Maintenance Tips to Enhance the Life of Your Vibratory Soil Compactor

Buying a vibratory soil compactor can turn out to be a great addition to your existing fleet. At Al-Bahar, we offer a wide range of soil compactors from SEM each delivering the desired level of performance for your business. For example, the SEM 512 Vibratory Compactor offers unmatched safety, reliability, and performance. However, getting the right machine is not enough. Vibratory compactors can deliver a high level of productivity to your fleet as long as you undertake proper preventive maintenance and operating practices. Proper maintenance also helps you to save on repair costs as well. Let us take a quick look at some of the maintenance tasks that you should carry out.

Service it the Right Way

Maintaining the engine and hydraulic system components is especially critical. To get the proper output to compact the asphalt, the engine has to run at its specified RPMs. If the engine isn’t running fast enough, the hydraulic system would not perform as expected and the performance vibratory system would be compromised.

Another thing that you should keep in mind is that you should always use clean, high-quality lubricants as that would reduce wear, lower the operating temperatures and get the maximum service life out of your components. Even if you have a used soil compactor, you should not compromise on the quality of the lubricant.

Use the Correct Technique

Most people don’t consider proper operation as a part of equipment maintenance. But, the proper operation does play a critical part in ensuring the longevity of the machine. So, apart from regular servicing, you should also consider the proper operation as a part of the maintenance program.

Operators are sometimes prone to doing things like jumping curbs, driving rather than ramping the roller off the trailer, moving from forward to reverse rather abruptly, breaking up the concrete blocks. All these things would damage the machine. So, it’s better to avoid such manoeuvres.

Over-compaction can also impact the life of the roller negatively. The feedback from over-compaction might cause significant damage to the isolators that allow the movement of the drum. At the same time, it can cause damage and excessive wear to the bearings. To avoid over-compaction, you need to establish a rolling pattern and determine its efficacy through proper testing.

When you are transporting the soil compactor, you should exercise proper care. For example, if you over tighten the chains, you will be drawn against the drum isolators and all that stretching might seriously damage them. So, it is advisable to be familiar with the machine and understand when it’s secure. Since no indicator or dial shows how tight the chains are, you need to rely on the experience of the operator to ensure that the equipment is secure without stressing the equipment too much.

When You Need More than Maintenance

Even when you have done everything right with regards to machine maintenance, it may so happen at some point, where you have to decide between making a major repair and replacing the equipment. After a certain point of time, it will become more costly to repair and the downtime will also emerge to be a major impediment. In such scenarios, it is better to get a new soil compactor.

There might be instances where your machine poses a serious safety problem. Therefore, it makes smarter sense to upgrade to a new unit.

Certain components like heavily worn drums are quite expensive to replace. On the other hand, newer machines bring in better technology and that would make your job easier.

SEM is one of the fastest-growing brands for soil compactors and heavy equipment across the world. Al-Bahar is the sole dealer for SEM branded Chinese soil compactors in UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain. Contact us to know more.