Preseason Heavy Equipment Checklist
It’s important to be ready when the busy construction season starts. To prevent heavy equipment service and expensive downtime when you need your machines most, we recommend taking care of key maintenance beforehand. We want to help you maximize your productivity during the busier times and have put together a preseason heavy equipment checklist that we have found to work well.
Properly grease your equipment
Greasing your machines is one of the most important parts of heavy equipment maintenance. You should always lubricate your excavators, dozers, loaders, and other machines according to the manufacturer recommendations. We also recommend that you only use the type of grease that they suggest. Ensuring proper lubrication will reduce component wear and increase your overall fuel efficiency, because your engine won’t have to work as hard to move components and attachments.
Inspect your fluid levels
Heavy equipment maintenance and operation requires a variety of fluids. Before the busy season starts, inspect oil, coolant, and hydraulic fluid levels. It’s also important to check the fluids daily before each shift when your machines are in regular operation to ensure they are properly filled. Doing so will help you avoid unnecessary heavy equipment service and expensive downtime. It’s important to note that the hotter the weather, the more important it is for your machines to have sufficient amounts of fluids, because excess heat causes the engine to warm faster, leading to faster fluid vaporization loss.
Ensure you have the parts you need
You will typically have to replace wear parts multiple times throughout the busy construction season. A key part of your preseason heavy equipment checklist is to stock up on the following parts:
- Filters
- Hoses
- Belts
- Tires
- Blade edges
- Bucket teeth
- Hydraulic fluid
- Oil
- Batteries
Schedule a heavy equipment maintenance inspection
In order to maximize uptime during the peak construction season, it’s important to take the time to ensure your machines have all maintenance issues handled before the busiest time of the year begins. Preseason inspections go a long way to ensure you are working at full capacity when you need to be.
Our typical inspection includes:
- Operational test
- Lube chassis
- Drain water and sediment
- Check fluid levels and adjust
- Change engine oil and filter
- Check and adjust chains
- Clean front and rear axle breathers
- Change fuel filters
- Engine oil analysis
- Change hydraulic filters
- Change inline fuel filter
- Check fan belt tension
- Lubricate attachment coupler
- Grease slides and post
- Clean battery/check levels
- Clean spark arresting muffler
- Repack front wheel bearings
- Water systems that could have frozen in winter – roller water nozzles and tanks, dust control systems, and more
If you have any questions about heavy equipment maintenance or want to schedule your preseason inspection, contact our team today!
