Essential Inspection Areas When Renting a Front End Loader

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If you are planning to dig a trench around your compound to erect a perimeter wall, then you cannot avoid the pile-up of soil beside the ditch. In this case, a front-end loader is indispensable because you need to move dirt, rocks, and debris as you excavate. Since the best option to acquire a wheel loader is to hire one, you need to be keen during delivery of the equipment. Renting a machine that has excessive wear on the bucket, welds, and the frame is counterproductive because you will not get value for money. Therefore, before leasing a wheel loader make sure that you inspect the following areas thoroughly.

Bucket -- As one of the essential parts of a front-end loader, the bucket needs to be in good, if not excellent, condition for optimal service delivery. First and foremost, examine the bucket's digging edge for wear and tear signs, especially the bottom plate. If there are any signs of cracks, then the bucket might break while you are using it. Secondly, check the condition of the teeth. During operation, the bucket's teeth will come into contact with hard rocks. Additionally, make sure that there are no missing teeth in the bucket. Once you are satisfied with the condition of the bucket, you can go ahead and inspect other areas. However, if you have doubts regarding performance integrity of the bucket, then continue with your search for a wheel loader.

Linkage -- The bucket is linked to the lift arms via a centre pivot, and for optimal performance, the linkage point must be adequately greased properly. Pins that hold the two sections together must also be aligned correctly. Therefore, ask another person to lift the bucket up and down and look out for visible excessive movements in the pins. If you notice such vibrations, then it is a clear indication that the linkage is worn out. In this case, you should avoid the machine altogether. However, if there is minimum movement around the centre pivot, then the equipment is in usable condition.

Hydraulic Arm -- For the bucket to move up and down efficiently, the hydraulic arm must be in tip-top condition. If there is any leakage in the hydraulic system, then the machine will not be able to move the arm nor the bucket. As such, make sure that there are no leaks on the hoses as well as the cylinders. Ask a rental firm to do a pressure check on the hydraulic system in your presence to make sure that you are renting a machine with the right amount of pressure on the hydraulic arm. 

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10 January 2018

Maintaining heavy construction equipment

Heavy construction equipment can be quite expensive to replace, so it's important to maintain it properly. That involves doing some regular maintenance according to the correct service schedules as well as making sure that your operators know how to operate the equipment correctly. If you maintain your equipment, this maintenance can end up saving your business a lot of money down the track when you can extend the usable life of the equipment that you rely on. This blog has some tips on how you can easily maintain heavy construction equipment, including how you can train operates to extend lifecycles with sensible machine operation.