We’ve all seen heavy earth-moving machinery on our travels, after all, you can’t really miss the huge yellow machines that are used for major civil engineering projects. Dozers, levellers and huge dump trucks that carry earth away from a site, are all working hard to provide us with roads, bridges and buildings.
These huge earthmoving machines are diesel powered and almost always painted bright yellow (to make them highly visible) and they require regular maintenance to keep them working around the clock.
Various types of heavy earth-moving equipment
The following can be seen on major construction and civil engineering sites.
- Excavator – This machine usually has a pivoted arm at the rear and a dig bucket at the front; it has four hydraulic feet to provide stability when excavating and has interchangeable buckets. A very versatile piece of equipment, known in the trade by several names; digger, back hoe, to name a couple.
- Dump truck – Designed for one thing, to remove earth and rubble, the best articulated dump trucks are made by John Deere, a leader in the industry. They range from a small 1-5 ton to a 150-ton monster and everything in between; a fleet of these monsters would be required to remove a serious amount of earth for a major project and dump trucks are used in the mining sector.
- Dozer – The bulldog of the family, a dozer has two caterpillar tracks and can go almost anywhere. A large blade on the front pushes earth and the powerful engine delivers more than enough grunt to get the job done. There is a jack point at the rear, so you can tow or drop a tool to the ground level. Most building sites would have at least one dozer, perhaps more, depending on the size and scope of the project. Dozers are also used to clear forest and bushland, prior to construction; cutting paths that eventually become roads and they can be used to demolish small structures.
- Grader – Used to level ground, this is a huge 4-wheel vehicle with a slanted blade behind the front wheels, which is fully adjustable, allowing the operator to get the perfect grading. Road construction is where you will find graders hard at work, shaping the land ready for the steel and concrete. Here is a great article if you are looking to build your own fleet of commercial vehicles.
- Wheel loaders – A huge 4-wheel vehicle with a large front bucket that drops earth into dump trucks; one of these beasts can fill a fleet of dump trucks and move large amounts of material. A single bucket load might fill a dump truck and the moment one leaves, another gets into position to receive the next load.
- Conveyor belts – Used primarily in the mining industry, belts take earth and rock from one place to another, which might be an incline. The framework can be bolted together in sections and the heavy rubber belt rotates under the equipment, much like a caterpillar track. These can stretch for kilometres and frequently require repairs, but the amount they can move is insane and the belts can work 24/7.
- Road-legal earth-moving trucks – We’ve all seen these monsters on the roads, some haul a trailer, usually carrying farm produce or perhaps aggregate. They can deposit stuff on the roads during transit and you should be very careful when overtaking one of these, especially with a trailer.
One of the top heavy equipment manufacturers is John Deere, where you can find a complete range of all of the above, plus a whole lot more! They supply and service new and used equipment to a wide range of industries and have depots all across Australia. If you are in need of heavy earth-moving equipment, Google is your best friend and can locate the nearest John Deere facility and you can check out what they have on offer.
The mining industry is totally reliant on this type of equipment, where machinery is working 24/7, only stopping for maintenance. The modern world has been shaped by heavy earth-moving machinery and without it, where would we be today?
