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Excavator Parts in Idaho - Excavator machines are vital for finishing jobs on budget and on time. These machines are capable of moving heavy dirt loads much faster in comparison to manual labor. This industrial equipment is used in many industries including road work, bridge building, landscaping, construction and architecture. 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 situated on top of an undercarriage that has tracks or wheels. Excavators have evolved from steam shovels of yesteryear. Today’s hydraulic excavating models use hydraulic fluid to complete all functions and movement. The linear actuation on the hydraulic cylinders makes them differ from cable-operated excavators that rely on winches or steel ropes. Excavator Models There are numerous sizes and models when it comes to hydraulic excavators. Compact and tiny models weigh in around two thousand pounds. The largest models conversely fall into the two million pound category. Three hydraulic pumps are utilized by modern hydraulic models instead of relying on mechanical drivetrain configurations. Two pumps deliver high-pressure oil for the accessories, swing motor, track motors and arms. A low-pressure third pump delivers power to pilot the spool valves. This setup enables less physical effort required for the operating 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 features the engine, hydraulic oil tanks fuel, counterweight and the operator cab. The house and the undercarriage are connected via a pin. A hydraulic swivel located at the pin axis supplies high-pressure oils to the hydraulic motors’ tracks. 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. The knuckle boom enables the machine to move right and left in line. 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. There are triple articulated booms available on specific machines. 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 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 many different buckets of varying sizes for different 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 design enabled the machine to conquer more digging force and lifting capacity. This design was not ideal for working in confined locations. 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. 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. The horizontal dozer blade attaches to the machines’ undercarriage. It is commonly employed for leveling and pushing items into a hole. 8 Main Excavator Types There are eight main kinds of excavators including the dragline, long reach, crawler, bucket wheel, backhoe, steam shovel, skid steer and suction. Steam Shovel Steam shovels are one of the original types of excavators. They relied on steam energy while today’s models use electric or diesel motors. Steam shovels resemble backhoes with the shovel or bucket facing away from the machine as opposed to towards the unit. This enables the operator to shove dirt away from the machine instead of pulling earth towards it. Steam shovels are used for digging around objects that may interfere with a typical 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. 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 allows operators to reach farther and dig deeper in comparison to a regular backhoe. The boom and cables allow users to work over unstable or wet ground and where a traditional backhoe would not work. Skid Steer Excavators Skid steers have buckets and booms that face away from the operator. This design allows attachments to reach over the cab as opposed to around it. This design makes skid steers useful for negotiating tight turns and narrow locations. These machines often complete residential jobs such a digging pools, site cleaning and working in limited surroundings while removing debris. 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 machine can travel down hills thanks to the chain wheel configuration that makes these machines excellent for difficult and hilly 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. This machine offers over one hundred 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 machines consist of a large front wheel that has built-in buckets and shovels. Items such as dirt and rocks become scooped up in the bucket as the wheel rotates. The material is transferred to a conveyor belt that is 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.