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tricks of the trade

itsgottobegreen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
180
Location
Maryland
KeithRA said:
I was thinking of have my locks rekeyed on my machines with my own key code to help delay Equipment theft.It only cost about $25.00 to rekey its getting out of hand about bobcat keys fit case. Even a dealer got 6 machines stolen from dealership here in northern IL.
Thats why the metro bobcat here in montgomery county only orders bobcats with the digitial key pad. They had some stolen too. They won't sell you one with a key. Getting a key pad for my 773G is on my to do list. Soon as I have some $$$$ I can blow.
 

dozerman400

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
136
Location
schaumburg, il
Occupation
Heavy equipment operator
If you are grading, try and get edges,corners and hard to get areas first. then finish up in the easy areas last. My dad always said " it takes an operator to do the edges and corners a monkey can do the middle.
 

terrasmooth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
83
Location
Northern Arizona USA
Good Practices

 Watch out for each other; especially when working on the ground around equipment or traffic. Noise such as traffic and backup alarms tends to cause people to ‘zone out’ after being around it for extended periods of time. Operators need to watch other pieces of equipment. A scraper operator can spot another scraper’s low rear tire or oil trail on the ground.

 Practice not slipping a tire more than a quarter revolution, if at all. Slipping tracks on a dozer excessively is hard on grousers and pads.

 Get in the habit of not backing up any more than is absolutely necessary to make a turn… it really does make a difference in preventing accidents. Always try to back up on the driver’s side… keep the knockdown dozer or loader on that side, it will make everyone’s job easier and safer.

 Don’t carry your bucket, boom or blade any higher than needed; make gravity your friend, not your enemy. I have seen several excavator booms’ carried too high take down utility lines. Dump truck drivers always should check for overhead utilities before hoisting the dump bed.


These are an excerpt from my latest post on my website... of which is intended to help and educate those interested in this business:)
 

norite

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
483
Location
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Wow seven years ago this thread was started. How time flies

It may be an old thread but I don't mind when someone posts a new reply to one. Looks like dozerman400 has been reading some old posts/threads, which is highly recommended. Any new info he or anyone else can contribute is OK by me.
 

briscoetab

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Messages
56
Location
West Texas
Occupation
Mechanic Formen and Equipment operator
Most of the equipment I operate is for pipeline construction purposes, so it is a little different but there are things that are similar in all situations.

I agree with everything said above, especially the stuff about taking care of equipment. Many of our guys fail to understand that, you cannot get them to keep their machine greased, drive me nuts. Then they just trash the machine and if something is broken they don't tell anyone unless it means they can't use it. Went to use our telehandler the other day and noticed the fuel cap was gone, they had put tape over where the fuel cap goes.

Anyways something I have figured out, when doing something like digging a long trench or ditch, make every movement count. You don't have to operate as fast as the machine will go but each time you get a load in the bucket make sure its full and move smoothly rather than fast. When you’re doing something that is extremely repetitive like digging a ditch every second counts. When take an extra 4 or 5 second every time you fill and dump your bucket that adds up over a 10 hour day. Same thing with any other piece of equipment: motor grader, dozer, backhoe or whatever. Just because you can run the motor grade at 10 mph doesn’t mean you are getting more work done necessarily. Hopefully you can understand what I am saying.

Something I have notice people doing that drives me nuts is using the extending stick on a backhoe when it is not necessary, not only does it slow you down but it is hard on the equipment where we are (lots of rock and very hard ground). I'm not saying not to use it buy why use it when you don't have to.

Pay attention to you equipment while you are running it, the sounds it make, how it is running, the gauges and everything else about it. We had a guy knock the oil filter off one of our backhoes never knew it till the engine locked up. So much money and time can be saved just by paying a little attention to your equipment.

Well I'm sure I could fill a few page with what I have learned over the year but don't want to waste everyone’s time, y'all probably know everything I do and more but hopefully I can help someone out a little.
 

dozerman400

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
136
Location
schaumburg, il
Occupation
Heavy equipment operator
Briscoetab,

You reminded me of a learning day a long time ago. You talk about wasted seconds ad up by the end of day. Also wasted travel ads up by the end of the day. I was stipping black dirt one time and backed up about 18 feet farther than I had to, dad drove his car between the blade and were I should be flapping his arms and explaining I need to learn to get with in 2 feet of the last dribble of dirt to be clean up and quit driving around all day, I am adding miles to my day. He only had to tell me once.
 

Dig_Texas

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
82
Location
Texas
One thing I always try to get my guys to do (all 2 of them) is to coordinate your work so that it is easier on the other guy. It doesn't take hardly any extra time for the excavator to place downed trees so the dozer can easily access or push them into the burn pile and the dozer operator can smooth over rough spots for the excavator with a little extra effort.
 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
Tricks of the Trade
I've learned to apologize even when she's wrong.
 

markshr151

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
176
Location
central fl.
A good story I read about RG concerns a serious accident he had while logging in the 20's?? Afterwards he essentially said "Always have a partner on dangerous work so someone can go back and tell the other guys what to look out for."
 

roddyo

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
788
Location
Arkansas
Occupation
Manipulator of the Planet
Pee before you start and get your check before you leave;)
 

stumpjumper83

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
1,974
Location
Port Allegany, pa
Occupation
Movin dirt
Pee before you start and get your check before you leave;)

I hand deliver every bill if at all possible. It does 2 things, 1 it puts me in touch with the customer to make sure everything is correct before he gets his bill, 2 it gets me paid on the spot 95% of the time.
 

Coondog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Messages
88
Location
Texas
This might be a tad off key to what you all are discussing, but I have not seen any real pattern here, just tricks, so here's one for mechanic work. I owe the credit to a wise guy, he showed me this and it has saved me a lot of hassle from time to time.

Get a vacuum box for air conditioner charging, the type that you plug into the air hose. Dissamble the little box getting only the guts out, consisting of a little box with a male qd. Remove the fitting for the air conditioning and keep around for use later. You know have the little block with the male fitting for the air hose and a 1/8 npt female port. I used one of those little pipes from an air blower with a set of threaded bushings to get me to any size. There's the tool, now the trick. When you need to remove the drain plug or a hose from any type of tank(within reason) and don't want to drain the fluid, find a port on top you can thread the vacuum block into, plug it into an air source. If there is a vent, try to use that or plug it otherwise, some vent only Allow pressure out. Then remove whatever hose you need to or plug and fluid will not leak out. I have used it on a vessel for a cone crusher with a 2 inch fitting that I take out on the bottom, and don't lose a drop of fluid. Saves a mess some times. Hope I did not send the thread sprawling in an unintended direction.
 

briscoetab

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Messages
56
Location
West Texas
Occupation
Mechanic Formen and Equipment operator
Oh thought about this one the other day while running the backhoe. Before I figured this out I had a lot of trouble. Around here we make a lot of road crossing over pipes, it’s just a hump that goes over a pipeline on a road. This works for any kind of back dragging with a backhoe or a loader but probably works best with a backhoe. This probably applies to newer operators but it took me awhile to figure it out because I had no one to teach me.

When back dragging, when you are first trying to shape a slope, use the back of the bucket where the dirt will build up behind the bucket. The closer to the ground the back of the bucket is the more dirt you will move. After you have your slope correct or close start using the front part of the bucket, where the blade is, this will start smoothing your slope and moving much less dirt and allow you to fine tune your slope. The less angle you have the front of the bucket the smoother it will make the dirt and the less dirt you move. Next time I'm doing this I'll try to take some photos, kind of hard to put into word and understand.
 

briscoetab

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Messages
56
Location
West Texas
Occupation
Mechanic Formen and Equipment operator
I said loader or backhoe but I guess the back of the bucket has to be kind of squared not rounded.
 
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