Well, 3 weeks left to the course and we're finally done with all the classroom work. We've spent 2 weeks in class and 3 weeks on equipment so the next 3 weeks will all be on equipment. We can pretty much choose what we want to spend most of our time on now. I told the instructor that excavator is my main concern and backhoe is 2nd. I'm going to spend a bit on the dozer too but mostly excavator, sound like a good choice ? :beatsme We can choose from excavator, dozer, backhoe, loader, skidsteer and rock truck. I've spent a bit of time on all so far but the excavator seems to be the one that takes the most practice ( not to mention the demand for excavator operators ).
wow 5 weeks consider your self forunate i spent 2 yrs on the back end of a shovel before i got to operate full time
It might be due to the fact that I spent years on a backhoe before I ever got my hands on an excavator, but I think you'd be wise to try and split your time between those two pretty evenly, the reason being, where you put the machine is a big part of the process. Excavators are so easy to re-position, that there's not as much thought required. Backhoes, on the other hand, sometimes take a lot of thought. What you learn on a backhoe, will more easily translate onto an excavator than vice-versa. If it weren't for the fact that excavators are now doing a lot of what only backhoes did before, I'd have suggested that you spend more time on the backhoe. I still haven't spent a whole lot of time on dozers, so I can't comment there.