Dirty Cabs on Equipment

[kshansen]

One thing that has always frustrated me is the trash some operators leave in the cab of equipment.

How some of these operators can sit in this filth for 8-10 hours a day I don't understand. I understand that if you are digging a ditch in a swamp and have to get in and out of the cab during the day it will get dirty. Not what I'm talking about. It's the piles of used rags, apple cores, coffee cups and so on.:Banghead

I just pull wrenches in the shop so don't have power over the operators, but I do make my point as much as possible. Anytime I have to service or do major repairs on a machine and the cab is full of trash I toss it out and leave it in a pile on the shop floor as long as possible in hopes the boss will see it. This has worked some as he has mentioned it at meetings and things are better than a few years ago.

Okay I'll stop b1tching for now.

 

[wnydirtguy]

It does suck. the mechanics puled 39 pop bottles out from behind the seat of a excavator one day. he was bitchin the heat was not working. I find it all the time. how hard is it to take it out at the end of the day. You know they would be pissed if you took their vehicle to lunch and left the trash in it.

 

[dirty4fun]

I have a wisk broom in my excavator and backhoe, if it is dry I sweep it out about every night when done. I hate the look of a filthy cab.

 

[sheepfoot]

It's not just equipment, road tractors, dump trucks, service trucks, pickups too!. Trash is a big safety issue and needs not to be taken lightly in the cabs. I have found many things in cabs that should not be on any job site over the years. Along with the broken bottles, spit, pee bottles, butts, starting fluid cans with no tops leaking, gas cans. You wonder why they haven't blown themselves up with all the ashes on the floor matt. I have soaked some lower seats just to prove a point to some when the bosses would not take action to clean out the closed cabs on equipment, one operator asked me why his seat was so wet, I told him I set his drink bottles in the seat and it must have leaked some, he was worried which bottle it was, and I said guess. Never had a issue with him again about keeping his cab clean.

 

[Tradesman]

I talked to a guy that owned a small readymix company , he had four old trucks in good working order and the drivers never stopped bitching about the age of the trucks they had to drive. One winter he bought four late model trucks in really nice shape, on friday night of the first week back in the spring, he walked up to every truck and opened all the doors and checked the cabs, two of the drivers got fired on the spot, the cabs where full of coffee cups and mud.

 

[kshansen]

I have a wisk broom in my excavator and backhoe, if it is dry I sweep it out about every night when done. I hate the look of a filthy cab.

Wisk brooms are supplied for all machines, just some guys have yet to figure out how to operate them!

 

[kshansen]

one operator asked me why his seat was so wet, I told him I set his drink bottles in the seat and it must have leaked some, he was worried which bottle it was, and I said guess. Never had a issue with him again about keeping his cab clean.

I like! :tong

 

[sandy]

then theres the day,you go out to one of the trucks that has stopped. you clean the worst of the junk away and tilt the cab forward .
you are working on fuel system and you hear a noise, one of them drink bottles that you have missed. has just dropped through the front window.
so now after you have got it ggoing you have to get a new front screen .
Happened to me

 

[robin yates uk]

in the 1980s I worked for Hamptead Plant, Brierley Hill, West Midlands.They had 29 JCB 3Cs at the time and as a spare driver I could be driving any of them.There was one who had an "operator" who pissed in the back foot well.I refused to drive it as the stench was horrific. The man had a kidney complaint I was told!:beatsme

 

[Nige]

A pet hate of mine. The only solution I've found that worked is (provided you have management backup) to refuse to work on the machine until the operator is called and cleans the cab to the mechanic's satisfaction before work starts on the machine. We're trying a system here where the operator stays with his machine for PM and helps the mechanics. The first job he's set to do is get the cab interior clean and sparkling......

 

[kshansen]

in the 1980s I worked for Hamptead Plant, Brierley Hill, West Midlands.They had 29 JCB 3Cs at the time and as a spare driver I could be driving any of them.There was one who had an "operator" who pissed in the back foot well.I refused to drive it as the stench was horrific. The man had a kidney complaint I was told!:beatsme

I have had operators that were too lazy to climb off thier loader and just stood out on the platform to relieve themselves and they were the ones that had to fuel up loader at the end of day and on a 980 G cat the tank is right under the platform!

 

[Birken Vogt]

Maybe this isn't realistic in the hectic world of construction but I have worked some long days as a truck driver. What I do is eat my breakfast before I come to work, then drive all morning. When it is lunch time I pull over briefly and eat my lunch from my lunch pail, and when it is gone I put my lunch pail away and drive until evening, then I go home and eat my supper. In between times I drink from a 1 gallon jug of water that I refill from the faucet. If I spill any in the truck it doesn't bother much because it just dries up. This system serves me well because it

1. reduces calories consumed
2. reduces costs from convenience store and restaurant food
3. reduces trash and sticky messes because there isn't much to happen
4. gives me time to clear my head mid day and strategize but otherwise keeps me moving

and there are other benefits as well.

 

[mitch504]

That's what I've done for years also.

 

[hargrove]

Might be a saftey issue,maybe something that the saftey boss needs to look at.Just a thought.

 

[bigshow]

I'm a neat freak, everything is armor-all'd in the cab, the boots for the joysticks, the rubber skirting around air ride seats, EVERYTHING! I wax the exterior, and windows get done with rain-x, I keep a Dewalt 18volt vac with me also. I go as far as spraying the floor with tire shine, they stay cleaner that way, and easier to sweep the dust and dirt off the floor. I generally run the same hoe and grader, but the random time that someone else runs it, they are usually to scared to fart in the seat. I don't spend any extra time doing these things either, down time, is shine time. When all the other guys are shooting the breeze, I get to cleaning.

 

[kshansen]

down time, is shine time. When all the other guys are shooting the breeze, I get to cleaning.

Sounds like a machine I'd like to work on, but then if you take that care of it you probably have fewer breakdowns. I'm sure while you are cleaning you will spot a loose screw and either tighten it of have mechanic take care of it. Probably don't have problems with the joysticks getting gummed up from the sugar and cream in the coffee that gets spilled on them.

You also sound like an operator we had at one of our plants years ago. I was there working on another machine and he came over to have me check on a leak on one of the tilt cylinders of his 988 Cat. I spent fifteen minutes crawling over that machine trying to find even a drop of oil. Never saw a drop. He said must have just been a drop of water as he was sure he saw something! Wish there were more like that, he treated that loader like his job depended on it. Too many today don't understand that principal.

 

[dirtmonkey]

I'm a neat freak, everything is armor-all'd in the cab, the boots for the joysticks, the rubber skirting around air ride seats, EVERYTHING! I wax the exterior, and windows get done with rain-x, I keep a Dewalt 18volt vac with me also. I go as far as spraying the floor with tire shine, they stay cleaner that way, and easier to sweep the dust and dirt off the floor. I generally run the same hoe and grader, but the random time that someone else runs it, they are usually to scared to fart in the seat. I don't spend any extra time doing these things either, down time, is shine time. When all the other guys are shooting the breeze, I get to cleaning.

YOU'RE HIRED ! When can you start ! Guys like you are few and far between. :thumbsup

 

[monster76]

i cant stand a dirty machine. i keep the inside as clean as possible and Saturday is wash day for me i clean my truck backhoe skid steer and trailer

 

[dirtmonkey]

I used to wash out the cab of my Gehl Ctl 60 all the time. I realized quick that it was useless because it is not pressurized. This sounds bad but the dirtier it is the better it seals off the cab. That's the only machine like that. I keep a roll of blues , glass cleaner, hand broom and a small dash duster in every cab.

 

[bigshow]

Thanks guys, it's a respect thing I guess, and your reputation/image revolves around all of that. If the company I work for trusts me with a half million dollar machine, the least I can do is keep it in a nice presentable form. I try to lead by example, but it doesn't always work, most guys anymore don't care the least bit about the presentation of their machine, and those same guys don't care one bit about the presentation of the work they do. It all goes hand in hand, an operator that cares about his machine, cares about his work, and he cares about his reputation. Don't lower your standards because someone else refuses to raise theirs.