Becoming a Hydraulic Excavator Operator: Tips

[IndySKS]

Hi there, I'm new to the forum but have been lurking for a couple weeks.
I was just going to send a short note to Grader4me but decided to share my thoughts with everyone.
His post about the old saying "you got to get good then fast" prompted me to join the site yesterday.
About 26 years ago when I started full time on heavy equipment someone and I can't remember the person, once came to me as i was learning on a tractor hoe and said those words. I'm in Southern Ontario and he is in New Brunswick. Isn't it odd how sayings like that get around and stick with people all their lives? There is a few points of wisdom a few people have said to me throughout my career and they stuck with me, I have in turn trained many operators and used those pieces of info to help them.
How about "if those tracks are spinning your not working"?

As for training schools I assume there is a lot of differences in them and it has been about 12 years since i worked with students that were trained in heavy equipment schools. I had 2 heavy equipment trained "operators" work with me in my carrier and they knew... nothing ! They were both told upon graduation that there were "operators" and we practically guaranteed a job where ever they went.....wrong.One guy did stick it out and work in the trenches and eventually got to move up the ladder. He is now a seasoned operator, the other guy as far as i know drives truck.
You can learn all you want in a school but if you don't have the field experience your not an asset, you need to have been the man in the trench or the pipe layer to know what they do and what they are thinking to be able to work with a crew and be productive.
With that being said it's a big world and yes you might go to school and get lucky and get a job like the one someone mentioned about a guy working in a pit loading trucks.....but those chances are few and far between. I'm not a betting man.

You need field experience and time in the seat to be worth having around. Not 10 minutes here and there but days and weeks to get proficient.
Work with a crew doing what ever job you have to and find the good operators and watch their every move. Learn what moves they make and why and how to handle the machines in different circumstances. When you think your good find someone better and keep learning!.......hey wait was that one of those sayings ? I once thought i was good....I stepped back from the hoe for a supervisors position and found out what good was when the new hoe operator started...he was a 40 year veteran. I watched his every move and learned every day. We parted company 3 years ago and i miss working with him everyday.

With all that being said if i had to leave my current position, my passion is heavy equipment training.

Well enough rambling

Dave

 

[Countryboy]

Welcome to HEF IndySKS! :drinkup

 

[Grader4me]

Welcome to the forum IndySKS! Sounds like we have a few things in common. Great bunch of people here. Look forward to your posts!

 

[EZ TRBO]

As I was, and still am learning(the day you quit learning is the day you quit) about running excavators I had a few very good teachers and one thing the one guy always told me was the only way you are going to learn how to do things is to sit your ass down in the seat and just do it. You will learn both what to do and what not to do.

 

[Dozer575]

I would never spend a cent for heavy equip operator school. I would instead buy a machine and learn it, unless you can find someone to hire you, or train you with out you getting paid. In a union you can get free training.
As far as operating an excavator, it is just like in my post in Dozers, about the 3 things needed to operate. The easy part is making the machine move, the other 2 things are more difficult, knowing how to make the machine work, and then knowing what to do with the machine while working it.
By working the machine I mean how to load it, and dump it,etc. manipulation of the GET and not wasting time doing it. And knowing the job is the most difficult. That is the machine just arrived on the truck, and you did too. Now what? Thats knowing the job. I think the best place to learn operating excavators and dozers is in land clearing. Also it is the best place to get killed if your not careful.
I think clearing guys are the best operators, ah the ones that really know how to do it anyway.

 

[Noose]

Sounds like you need to take the course and hire on with a pit that has a mechanic. Because of your back!
It still will not replace experience but it will help you get some basics.

 

[d6catd]

:usa hey man wuts up? you know really honestly the only way to learn is to practice and practice and practice some more all the skoolin in the world will not replace experience and as far as land clearing having the best EO's i would go that far think about your guys that set grade or work around utilities i would say land clearing is the easiest by far not to much to mess up there besides killin the wrong tree lol
later

 

[Dozer575]

Not much to mess up?

Well not much to mess up cutting a grade, just add more and compact it. I know footings are a different story. Utilities yeah but its just digging or grading.

Clearing: If you consider the dozer or excavator as not much to mess up, or going hundreds of feet outa the clearing boundrys as not much to mess up, then I guess you are correct. I would say clearing someones land that didn't want it cleared can be as or more expensive than hitting a utility, but then again in clearing you can hit utilities as well. Like hidden hydrants on site, and then a case I remember, the home owner trying to save a buck and felling some trees, one hit some major distribution lines, with utility lines below. Lots of homes with trashed electronics, and one house on fire. So clearing shares that with the normal old dirt work stuff.
In clearing you learn to operate in situations you will never encounter doing anyother kinda work. The machine and your life depends on you staying sharp and alert. And if you don't think it is more difficult doing clearing then you most likely don't really know how to do it, especially with a large dozer and rake. Its not like the old days you can't push up a pile of dirt to toss in a grinder. Its a whole different world chasing sticks around, than it is pushing dirt, that is sticks and not touching the dirt. So I'd say its much more fine control than grading.

 

[Countryboy]

or going hundreds of feet outa the clearing boundrys as not much to mess up

I never realised it was that hard to stay within the flagged areas. If you can't figure out how to stay on the correct side of the flag, then Yes....I guess it would be more difficult.

I don't think anybody can say that pushing dirt is easier than clearing land or vice versa. Both have their challenging or easy qualities, which ever the case may be. I think it would be incorrect to say one was easier than the other when there are so many different environments that we work in.

 

[d6catd]

so your tellin me that pushing up some brush is more dangerous than diggin around a 3500 pound water line or gas line come on man lot more dangerous what is there to mess up with a root rake?? or a tree falls on your iron yes that would suck but not life threatening not really...and as far as it being more expensive to fix a mess up clearing brush what replace a few trees maybe as opposed to cutting a fiber optic line or phone that costs thousands of dollars every hour or so that is cut so i would say land clearing is prettttty simple .

 

[digger242j]

I think it's sort of an apples and oranges comparison.

Good, precise control of your machine is necessary to cut grades, or dig around live utilities. Certainly there's more danger, to both yourself and the public, if you screw up the latter.

On the other hand, taking down and handling trees has its own set of risks. There's a lot of weight there, and when they're standing up, you need to pay close attention to where that weight is going to fall. Once they're laying down, and you start pushing and pulling on them, you put a lot of energy into them. Make a wrong move, and they can spring back at you and do some real damage. Personally, if we're talking about trees, I think clearing takes more concentration and skill than a lot of the simple digging tasks operators do.

Pushing brush with a root rake? That would be pretty basic, I guess, just as bailing dirt out of a foundation is pretty basic. Either of those would probably be good for getting practice, practice, practice, but as in the examples I gave above, you get past the "basic" and pretty soon you really do need to know what you're doing...

 

[biggixxerjim]

Not much to mess up?

Well not much to mess up cutting a grade, just add more and compact it. I know footings are a different story. Utilities yeah but its just digging or grading.

Clearing: If you consider the dozer or excavator as not much to mess up, or going hundreds of feet outa the clearing boundrys as not much to mess up, then I guess you are correct. I would say clearing someones land that didn't want it cleared can be as or more expensive than hitting a utility, but then again in clearing you can hit utilities as well. Like hidden hydrants on site, and then a case I remember, the home owner trying to save a buck and felling some trees, one hit some major distribution lines, with utility lines below. Lots of homes with trashed electronics, and one house on fire. So clearing shares that with the normal old dirt work stuff.
In clearing you learn to operate in situations you will never encounter doing anyother kinda work. The machine and your life depends on you staying sharp and alert. And if you don't think it is more difficult doing clearing then you most likely don't really know how to do it, especially with a large dozer and rake. Its not like the old days you can't push up a pile of dirt to toss in a grinder. Its a whole different world chasing sticks around, than it is pushing dirt, that is sticks and not touching the dirt. So I'd say its much more fine control than grading.

Nope, wrong-o. Crossing utilities, working VERY close to houses and other structures, as well as fine grading easily top clearing.

I like clearing and the reason is, after spending weeks and weeks crossing utilities and existing structures, clearing is a nice relaxing change.

Ever felt like you have aged 2 years in 2 hours while digging around gas lines, water and sewer lines, telephone and fiberoptics, electrical conduets (sp?) and more of the such???

 

[RollOver Pete]

Ever felt like you have aged 2 years in 2 hours while digging around gas lines, water and sewer lines, telephone and fiberoptics, electrical conduets (sp?) and more of the such???

Yep.....
:dizzy

Thats why we get paid the big bucks

It seams like thats the only kind of digging I ever do.
That and production loading.
Open cut/brain dead trenching in virgin ground is very rare for me.
I don't know why :beatsme
As for aging?
All the time...in fact I age one year older this Sunday :drinkup
:cool2

 

[Dozer575]

It must be the way I say stuff, because no one ever gets it.
One guy says pushing brush isn't hard. No it isn't, neather is pushin dirt.
Some say working around utils and houses are the most difficult.
Not if you are an experienced operator. All those utill and house jobs are is headache jobs. And besides we were originallly talking about learning.
In clearing you do all the same as far as working near houses, and utilities.
And in my state it isn't just pushing brush and weeds. Its removing large fir trees, and stumps of all sizes, old growth firs can be up to maybe 12 plus feet diameter, and yes even some very wet area's. How do you get out of a flagged clearing limit? Well now they do a better job of flagging, but back in the 80's and early 90's, it wasn't that great at times. I worked one job where they just flagged center line of a pipeline right a way. The other companys operator, got lost and cleared 500 feet off the limits, so don't ask me how or why, I followed the ribbons just fine, matter of fact it was the best flagging job I had ever had at the time. And I had seen it happen many times after that. So it does happen. And like I said if you don't think clearing is a very difficult job then you don't know how to do it correctly. There is so much more to it than just dropping the blade an going, like in the photos of the Alcan hiway movies. Yeah that may have been the way to go when you could just burry the trash. Here we couldn't ever do that. It was either chipped or burned. In most areas it is chipped, that means no rocks or dirt in the debris.
A nice test here, you have a 30 degree slope full of 2nd or 3rd growth fir
trees spaced maybe averaging 3 to 6 feet apart with lots of other scrub with it like some vine maple etc. Whats the way to go about it? You have one machine on site a nice old D8H and lucky you its logged so all ya got to do is remove 2 to 3 foot diameter stumps and deal with some old maples standing the loggers didn't want. You got say 5 flat acres above and below the sloped area.
Explain how you would do it. Oh and the debris is gona be chipped.
The tractor has a clearing rake ( not a light brush rake) and a ripper with a splitter no side screens just the rear, no engine enclosers.
Now if you were digging a sewer line for a new house, or a house pad in a new developement wouldn't that be pretty easy? The pad, you need it at what ever elevation that those corner stakes say.
Sorry the dirt work/fine grading is less demanding, safer and much easier.

 

[digger242j]

The problem here is that people are making broad generalizations about digging vs clearing. You can't do that.

There's easy digging, and difficult digging, just as there's easy clearing and difficult clearing. Digging around live utilities calls for an experienced operator, with a steady hand, just as taking down big trees on uneven ground does. And both can be very hazardous if they're done wrong.

 

[Orchard Ex]

It must be the way I say stuff, because no one ever gets it.
<>
Sorry the dirt work/fine grading is less demanding, safer and much easier.

Just so I get this straight - how did all the really close houses and utilities get around the 3 foot diameter stumps up the 30* slope (uphill both ways I assume) and are these houses in the 5 acres?

CB and Digger have already said that there are harder and easier jobs in both fine work and clearing work. You're trying to compare things that don't compare.
I think that you are just trying to stir the pot :stirthepot and see if you can get the fine grading folks worked up, :IMO it seems to be a sport for you.
I don't want to see this forum dragged into a rant filled, flame fest that so many others turn into.
:my2c

 

[bear]

Ill only receive training on the excavator, but thanks for the info

Going to start from somewhere and that is most likely on yer feet with a shovel or checking grade. That's the way it is.

First things first, you will need to earn your PhD.

PHD? Piled higher and deeper. I'll let you guys figure out what is piled. :cool2

 

[CAT_966_C]

If your ever going to load on a trailer... don't hesitate when lifting the machine with the bucket to get the blocks under. Might be a little shakey but she isn't going anywhere. Good luck!

 

[OCR]

Well, here it is right about 4:30 in the morning and I'm still reading this site.

Like a good book... can't put it down. The advice I've read on the last six

or so pages, to me, shows the level of commitment and competence... and

experience and ethics, that makes me rather proud to belong to this site...

And we do own an excavator... little Cat 312 BL. Keep up the good work

people, your combined knowledge is invaluable.

Puzzled about one thing though, and maybe, I missed it? Here on the ranch

we always thought PhD meant... Post Hole Digger...

 

[hammerdwn20]

Well whatever happened with Mike? did he go to school? is he "operating" an excavator?

My situation is similar to his but i dont plan on going to school for it. I learned how to operate a backhoe when i was 14 digging out stumps and grading my backyard. since then ive run a few other backhoes, mini excavators, skid steers, loaders, and tractors. I currently work for a landscaper installing paver patios. ive had seat time since i started working for them but i want to move on. Two days ago i spoke to the owner of an excavation company and hes supposed to call me to come in for an interview. so i guess we'll see how it goes. BTW im working on getting a class A cdl too.

Frank