Kits, Dealer Programs Ease Compactor Maintenance Programming
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Prepackaged preventive maintenance kits – or, alternatively, dealer service programs – can go a long way in providing needed preventive maintenance for your asphalt rollers. Asphalt compactors operate in an extreme, abusive climate and often work long hours at odd times of the day. Often the only times they are available for servicing is when work has ceased for the day and employees have gone home. Many times rollers are not serviced or inspected until they fail, and expensive repairs are needed. Then, equipment downtime is faced at exactly the wrong time. Lack of maintenance also can shorten the longevity of these valuable assets and impact resale value. |
But purchase and maintenance of lube and repair trucks, and hiring of the personnel who run them, can be a significant expense that impacts a contractor's bottom line.
Fortunately, a number of options are available to asphalt contractors who find it difficult to program roller maintenance.
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Prepackaged preventive maintenance kits for use at 50-, 250-, 500-, 750- and 1,000-hour intervals – like those available from Hamm Compaction Division of Wirtgen America, Inc. – can greatly simplify periodic roller maintenance.
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And dealer-implemented preventive maintenance plans – like the Hamm Power Plus Preventive Maintenance Program – can alleviate a great deal of these expenditures while putting periodic maintenance in the hands of trained technicians.
Kits Simplify Maintenance
Contractors are finding prepackaged kits are solving problems because they take a lot of the guesswork out of what hardware and materials are needed at a specific maintenance interval.
For example, the Hamm kit provided after the first 50 hours replaces extremely fine fluid filters that collect abrasive material accumulated during the initial break-in.
Later, kits used at 250-hour intervals include engine and air filter replacement parts. Kits for the 500-hour service interval include engine, air, steering and hydraulic filter parts. Another 250-hour kit would be used at 750 hours. Hamm's 1,000-hour kits include the preceding, plus belt replacement parts. Of course, fluids must be replaced at each interval as well.
Filters are an important part of the kits. Compactor work is done in a very dirty environment. "Contractors need to replace the air filters regularly, not just blow them out with an air hose," said Kenny Mitchell, customer service manager, Hamm Compaction Division.
"Blowing them out loosens particles inside the canister, which can fall into the air intake of the engine and dust it," Mitchell said. "Blasting them with an air hose also can tear the fabric, which also allows particles to get through. Saving a couple of dollars on air filters can significantly shorten the life of their machine."
Fuel filters also are critical maintenance items, because they remove water and contaminants from fuel which could damage fuel injectors. "If injectors are damaged, sometimes they will let too much fuel in, which will burn a hole in the top of the piston," Mitchell said. "Bypassing the two hours it takes to perform a standard service can risk shutting the machine down for weeks, or forever. The amount of time of service is minute compared to the potential time of repairs."
Dealer Maintenance Programs
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But kits and filters may not be the answer for contractors without the personnel or the capability of performing self-maintenance. Instead, they can rely on dealer personnel to provide periodic maintenance on a scheduled basis. "Most contractors don't have time to take their machines out of a job site and take it in to a distributor for maintenance service, as we would do for our car," Mitchell said. "That's why most dealers have lube trucks they send out with trained technicians to perform services."
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Hamm has refined its Power Plus Preventive Maintenance Program to help dealership maintenance programs match the individual needs of its specific contractor customers. "Dealers put together a maintenance plan that is tailor-made for a contractor's service needs," Mitchell said. "These plans are formulated for any length of time and can be arranged at time of purchase, or for existing rollers in the fleet."
Maintain Lesser-Used Machines, Too
Periodic maintenance of compactors is important even when machines aren't used so frequently, such as with soil compactors.
"A machine might have been used only a couple of hundred hours in a year, and an owner may decide it hasn't been used enough to bring it to 250 hours, or whatever the service interval is," Mitchell said. "But compactors that sit a lot get condensation built up in the hydraulic tanks, and this can go through the system and create a lot of damage to the components.
"The condensation will break down the viscosity of the oil," Mitchell said. "Also, the tolerances and clearances of the components is so small that water can cause damage such as cavitation in pumps and motors. This can be a major problem when machines are started up in spring without having been serviced."
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