Wear and Tear

Given the rough conditions inherent on landfill landscapes, “anywhere the machine comes in contact with the waste can be a point of origination for wear and tear,” points out Tom Griffith, senior system and waste application specialist for Caterpillar.

There are a host of reasons on investing time in landfill equipment maintenance: performance, safety, and a long-term

return on the investment. Depending on type of landfill, waste type, application, weather, operator skill level, and a myriad of other variables, a compactor, track-type ­tractor, or dozer could have more issues, notes Griffith.

“While difficult to imagine, in the waste industry, there is a tremendous amount of wear and tear directly attributed to the continuous contact with paper,” says John Meese, Waste Management’s director of heavy equipment. “Paper is extremely abrasive and is always in contact with the undercarriage, compactor wheels, and underside of the equipment.

“The side frames on a crawler tractor must be replated at certain points in the unit’s life—typically at major rebuild—as are the compactors’ frames. The differential housings on the compactors are constantly rubbing in the wastestream as adequate compaction is achieved. The compactors’ wheels obviously incur the most wear from the mix of materials in the wastestream.”

One of the highest productivity machines working in landfill applications is wheel loaders, notes Stefan Salomonsson, product manager, Volvo Construction Equipment. Volvo double seals every joint on wheel loader lifts and frames, “helping greatly protect against wear and tear on pins and bushings and extending lifespan,” he says.

Waste Management’s wheel loaders working in transfer stations are constantly pushing and loading waste on a concrete floor, causing the bucket cutting edges—as well as the floor itself—to wear ­prematurely, says Meese. “Replacing the steel cutting edge with a rubber composite edge made from recycled tires can greatly reduce that wear on the edge, bucket, and floor,” he says.

Powertrain component wear and tear comes from the entry of foreign particles into the lubricating fluids, Meese points out. “These materials enter the system through a number of ways, but the two most common are through air intake systems into the engine and deteriorated seals on hydraulic cylinders. Material drawn into an engine as it breathes wears on cylinder walls and other internal engine parts.”

Tires are an “incredible” expense on landfill operations, “so extending their lifespan is a great way to reduce costs,” notes Salomonsson. “One way to do this is to ensure you’re organizing your wheel loader traffic patterns to minimize the amount of reversing and turning necessary. A clear path for tires will help reduce wear and extend the time between replacements.”

Maintaining proper track tension is another important component of landfill equipment maintenance, as incorrect track tension may lead to increased track wear, says Shane Reardon, Doosan excavator product specialist. “As a general rule, when your operators are working in soft, muddy conditions, it is recommended to run the tracks slightly looser,” he says.

“If steel tracks are too tight or too loose, it can quickly accelerate wear,” says Reardon. “A loose track could cause the tracks to de-track.”

He suggests landfill operators consider rubber tracks for sensitive surfaces. “Rubber tracks are available on smaller excavators and these models excel in a variety of ­applications,” says Reardon. “Most noticeably, rubber tracks provide good flotation, allowing excavators to travel across and work on soft ground conditions. The rubber tracks have minimal ground disturbance on finished surfaces, such as concrete, grass, or asphalt.”

Routine maintenance procedures can help extend undercarriage life, he adds, explaining how the undercarriage makes up a large portion of track replacement costs and consists of expensive components. “The undercarriage of tracked heavy equipment such as crawler excavators consists of many moving components that need to be maintained for them to function properly,” says Reardon. “If the undercarriage is not routinely inspected and maintained, it can easily cost you valuable time, money, and potentially decrease the track’s lifespan.”

Keeping the undercarriage clean is of utmost importance, he notes. At the end of each workday, excavator operators should take time to clean out dirt and other debris that may lead to undercarriage buildup.

A dirty undercarriage should be cleaned regardless of the application, continues Reardon. “If the undercarriage is not routinely cleaned, the faster it will lead to premature wear on components,” he says. “This is especially true in colder climates. If operators neglect to clean the undercarriage and are working in a colder climate, the mud, dirt and debris will freeze. Once that material freezes, it can start to rub on the bolts, loosen the guiding, and seize up the rollers, leading to potential wear later. Cleaning the undercarriage helps prevent unnecessary downtime.”

Additionally, debris can add more weight to the undercarriage, reducing fuel economy, he says. “Shovels and pressure washers can be used to help clean the undercarriage. Many manufacturers offer undercarriages that are designed for easier track carriage cleanout, helping debris fall to the ground rather than become packed in the undercarriage.”

The undercarriage should be routinely inspected. “It is important to complete a full undercarriage inspection for excessive or uneven wear, as well as look for damaged or missing components,” explains Reardon, adding that if the machine is being used in harsh applications or other challenging conditions, the undercarriage may need to be inspected more frequently.

Items that need to be inspected on a routine basis include: drive motor, drive sprockets, main idlers and rollers, rock guards, track bolts, track chains, track shoes, and track tension.

“During a routine machine walk-around inspection, operators should check the tracks to see if any components look out of place,” points out Reardon. “If so, this could indicate a loose track pad or possibly a broken track pin. Additionally, they should inspect the rollers, idlers, and drives for oil leakage, which could indicate a failed seal that could lead to a major failure in the rollers, idlers, or track drive motors.”

Operators always should follow the manufacturer’s operation and maintenance manual for proper undercarriage maintenance, Reardon adds. “Follow basic practices,” he says. “Certain construction job-site tasks can create more wear on excavator tracks and undercarriages than other applications, so it is important that operators adhere to the manufacturer’s recommended operating procedures.

“While more technical service needs will likely be fulfilled by a dealer or a service technician, there are many small maintenance steps that can be taken to help ensure larger repairs are fewer and further between,” he continues.

Among them: operator walk-arounds. “Wheel loader operators should conduct daily walk-arounds before starting the machine, checking the undercarriage and exterior for loose parts, and looking at hoses to identify possible leaks,” says Salomonsson.

He adds, “As part of that daily walk-around, operators should check fluid levels, including the engine oil, transmission fluid, and hydraulics. Before shutting down at the end of each day, an operator will also want to top off fuel to help prevent condensation from developing, which can reduce engine life and poorly affect fuel consumption.”

Griffith concurs that the daily walk-around or machine inspection is the most important part of the shift, adding that if there is more than one shift, the walk-around should be performed and written up again. “More than 75% of concerns can be caught during the walk-around,” he says.

Other routine maintenance practices include performing preventative maintenance at required intervals, filter and fluid changes, greasing, frame and structural inspections, ground-engaging tool (GET) measurements, and wheel and track measurements.

“Cutting costs on the front end can cost you greatly on the back end,” notes Griffith. “As companies pay closer attention to the return on initial investment, they can justify the cost associated with a regular maintenance plan, knowing that it keeps the machine operational without interruption for a longer period of time.”

Salomonsson recommends daily ­greasing irrespective of indications in an owner’s manual. “Daily greasing helps reduce component friction and helps ensure the machine doesn’t have to work harder than it needs to,” he says.

Oil analysis should also be a part of any maintenance program to help identify maintenance needs as early as possible, Salomonsson says. “Thorough oil analysis can give you great insights about your machine health and help you detect problems early,” he adds. “Among items that can be identified through oil analysis are abnormal wear, oil contamination, impending failures, and more—all of which will help you avoid down time and save money.”

Waste Management managers are “strong believers on scheduled oil sampling for the various compartments on a piece of equipment,” says Meese. “We sample every compartment containing fluids on a 250-hour interval and send those samples in for analysis. The technology used in this analysis spotlights wear materials in the sample, which in turn indicates what is happening in the compartment. Those indicators also are predictors of increased wear and potential impending failures. This process can save a fleet thousands of dollars in making pre-failure repairs.”

Meese notes that heavy equipment maintenance requires a number of different skill sets, varying in difficulty from both a technical and physical perspective. “Equipment cleanliness is a key to proper maintenance and does not require a high level of technical skill, but can be a physically challenging task,” he says. “The majority of the wear on the undercarriage of a crawler tractor or loader comes from abrasion, made worse by a packed undercarriage.”

Keeping the engine and transmission areas on any type of heavy equipment clean also is part of the maintenance effort as dirt, debris, and spilled or leaked fluid buildup can limit heat dissipation and increase the risk of fire, he adds.

“From a technical standpoint, with newer equipment comes increasing sophistication and complexity,” says Meese.

“A heavy equipment technician must have nearly identical skill sets to work on a new wheel loader as the technician who works on a new foreign automobile. It’s physically less demanding but requires more knowledge, and from a cost standpoint it’s more expensive.”

Intermittent machine performance issues are problematic to diagnose, says Griffith. “The telematics communications ability of the machine shares key system data and associated diagnostic codes that can be reviewed remotely, helping advanced troubleshooting to minimize or prevent downtime,” he says.

Machine telematics provides real-time feedback from the machines, Griffith points out. “Hours, location, idle time—all of that information is tied to maintenance software systems to manage the scheduling and help track the maintenance,” he adds.

Case in point: VisionLink–Unified Fleet was designed to display information to give better visibility to a fleet with the goal of saving money, notes Griffith.

VisionLink Legacy is used to help manage maintenance on fleets as well as productivity, and VisionLink Landfill helps landfill managers manage solid waste landfill, he says.

“Better compaction and landfill life maximization are the drivers of VisionLink Landfill,” says Griffith, adding that all three technologies can be utilized not only to address maintenance codes and concerns, but also machine utilization, fuel tracking, compaction, and landfill life.

And, Waste Management is heavily involved with telematics. A recently-approved ISO standard allows the various manufacturers of equipment to send the telematics data coming from their equipment in a common language, covering common data points such as engine over-heating, machine idle time, and errant operator behaviors, Meese says.

“A large portion of our major pieces of equipment are equipped with a tele­matics system reporting total hours run, idle hours, and fuel usage,” he adds.

“The fuel usage is an important data point as the total fuel burned is an indicator as to how far along an engine is in its useful life. That allows for scheduling repairs or rebuilds prior to full failure, saving ­substantial dollars.”

While there is an abundance of telematics systems that help keep solid waste operations informed of potential and real-time maintenance issues, there is no substitute for the human eye. One of the most important challenges facing the solid waste industry regarding equipment maintenance is ensuring the maintenance and operation staff understands the importance of regular maintenance and tracking that maintenance, says Griffith.

Operators can impact wear and tear issues and are “one of the highest determining costs in fuel, daily maintenance, GET wear, and track and tire wear,” he adds. “We have charts that tell us the difference of production between a bad and good operator. Costs associated follow almost the same percentage of downtime and total costs.”

Customer service personnel can use ­Caterpillar electronic service tooling (CAT ET) to access machine diagnostic data, enabling them the ability to troubleshoot and repair if possible, or determine if the assistance of a certified Caterpillar dealer technician is required, notes Griffith.

Caterpillar has three waste qualified operator trainers for landfills, transfer stations, and material recovery facilities (MRFs), notes Griffith, adding that they receive application, efficiency, and technical training twice a year “to keep them fresh.”

Training for machine and application are performed on the end user’s site in their applications. Caterpillar also offers high level technician training, which can be performed onsite, at the dealership, or at Caterpillar.

“We have had end users provide input stating that by training their staff, their overall machine costs, safety incidents, and personal injuries have fallen as much as 10 to 20%, depending on the site and how it is managed,” says Griffith.

Indeed, operator work habits have a significant impact on equipment wear and tear. For example, adhering to proper digging procedures also keeps the equipment properly maintained.

“Crawler excavator operators should follow basic operating procedures outlined in the manufacturer’s operation and maintenance manual to minimize excessive wear and track degradation,” says Reardon.

According to him, some tips that can help minimize track and undercarriage wear include:

• Make wider turns. Sharp turns or pivoting the machine can lead to accelerated wear and increase the potential for de-tracking.
• Minimize time on slopes. Constant operation on a slope or hill in one direction can accelerate wear. However, many applications require slope or hillside work, so when moving the machine up or down a hill, make sure that the drive motor is in the correct position to reduce track wear. Reardon says the drive motor should be facing the back of the machine for easy maneuverability up a slope or hill.
• Avoid harsh environments: rough asphalt or concrete or other abrasive materials can cause damage to tracks.
• Reduce unnecessary spinning: operators should be trained to make wide, less aggressive turns. Track spinning can lead to wear and decrease productivity.
• Select the correct shoe width: Choose the proper shoe width by considering the weight of the machine and application. For instance, narrower excavator shoes are better suited for hard soil and rocky conditions because they have better soil penetration and grip, says Reardon. Wide excavator shoes typically work well in soft underfoot conditions because they have more floatation with lower ground pressure, he adds.
• Pick the correct grouser: consider the application before choosing the number of grousers per shoe. A single or double grouser may work well when laying pipe but may not work well in other applications, he says. Typically, the higher number of grousers the track has, the more contact the track will have with the ground, vibration is reduced, and the longer it will last when working in more abrasive conditions.