Earthmoving machines are some of the most critical assets in construction, mining, and infrastructure industries. Few examples for such machines include excavators, bulldozers, and loaders.
All these machines operate in tough conditions and experience high loads. Without proper preventive maintenance, they are subjected to wear and tear.
This is why you need to pay special attention to preventive maintenance.
Let’s explore how lubricants can help you with ensuring preventive maintenance.

Why Earthmoving Equipment Requires Frequent Maintenance

Earthmoving machinery has moving components under high contact pressures making them prone to wear and tear. For instance, the teeth on a bulldozer shovel experience abrasive wear from scraping soil and rocks.

The joints of an excavator bucket are under high stress from digging and lifting heavy debris. Critical engine parts also operate under high temperatures. Without proper lubrication, these parts experience accelerated wear, tear and fatigue. Scheduled re-lubrication is essential to minimize friction, remove contaminants and prevent premature failures.

Additionally, earthmoving equipment often operates in remote locations and harsh environmental conditions. Dust, moisture and temperature extremes enter the components and degrade the lubricants.
Contaminants in degraded lubricants cause increased component wear. That’s why lubricants need to be changed based on strict schedules, not just run to failure. With frequent preventative re-lubrication, equipment life and reliability can be significantly extended.

The Role of Lubricants

Lubricants have three core functions crucial for earthmoving equipment reliability:

Minimizing Friction and Wear

Lubricants form a fluid film between closely fitting metal parts, minimizing metal-to-metal contact and friction. This prevents accelerated wear from occurring between the teeth of gears or links of crawler tracks. High quality lubricants maintain viscosity to keep this fluid film stable even under high temperatures and loads. They contain special additives to further enhance protection of metal surfaces.
Cooling
The fluid film from lubricants also transfers damaging heat away from components like transmission gears and bearings. This prevents thermal expansion and uneven wearing of parts. Heat transfer oils and greases maintain excellent thermal conductivity to take away heat and prevent equipment overheating failures.

Contaminant Removal

Lubricants help flush out solid contaminants like metal debris and dust from critical components. Additives help finely suspended contaminants remain safely in the lubricant fluid without depositing on component surfaces as abrasive sludge. Some advanced lubricants even chemically neutralize acidic contamination from water ingress or oxides. This cleansing action reduces component wear rates.

Using the Right Lubricants

All lubricants are not equal. Different earthmoving equipment components with their specific friction management, wear prevention and thermal control requirements need tailored lubricant formulas, viscosities and additive packages. For example, engine oils need outstanding oxidation resistance and piston cleaning power. Transmission fluids on the other hand require precise viscosity profiles to protect gears at different operating temperatures as well as foam inhibitors.

Getting expert guidance is important on what lubricant specifications each equipment component needs. The OEM manual provides primary guidelines on recommended lubricants, but specialized lubricant companies also offer lubrication surveys and audits to identify potential gaps as maintenance practices evolve. With technology upgrades and equipment aging, the optimal lubricant choices may also change over time for the same machine. Getting updated advice periodically is therefore essential.

Once suitable lubricants are identified, using reliable products from reputed brands ensures dependably high quality and performance. Bargain lubricants often employ inferior base oils and inadequate additives leading to poor protection. With heavy equipment maintenance, sticking to proven lubricants that provide extended drain intervals, equipment longevity and reliability is wise economics.

In addition to choosing high performance lubricants, application methods also affect results. Aging seals can develop leaks causing oil loss and contamination ingress.

Automated centralised lubrication systems provide precise measured lubricant amounts to each component. They prevent under or over lubrication via manual applications. Proper storage away from moisture, dust and temperature swings also preserves lubricant integrity until use. Keeping containers sealed and ISO clean during oil handling further avoids contaminating lubricants.

Effective Preventative Maintenance

While lubricants are vital, integrating them into a comprehensive preventative maintenance plan along with component inspections, usage monitoring, trend analysis and scheduled service boosts overall returns on equipment reliability.

Modern earthmoving machines have telematics to capture extensive operating data down to the last liter of fuel or hour of operation. Maintenance software can even estimate the best times to schedule routine upkeep based on actual usage severity before components reach high risk zones.

Combining such analytics with high performance lubricants and qualified technicians facilitates predictive maintenance where issues can be caught early and downtime slashed considerably. Well lubricated and monitored equipment keeps operating reliably despite intense use year after year.

The Future of Connected Lubricants

Advances in lubrication technology and connectivity are unlocking even more potential to optimize earthmoving equipment reliability. “Connected lubricants" equipped with sensors can track real-time viscosity, temperature, oil degradation, and machine health metrics. Cloud-based monitoring platforms compile this data with maintenance records on a centralized dashboard. Historical data analytics then accurately predict the best times for oil changes, component inspections, repairs and more.

Connecting lubricants to equipment monitoring systems and maintenance analytics software can automatically flag when viscosity nears thresholds signaling the need for an oil change. Or identify component wear reaching near failure stages prompting preventative repairs. This constant real-time optimization and predictive capabilities maximize lubricant performance, minimize oil consumption, reduce technician time and slash unplanned downtime events. As connectivity and lubrication chemistry continue advancing, plant and mine operators get increasingly strategic insights to run assets safely, sustainably and profitably.

Final Words

The extensive mechanical stresses earthmoving machinery experiences makes preventative maintenance indispensable. High quality lubricants play a pivotal role by minimizing wear, managing heat, and flushing out contaminants across all components to extend equipment life and productivity.

Keeping earthmoving fleet running via modern analytics-driven maintenance protocols and high-performance lubricants delivers substantial returns for any construction, mining or infrastructure enterprise through increased availability, safety, lowered costs and maximized equipment lifespan.