The Significance of Volvo Loader Parts Maintenance

1. The Significance of Volvo Loader Parts Maintenance Your Volvo loader parts are looking a bit worn, but they still get the job done. And looking at the cost of genuine Volvo wheel loader parts, why bother replacing them before they break, right? Well, it’s always best to have some spare Volvo machinery parts on hand to replace and repair them on your machine before they break because the cost of the consequences of broken parts is far worse than the cost of repair. If you run your loader until something pops or breaks, then the first problem is you don’t know when that’s going to happen. Maybe it happens right when you need the machine the most. On the other hand, as inconvenient as it might be to reduce your operating hours so your machine has some downtime for maintenance, at least you can plan it ahead of time. This way, deadlines don’t have to be revised for emergency maintenance work and can be met on time. Not only will the timing of this emergency repair work be unpredictable, the final bill for this work will also be unknown, but you can at least be sure it will be higher than the one for maintenance. When Volvo wheel loader parts break, rarely does that leave the rest of the machine unaffected.

2. For instance, if a pivot on your wheel loader bucket breaks, the other pivots will now bear the extra brunt of the load weight. And if they’re in bad shape (which is likely since they will have aged at about the same rate as the broken one) this might lead to a domino effect of pivots breaking one after the other, each time the weight of the load bearing down on fewer Volvo machinery parts. Even if only one or two of the pivots actually needed replacing in the first place, perfectly good pivots cannot still buckle under the increased pressure, leaving you with a longer service time and a higher bill. And unpredictable machines are dangerous. If your wheel loader bucket suddenly loses its tilt cylinder pressure and the bucket tips forwards, there’s no telling what damage that could do. Perhaps the wheel loader was traveling with the load when the bucket tipped and it ended up driving over the spilled load, causing damage to the wheels which now have to be repaired. Or, heaven forbid, the spilled load somehow results in an employee becoming injured. Employers are required to maintain a safe working environment for their employees and maintenance falls into this category. If an accident is caused because a machine was not maintained, that can possibly be the employer’s fault. Of course, there is some responsibility on the employee’s part and if they notice something hazardously wrong with the machine, they should not operate it, but this points to another aspect of maintenance which can be overlooked – the culture of reporting issues with a machine. If your employees are worried that they will not make a deadline if they rest the machine for maintenance and instead carry on with work, it can cost you as well as them. It’s important to communicate with your machine operators your expectations for machine care and maintenance, including how important it is to inspect machines and immediately report any serious faults or potential hazards. To this end, a daily checklist is a key weapon in fighting unexpected machine downtime and breakages. These consist of visual inspections for any obvious problems and are broken into several stages. These stages include a ground-level checklist, a check of the rest of the machine outside the cab, inside the cab, and an engine check. Firstly, in the ground-level inspection, you are looking for leaking fluids. This includes hydraulic fluids, lubricating oils, or even fuel and potentially grease. Any puddles or leaks of these fluids is a sign that maintenance needs to be performed. Sometimes, these leaks do not require machine downtime and instead are slow enough that they can be left until a routine maintenance check, though of course that assumes they stay small leaks (so you better be watching them carefully until they’re fixed). Using your machine in this state is a risk and this is where operator experience with the machine comes into play. Ideally, these leaks will not arise at a time when they cannot be fixed, but as I’m sure you’re aware, things are rarely ideal when it comes to breakages. The reason it is risky is that a major leak in a fluid can cause serious problems, like the loss of hydraulic pressure in the tilt bucket scenario described previously.

3. Then, in the ground-level inspection, you’ll inspect the ground engaging equipment, including the bucket teeth (including adaptors and pins), the bucket itself, and the wheels themselves. As a part of inspecting the bucket and ground engaging tools, make sure to check the linkages. So, make sure there are no seized pins and the grease lines and nipples are in place and working. After that, comes the tyres on wheel loaders, where you check for any obvious damage. Depending on your machine, some of the tyre surface may not be visible while it is at rest, requiring you to move the machine a bit to roll the wheels so the hidden surfaces can be inspected for damage. Part of this inspection is to check the tyre inflation is correct and they’re at an acceptable pressure, as well as checking the wheel bolts are tight and that the final drive is not leaking. Further along the machine are the hydraulics. This includes the tilt cylinder and the boom cylinders as well as the steering cylinders at the hitch (for articulated loaders). Hydraulic cylinders use a series of seals and wipers to make sure that there is little to no contamination in the hydraulic oil getting in from the outside, as well as no fluid leaking out. If you see any scores or scratches, this means the cylinders definitely need to be repaired or possibly replaced, depending on the depth of this damage. These components are the most important ones to ensure your machine is still functional, with the addition of the engine. It’s important to check the engine health, including oil, coolant, and fuel levels, to keep your machine operating. The remaining components are fairly self-explanatory, including cab components and cab access ladders. Having a daily checklist for machine safety and maintenance is one of the most important and fundamental ways of keeping on top of maintenance. It’s vital to keep on top of maintenance so that your machine is only down when you expect it to be and doesn’t cause major havoc on the jobsite with spilled loads or further and excessive damage to machine parts. Work with your team and operators to ensure a good culture of fault reporting on your machines, to prevent accidents for which you may be liable. With these tips in mind, your machine should last you for its whole expected lifetime without any major, unexpected hiccups in operation.