Excavator Maintenance: Tips to Minimize Wear and Tear

Any small problem can eventually turn into a big one. Simple preventive steps and quick examinations can go a long way toward extending your excavator’s lifespan and ensuring more uptime.

Here are some quick excavator maintenance tips to help keep your machines in peak condition.

EXCAVATOR INSPECTION CHECKLIST: START OF THE DAY

• Do a walkaround of the machine to check fluids and filters. When started, Volvo excavators display a daily maintenance checklist with five items: engine oil level, coolant level, hydraulic oil level, water separator and air cleaner.
• Look for damage and leaks and address any issues before getting to work.
• Clear debris, especially from the undercarriage. This is especially important if the weather is below freezing, and ice or frozen mud is stuck in the tracks.

THINGS TO KEEP AN EYE ON DURING EXCAVATOR OPERATION

• Minimize long-distance tracking. Even for the best excavators, avoiding unnecessary stress and wear on the machine can go a long way toward preventing downtime.
• Ensure you’re using the proper track tension. Loose tension can lead to excessive bushing and sprocket wear, and overly tight tension can cause stress on the undercarriage and waste horsepower.
• Don’t abuse your excavator. Do your best to avoid side loads and slamming the cylinders at the end of stroke, as this causes undue stress on the machine. Don’t use the swing force for raking over the ground, demolition of buildings or thrusting bucket teeth into the ground — it may cause damage to the machine and attachments. And finally, don’t dig by using the travelling motors or thrusting bucket teeth into the ground. This can overload the rear of the machine and damage the track drive.

EXCAVATOR INSPECTION TIPS: END OF THE DAY

• If equipped, turn on the Delayed Engine Shutdown. The function controls the aftercooling of the engine after the ignition has been turned off by keeping the engine running until the engine has properly cooled. It can help you prevent a blown turbocharger or irreparable damage to the engine. Volvo machines come with a delayed engine shutdown feature to help avoid costly hot turbo shutdowns.
• Check your rollers to make sure they’re free of debris and can turn easily.
• Fuel up at the end of each day to avoid condensation inside the fuel and DEF tanks.
• Don’t skimp on the grease. It’s an easy, cost-effective preventive maintenance that keeps your machine operating smoothly.
• Remember, soil and clay may damage or cause wear to moving parts of the undercarriage. All parts should be cleaned regularly from soil, clay and ice.

EXCAVATOR MAINTENANCE: KEY VOLVO FEATURES

If you operate Volvo excavators, we’ve added a few new features to extend service intervals and make maintenance faster and easier:

High-Performance Engine Oil Filters

We offer high-performance fuel pre-filters and high-performance main fuel filters for all new crawler excavators with Tier 4 Final / Stage V engines. They’re also available on most Volvo wheeled excavator models.

When combined with high-performance Volvo VDS-4.5 engine oil (which is our factory fill and a growing request in the aftermarket), the engine service intervals extend from 500 to 1000 hours (oil, oil filters and fuel filters). While the engine oil level should be checked every day, the maximum engine oil change interval is 1000 hours or 12 months to lower your service and maintenance costs.

Quick Hydraulic Oil Fill Connection

For Volvo EC140E through EC750E crawler excavators and the EC950F, a new Quick Hydraulic Oil Fill connection on the hydraulic oil tank allows for faster and easier hydraulic oil refills when using quick fit service tools such as the Volvo Service Tool kit. It’s important to note that this new connection can also be easily retrofitted on existing Volvo E-series excavator models as well. If a quick fit tool isn’t available, service can still be carried out as before giving technicians more flexibility.

How does it work? The quick-fit connection provides a closed system during refills to help you avoid spills and contamination. The oil passes first from the hydraulic oil filter before reaching the tank to help prevent contamination. Minimizing contamination ensures that the hydraulic system works at its best for longer, and potential leaks or breakdowns can be avoided.

Quick Engine Oil Changes

The quick-fit feature allows for faster, cleaner and safer engine oil changes with no spills, reducing the time required for traditional oil changes by about half.

The option works by following three simple steps:

1. Pressurize: You can connect air pressure to this quick-fit option by using the Volvo Service Tool or other quick-fit tools. Oil is pushed through the filter to the oil sump. Then, you can easily change the oil filter without risking spills or contamination.
2. Extract: From the same connection, you can evacuate oil from the oil sump and deposit it directly into a waste container.
3. Refill: You can then refill the new oil though the new filters, ensuring that the oil level is filled to the correct level in the system.

Volvo Maintenance-Free Batteries

Our maintenance-free batteries come sealed for life from the factory and don’t require maintenance of the electrolyte levels. The battery condition can be checked via an indicator. The most significant benefit of the sealed design is that no service is required other than ensuring the battery is kept clean and fully charged. As a result, you’ll get a longer battery life.

Volvo excavators are designed to withstand rugged terrain and unforgiving conditions, but the way you inspect, operate and service your machines can play a huge role in extending their lifespans too.

Visit the Volvo Uptime Services section of our website for additional excavator tips and to learn more about services designed to keep you up and running more productively, efficiently and safely.