How To Maintain Your Excavator

When you are using an excavator on a regular basis, you are putting its system under a lot of stress. It is lifting heavy loads and kicking up a great deal of dust that can get into the engine and cause problems very easily. In order to make sure that your excavator continues functioning fully and does not break down, you are going to need to make sure that you perform maintenance processes on a regular basis. Here are some of the key maintenance processes.

1. Make Sure That the Fluid Levels are Optimal

The first thing that you want to check every time you put your excavator through maintenance is whether or not the coolant, hydraulic fluid, and engine oil are at adequate levels. Without enough coolant, your engine might overheat. Without hydraulic fluid and engine oil, you will put excess stress on the engine and cause it to wear down more quickly. So if you don't check your fluid levels and fill them to the correct level, you risk having to replace your entire engine within a short period of time.

2. Check the Undercarriage

Next, you are going to need to check the undercarriage for cracks or dents. This is a serious problem because the undercarriage is very close to the ground, where there are contaminants and a great deal of moisture. If the undercarriage is not intact, then you are going to risk letting in dust, which will clog up the engine and make it difficult to provide power, and moisture, which can damage an excavator from the inside out. If you check the undercarriage regularly, you can find these cracks and scratches and repair them before any problems occur. 

If you find cracks in the undercarriage before you start work for the day, simply place a temporary adhesive patch on them that will hold out the moisture for a short period of time. Then, take the excavator in to be serviced as soon as the day's work is completed.

3. Make Sure That the Teeth Aren't Dull

Finally, you are going to want to look at the teeth of the excavator and make sure that they are all sharp enough to cut through the earth and maintain productivity levels. If you find any teeth that are bent, rusted, cracked, or extremely dull, you are going to need to replace them. Most excavators will allow you to replace teeth individually.

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in selling and renting construction equipment, such as Scott Equipment.