debris that is going to filter through the fuel system will damage injectors to the smallest micron readings. Any kind of contamination can cause unnecessary wear on the system.
- Operating Modes. Most manufacturers offer multiple operating modes on their excavators, so it’s important for operators to take advantage of these options.
- Telematics and Machine Control. Telematics systems can give large amounts of data on how your machines are being utilized in the field—idle time, operating practices and total utilization.
- Remanufactured Parts. Remanufactured parts are now commonly available and are an option to consider for owners who want to keep their costs down.
Source: http://casece.com/en_us/News/Pages/Eight-Tips-for-Managing-Excavator-Owning-and-Operating-Costs.aspx