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Excavator Parts Austin - Excavators are instrumental for completing building projects on time and on budget. These machines are capable of moving heavy dirt loads much faster in comparison to manual labor. Besides being utilized in construction, this equipment is popular in a variety of industries including bridge and road work, agriculture and landscaping. Also called diggers, 360-degree excavators and mechanical shovels, tracked models are sometimes referred to as trackhoes. Excavators can be equipped with numerous attachments to facilitate a range of jobs including grading and landscaping, demolition with a cutter, breaker and hydraulic saw attachments, material handling, river dredging, forestry, construction, open-pit mining, regular mining, driving piles when working with a pile driver, digging holes, foundations and trenches, snow removal with snowplow and snowblower attachments, drilling for rock blasting and footings with hydraulic auger attachment or drill, mulching for forestry and more. An excavator is a type of heavy construction equipment that is comprised of specific parts. The dipper, boom, cab and bucket are situated on top of a rotating platform called the house. The house is located on top of an undercarriage that features either wheels or tracks. Excavators have evolved from steam shovels of yesteryear. Today’s hydraulic excavating models use hydraulic fluid to complete all functions and movement. The hydraulic cylinders feature linear actuation making them different from excavators that are cable-operated, relying on steel ropes and winches instead. Excavator Models Hydraulic excavators come in a variety of different models and sizes. Compact and tiny models weigh in around two thousand pounds. The largest models conversely fall into the two million pound category. Modern hydraulic excavators rely on engine power to operate three hydraulic pumps as opposed to mechanical drivetrain operations. Two of the pumps supply high-pressure oil for the track motors, swing motor, arms and accessories. The third low-pressure pump supplies power for pilot control of the spool valves. This design offers less required physical effort for operating the controls. The three pumps that are in an excavator are often the two variable displacement piston pumps and the gear pump. These pumps are arranged in the excavator in a variety of formats depending on different manufacturer models. The House and the Undercarriage The two main aspects of the machine are made by the undercarriage and the house. The final drives with a hydraulic motor and subsequent gears to individual tracks the blade, track frame and tracks are considered undercarriage components. The house features the engine, hydraulic oil tanks fuel, counterweight and the operator cab. The house and the undercarriage are connected via a pin. High-pressure oils are supplied to the tracks on the hydraulic motor via a pin axis found on the hydraulic swivel. This design allows the excavator to move freely in 360 degrees. The house is attached to the main boom and various configurations are available. Mono booms are among the most common. This type features zero movement besides straight up and down. A knuckle boom is another option which allows it to move right and left in line with the machine. Typically an option on compact excavators, the booms’ base has a hinge option that enables it to pivot one-hundred and eighty degrees independently to the house. Triple articulated booms are also on the market. At the end of the boom, the stick or dipper arm is located. This arm creates the necessary digging force to drag the bucket through the ground. The length of the stick is optional depending on whether breakout power or reach is necessary. Shorter stick models are often utilized for breakout power jobs while longer stick models are used to complete extensive reach situations. A bucket is typically attached to the end of the stick. A mud bucket describes a large, wide capacity bucket that has a straight cutting edge used for leveling and cleanup or wherever teeth are not needed. General-purpose bucket designs commonly are used to break up hard ground and difficult rocks, with their side cutters and hardened teeth that are typically smaller and stronger. There are different buckets available in numerous sizes for a variety of applications. There are many attachments used for crushing, boring, cutting, lifting, ripping and more. Prior to the ‘90s, all excavating equipment came with a conventional counterweight that was suspended off of the back of the machine. This was in place to add more lifting capacity and digging force. As one can imagine, this became cumbersome when working within confined spaces. The counterweight of modern machines today is designed to stay in the width of the tracks making it much safer and more user-friendly within confined spaces. The SAE and the ISO are the two types of control configuration used to operate the boom and the bucket. This configuration disperses the top four digging controls between two separate y-x joysticks, providing the operator with simultaneous control over all four movements. Some models have switches that enable the operator to choose which configuration they prefer. Hydraulic excavator jobs have surpassed bucket and excavation tasks. There are many hydraulic-powered excavator attachments including a breaker, a grapple and an auger. There are models that offer a quick coupler feature to simplify attachment mounting and increase efficiency. Excavators commonly work alongside bulldozers and loaders. The majority of medium and compact sized wheeled models have a dozer blade or a backfill blade. This horizontal blade attaches to the undercarriage. It is used for pushing and leveling material back into a hole. 8 Main Excavator Types • Long Reach • Backhoe • Suction • Steam Shovel • Bucket Wheel • Skid Steer • Dragline • Crawler Steam Shovel One of the first kinds of excavators were steam shovels. They utilized steam energy back in the day, while current models rely on diesel or electric motors. Steam shovels are similar to backhoes with the bucket or shovel facing away from the machine instead of facing it. This enables the operator to shove dirt away from the machine instead of pulling earth towards it. Steam shovels are popular for digging around objects that might interfere with a regular backhoe. Backhoe Backhoes are one of the most popular kinds of excavators. Backhoes contain a large bucket that extends from a boom or an arm and a wheeled track base. The bucket faces the operator cab and enables the operator to scoop earth toward the equipment. There are many kinds of excavators and sizes including heavy-duty applications such as dredging water and bridge construction to compact residential models ideal for backyard landscaping. The more compact units are ideal for accessing smaller spaces and this offers a 200-degree swiveling range for digging close to the machine. Dragline Excavator A dragline excavator resembles a backhoe and includes various cables and lines to facilitate the bucket pulling motion. The dragline design enables operators to obtain a longer reach while digging deeper compared to a traditional backhoe. The cable and booms let users work over wet or unstable ground and in difficult locations unattainable by regular models. Skid Steer Excavators Skid steers have buckets and booms that face away from the operator. This engineering enables attachments to reach over the cab instead of around the cab. This design makes skid steers useful for negotiating tight turns and narrow locations. They are commonly employed for residential projects like site cleaning, digging pools and removing debris within limited space. Suction Excavator Resembling a modern dump truck, these special excavators enable operators to use a large hose and vacuum technology to suck rocks and earth out of the ground. The material is transferred back to the truck. The suction excavator ensures a safer environment for digging around equipment and underground pipes compared to typical backhoes. Crawler Excavators Crawlers don’t rely on wheels, they run on two tracks. They are popular in the mining and construction industries. Also called compact excavators, these machines rely on hydraulic power components to lift heavy soil and debris. The chain wheel configuration allows the machine to traverse down hills with less risk, making them an ideal candidate for hilly locations and tricky terrain. Crawlers are slower in comparison to other models but offer better stability, flexibility and balance. Long Reach Excavators The long reach model features longer arm and boom options. They are ideal for hard-to-reach areas. The extendable arm offers more than 100 feet of horizontal reach. These machines are often used for demolition in applications working over a body of water. Various attachments can be fixed to the arm to complete jobs such as cutting, crushing and shearing. Bucket Wheel Excavator These excavators function with a large front wheel with built-in buckets and shovels. Dirt and rocks are scooped up within the buckets as the wheel rotates. Items are transferred onto a conveyor belt that functions as an important part of the machine. The belt transports the material into a bin that depending on the model, could be a part of the machine or separate.