Construction Equipment Maintenance Troubleshooting

Construction equipment can take on a lot of wear and tear, and machinery often needs quite a bit of regular maintenance to stay in working condition. However, sooner or later equipment will have issues, fail, and need repairs. Thankfully, with the helpful information in our article below, you should be able to quickly pinpoint the issue and the type of repair necessary to get your construction equipment back in great shape. 

Types of Construction Equipment Failure

Identifying the problem with a malfunctioning piece of construction equipment takes a bit of technical knowledge. Here are some of the basic causes to help you get started.

Extreme temperatures are a huge cause of issues with all kinds of equipment. Big swings in temperature change also make this kind of damage more likely, such as when a machine is started up in freezing temperatures, or when an engine or motor overheats. Fortunately, thermal failures are easy to prevent as long as you’re keeping up with regular maintenance. 

Mechanical failure occurs when some part or component just isn’t performing as intended. Prevent the problem before it starts by replacing malfunctioning parts, lubricating and tightening fasteners, and ensuring moving parts are properly aligned. These kinds of problems most often arise out of pushing equipment too far, collisions, and plain old operational missteps. 

The most difficult problems to predict and counteract are erratic errors with no rhyme or reason for their occurrence. A lot of issues come from electronic components or other systems like hydraulics that may suffer damage without signaling it to technicians. This could be due to a power overload or simply a software issue keeping machinery from operating, even though it’s mechanically sound. 

Identifying Causes of Breakdown

Sometimes construction equipment breaks down despite our best efforts to keep it in operational condition. The trouble then becomes identifying the cause of the issue so a proper repair can be applied. Knowing how and why equipment breaks down also allows operators and service techs to pick out these issues before they break the equipment!

Equipment can just break down without warning. This is referred to as sudden failure. Hopefully, the reason is obvious for this to occur and a proper fix can be implemented quickly. 

Intermittent failures are those which either only happen sometimes or under specific circumstances. It’s usually harder to identify the issue here, as you’ll have to be able to replicate the adverse conditions, and sometimes techs end up chasing the phantom of a mechanical problem in the shop only to OK the equipment for service without ever finding the source of the issue.

Gradual failure is often due to failing parts or components, as either a persistent issue takes hold or the equipment reaches the end of its life.

Now that you know how and why your construction equipment is failing, you can get started on repairing the problem. However, construction equipment isn’t always the easiest to service, and we recommend visiting us here at TTJ Equipment  when you need a professional repair. We have several locations across the state of Texas, including the cities of Lufkin, Cleveland, and Jasper, TX, and proudly serve the surrounding communities of Nacogdoches and Jacksonville, TX.