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Michigan Excavator Parts - Excavators are important machines that are used in a variety of industries. 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. While tracked models are sometimes known as trackhoes, excavators go by many names including mechanical shovels, diggers and 360-degree excavators. There are many applications for excavators and their attachments including forestry, snow removal with snowplow attachments and a snowblower, material handling, river dredging, construction, brush cutting with a hydraulic saw and mower attachments, digging trenches, holes and foundations, mulching for forestry, working alongside a pile driver for driving piles, grading and landscaping, regular and open-pit mining, demolition work with hydraulic claw attachments and a breaker, drilling footings and for rock blasting with an auger attachment or hydraulic drill. 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. The steam shovels of yesterday have transformed into today’s excavators. 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. Tiny and compact models weigh approximately 2k lbs. while the largest models weigh in around 2m lbs. Three hydraulic pumps are utilized by modern hydraulic models instead of relying on mechanical drivetrain configurations. 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 house and the undercarriage make up the two main portions of the machine. 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 consists of the operator cab, the counterweight, hydraulic oil tanks, fuel and the engine. 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 available in a variety of configurations and is attached to the main boom. 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. There is a hinge option located at the booms’ base to let it pivot up to 180 degrees independently to the house, usually on available on compact excavators. Triple articulated booms are also on the market. A dipper arm is attached to the end of the boom. This arm creates the necessary digging force to drag the bucket through the ground. The stick length is optional depending on if reach or breakout power is needed. 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 buckets are usually stronger and smaller with hardened teeth and side cutters to break up rocks and difficult ground. There are different buckets available in numerous sizes for a variety of applications. Numerous attachments can be used for ripping, lifting, cutting, boring, crushing, and more. Before the 1990s, the excavating machines were outfitted with a conventional counterweight that was located at the back of the equipment. This was in place to add more lifting capacity and digging force. This design was not ideal for working in confined locations. Today’s machines have been designed with the counterweight to stay in the width of the tracks for a much more user-friendly design. In excavators, there are two main kinds of control configuration to operate the bucket and the boom called the ISO and the SAE. These types of control configuration disperse the four top digging controls between two different x-y joysticks, enabling an experienced operator to have simultaneous control of all four functions. Certain excavators have switches to allow the operator to decide on which configuration they want to use during operation. Regular excavation and bucket jobs have been surpassed by hydraulic excavators. There are many hydraulic-powered excavator attachments including a breaker, a grapple and an auger. Some models come with a quick coupler feature to increase efficiency while simplifying the attachment mounting process. 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 Steam shovels are one of the original types of excavators. They utilized steam energy back in the day, while current models rely on diesel or electric motors. Steam shovels resemble backhoes with the shovel or bucket facing away from the machine as opposed to towards the unit. This design allows the operator to push dirt away from the unit instead of pulling the earth towards it. Steam shovels are used for digging around objects that may interfere with a typical backhoe. Backhoe One of the most well-known types of excavators is backhoes. Backhoes contain a large bucket that extends from a boom or an arm and a wheeled track base. The operator can scoop earth toward the machine as the design has the bucket facing the operator’s cab. These machines come in multiple sizes including compact residential models suitable for backyard applications up to heavy-duty versions used in bridge building and dredging waterways. 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 Dragline excavators are designed similarly to a backhoe and include numerous lines and cables to support 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. Skid steers are excellent in narrow areas and can easily negotiate tight turns thanks to this specific design. 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 moved 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 run on two tracks and not wheels. These machines are used in construction and mining operations. 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 speed compared to other models but offer superior balance, flexibility and stability. Long Reach Excavators The long reach excavator showcases lengthier boom and arm components. Long reach excavators are excellent for hard-to-reach locations. 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. Materials are transferred onto a conveyor belt that makes up a portion of the machine. The belt carries the material into a bin that may be part of the model or separate.