Winter is a good time to carry out welding and bushing of holes in arms and buckets
The list of failures that a construction machine can suffer from is very long - read the article on preventing the most common failures.
It also includes seemingly harmless defects, which should not be underestimated - such as damage to the holes in the arms and buckets.
This is a fairly common failure that should be removed as soon as possible to avoid more serious problems.
Quick response
Wear of the holes in the arm or bucket is always indicated by clearances deviating from the accepted normative size.
A experienced operator will easily detect them, and then a decision should be made to call the service as soon as possible.
Fortunately, minor damages of this type can be successfully repaired on the construction site. At Wibako, we use mobile boring machines, which guarantees a quick and efficient response to the report.
There is therefore no point in delaying the repair, because the sooner it is carried out, the lower its cost will be.
The repair of minor damages involves the replacement of bushings and the use of a new pin, and an experienced service will easily cope with this and restore the machine to full efficiency.
If the operator or owner does not react early enough, the consequence may be more serious damage that will manifest in the future.
When a simple repair is not enough
In the case of significant damage to the holes in the arm or bucket, the decision is usually made to weld the entire socket and bore a new hole. For an experienced service, this should not be a major problem, although of course the cost of repair will be higher.
However, it may turn out that the holes are already so heavily worn that repairing and bushing is impossible, and the only sensible solution to such a problem is to replace the entire arm or bucket.
Although this involves significant costs, it is not worth forcibly reviving holes whose extreme wear threatens to break the bucket during work, which of course is very dangerous.
Winter review a good opportunity to carry out work
If our machine is facing a winter downtime, in addition to standard service activities, it is also worth ordering a review of the condition of the holes and sockets in the arm and bucket.
In case of detection of even minimal clearances, we always recommend performing the activities described earlier.
This will allow to comprehensively prepare the machine for work in the next season and avoid nervous rush, unnecessary emotions and risk of failure at the least expected moment.
Thus, the machine will be able to work at maximum performance range, providing the operator with comfort and safety. Finally, let's not forget that the machine is a whole and the condition of the holes does not remain without impact on the durability of its other elements.
