What I mean is.. does operating the mini-ex in sandy conditions cause more than normal wear on the under carriage and the bushings and pins in the bucket area? Is sand that much more abrasive than working in other materials? If you have worked in sand is there something to do after to clean up the machine. Extra grease or what. I woudnt think pressure washing would be a good idea. Any thoughts appreciated
Yes, it is "that much more abrasive" than, say, dirt! But if that's what's in your area, ain't much you can do about it. As for washing it, I don't see where that would be any worse on it than leaving sand in the track components, probably better.
Just think "sand paper" thats what sand does. I have to work in a mix of sand and clay that stuff is just plain nasty !
yes it's very abrasive and the bucket and bushings get the s*** beat out of them. i'll post some pics later of what my bucket looks like after 3 yrs or so of digging in sand
Keep the blade, bucket and tipping links well greased e.g. every 5 hours. A wash down every now and then wouldn't do any harm. being sandy hopefully means that muck doesn't stick to the machine too badly (compared to clay)
Keep digging your tarcks out to prevent build up and compaction in the undercarriage. I wouldn't suggest greasing anymore than you normally do as any excess grease around your pins will attract the sand and turn it into a grinding paste hastening the wear on your machine. Washing a machine down regulary never hurts it no matter what your job your doing at the time. A clean machine looks better and helps if you have to locate a leak or such like and also if you have to do any work on the machine. It's surprising how tough sand can be, I've run a shovel digging out virgin sand and it'd like digging in rock at times and if you have teeth on a bucket after a while it looks like chunks have been bust off but it's just the wear.
Fortunately the job digging stumps in the sand is done. I'll think what I'll do is take the air hose and blow out all the nooks and cranies. I'm not a big fan of the pressure washer as it seems to just blow grease and crap all over the place. Maybe if I put some degreaser solution on first but who knows. Thanks for all the advice.
I always have wondered about that question about grease attracting dirt/sand. I agree it would attract, but would it permeate into the bushings or just stay locked up outside in the grease? My thought would be every time you pump in new grease it would just push any dirt out wards and replace it with clean grease. Would lack of excess grease maybe cause the dirt to enter the bushings more easily? I am not trying to argue, just trying to figure this out.
That was my basis of thinking - If there is a good lump of grease around the pins/bushes e.t.c then dirt hopefully shouldn't get in, eventually the exposed lump of grease will get covered in sand e.t.c and no longer attract dirt e.t.c. I am quite sure a well looked after excavator even working in sand non stop would be in better condition than most hire fleet machines (especially mini diggers) I use a hot washer for cleaning the machines down but nothing beats a bit of hard work with a few rags and some polish!!
We work in sand a lot with wheel loaders and we always grease more, working on the theory that the grease will push the sand out. They look pretty grotty around the pins and bushes, but that build up of grease does tend to keep the sand out. We do overgrease anyway, because we find that the dust we work in, dries the grease out very quickly, but we vary rarely replace pins and bushes. We have machines that have done 11,000 hours and the bucket pins and bushes are still in reasonable condition. Rn'R.
Just curious as to how often you grease (hours) and the type of grease you use to get that many hours without bushing replacement? edit I guess you already said 5 hours in a previous post.
Some types of sand we work in will have the pins squealing in an hour. Most of the time its not a problem when its not too dry. We grease twice a day for most of the year. My father always said "if there is grease coming out, dirt aint getting in".
If you are asking me, nobull1, we grease on a daily basis where the machine would be working 8 to 10 hours a day. In extreme conditions we may grease the bucket pivots twice a day. We just use a good quality EP grease and plenty of it, through a compressor operated air gun. One thing that does help and I guess this would apply to backhoe and excavator pins as well, is to shim any gap between the bush and the frame. Keeping that gap packed, coupled with the grease helps keep the dirt out. Our Komatsu wheel loaders have soft rubber seal rings that fit between the bush and the frame, on the bucket pivot pins and they work well. Strott recomended greasing every 5 hours. Rn'R.
I grease my mini excavators' boom, dipper, bucket and blade every 10 hours (2-4 pumps of the grease gun depending on pin size e.t.c), the slew ring e.t.c is greased as stated by the owners manual. I grease the tracked and wheeled dumpers every 25 hours. If working in water or sandy conditions (very rarely!!) I would grease any ground engaging parts every 5 hours.
The hardest problem with greasing is finding that happy medium as this can be affected by many different issues. Such as the ground conditions, working conditions, tempreture, wear that is already present on the pins and bushes when you take over a machine etc.
I think I'm leaning on the side of you cant overgrease if working in extreme conditions. Whats the worst that can happen? Your machine looks like crap but a little wiping would take care of it. When we ran farm implements they were greased every day and they see 10-12 hours of pure dust. We never experienced any issues other than our sealed bearings in the disc, they were very prone to failure due to a poor design and no grease fittings as they were considered sealed bearings.
To grease or not to grease that is the question? Simple answer no grease equals wear and tear. A lot of grease equals nasty mess. If it were up to me I'd rather have a happy runnning messy machine then an upset broke down machine.
Wipe off the splattered grease when you apply new grease - well attempt to anyway!!!!