How to Easily Maintain Your Equipment Attachments

Equipment attachments transform one machine into many, allowing you to keep your fleet small while taking on a wide variety of projects. To stay up and running, it’s important to maintain your attachments, keeping them at their very best, especially if they’re hydromechanical. Here’s your 101 course on maintaining your equipment attachments so you can grow your business.

Angle brooms are used on parking lots, airport runways, and roads, as well as in other applications. The biggest maintenance issue is wear of the broom’s bristles, which can occur quickly if you keep the broom angle in one direction for every job and use excessive downward pressure.

To prevent wear, always ensure the broom’s bristles are just touching the surface when working. Conduct a visual inspection of the bristles on a daily basis, looking for broken or lost bristles, and replace them as needed.

Remember to do a daily inspection on the entire broom—pivot points, fasteners, and chain—to ensure your machine is in top condition. Your maintenance manual will tell you how to adjust the chain and lubricate the bearings.

Before starting up your cold planer—and once an hour during use—ensure that the conical bits rotate correctly. Dust can get into these pieces and cause them to stop rotating, which can lead to damage to both the drum and the bit holders, resulting in downtime. (If you’ve been operating your cold planer, these bits will be very hot. Don’t touch them with your bare hands.)

Each week, you should lubricate the cylinder ends and control shafts, as well as conduct a visual inspection of the skid shoes and drum frame.

Each day, conduct a visual inspection of your power box rake, tightening loose hardware and checking that the wheel axle is in good condition. On a weekly basis, check the tire pressure and lubricate moving parts, including the roller bearings, caster mount brackets, and pivot plate and bolt.

During operation, hammers generally need to be lubricated every two hours, although they may need it more often if they’re being used extensively. Remember to use lubricant designed to stand up in very high temperatures. Before using your hammer, inspect the fittings and hydraulic hoses to ensure they’re in good working condition.

The hammer’s pins and bushings should be inspected every 40 to 50 hours of operation. You can also prevent premature wear and tear by ensuring you only use this attachment for 15 seconds at a time.

Equipment attachments have been a game changer for business owners, allowing you to do more with less. Keeping your attachments in the best condition possible prevents downtime and ensures you can meet your customers’ needs and grow your small business.

If you have questions about maintaining your equipment attachments, talk to us. We’re happy to help you ensure every piece of equipment you own is in top condition and ready to help you succeed through our service technicians or Customer Value Agreements.

Finning is the world's largest Caterpillar dealer, selling, renting and providing parts and service for equipment and engines to customers across diverse industries, including mining, construction, petroleum, forestry and a wide range of power systems applications. We operate in Western Canada, South America, and UK and Ireland.