A Renter's Guide to Construction Equipment Maintenance: Boosting Safety and Productivity
Renting equipment brings many advantages to construction companies, including enhanced efficiency, reduced downtime and access to specialized equipment for challenging applications. However, rental equipment needs proper maintenance to ensure optimal function, safety and efficiency. While this equipment is inspected by the dealer between rentals and rarely needs lengthy or costly repairs, there are some everyday maintenance actions that are necessary for optimizing performance.
The Importance of Proper Equipment Rental Maintenance
Every piece of construction equipment requires maintenance to ensure proper function and operational efficiency. Performing upkeep regularly can also deliver benefits like:
- Enhancing performance: Operational efficiency is crucial on construction sites, and equipment performance directly impacts workflows. A proactive approach to maintenance involves periodically evaluating components to keep equipment operating at its peak. Ensuring your rental is working at maximum capacity will minimize the duration of your contract and keep your projects moving.
- Promoting uptime: Preventive maintenance allows you to operate equipment for longer periods of time while avoiding downtime for repairs. While the rental provider will handle any repairs the equipment may need, keeping the unit at its best will allow you to make the most use of it and avoid time lost waiting for a replacement.
- Ensuring operator safety: Equipment malfunctions and breakdowns can create dangerous environments for workers, potentially leading to injuries or fatalities. Proper maintenance ensures operators and workers in the area know what to expect from the equipment and can use it responsibly and safely to complete tasks.
What Are the Maintenance Requirements for Rentals?
Many times, equipment rental providers will handle major maintenance and repair requirements. However, renters are still responsible for some maintenance actions to ensure the equipment is used properly. Regardless of the specific actions your provider requires, following some basic practices allows you to use the equipment to its full benefit.
Your rental construction equipment maintenance tasks may include:
- Minor adjustments: It's common for some components to become loose or misaligned over time or after prolonged use. Minor maintenance like tightening bolts, ensuring wheel alignment and adhering to model-specific adjustment requirements is essential.
- Regular cleaning: Removing debris, wiping down equipment and similar cleaning actions are important to a rental's function. Accumulated dirt and debris can compromise component performance, minimize range of motion and cause internal blockages.
- Lubricating parts: Moving parts require lubrication. Without the correct oil or fluid, components can generate friction and excessive heat. In some cases, this process can result in safety hazards and overheating that causes the equipment to stop working. Proper lubrication ensures moving components can move smoothly and reduces energy consumption. Always use manufacturer-recommended lubricants.
- Replacing filters: Some air, water and gas systems and critical components like the engine or fuel delivery mechanisms use filters. Depending on the type of filter, these parts may help prevent contamination, ensure proper fluid flow or minimize emissions during operation. Changing or cleaning these filters helps keep your equipment clean, promotes optimal function and contributes to sustainable construction practices. Refer to manufacturer guidelines to determine when to replace or clean filters.
Equipment Rental Tips to Keep in Mind
Ultimately, the nature of your equipment rental and the provider's contract will determine the exact maintenance actions you must complete. However, there are some general tips you can follow to maximize your investment:
1. Follow Manufacturer Guidelines
The equipment manufacturer can provide the best insight into what your model needs. Manufacturer guidelines will clarify maintenance frequency, suitable products and best practices for ensuring the equipment is working at its best. If you don't have access to the original manufacturer manual, connect with your equipment provider or consider reaching out to the manufacturer directly with any questions.
2. Conduct Daily Inspections
Routine inspections allow you to discover problems as soon as they arise, so operators should inspect the equipment daily before they start their work. They should evaluate components like wiring, hoses and seat belts for visible signs of damage like cracks or tears. Be sure to monitor tire or tread conditions as well, and test all safety features before using or moving the equipment.
3. Change or Fill Fluids
Lubricants, oils and other fluids are crucial for equipment function. Ensure the equipment contains the appropriate levels of all fluids it uses, including engine coolant, diesel or hydraulic fluid. Apply lubricant to moving components as necessary, and always refer to manufacturer recommendations for types of fluids and lubricants to use and how to apply them.
Additionally, recognize when you may need a technician to lubricate a part or assembly. For example, some internal components may be challenging to reach without proper tools, making it necessary to request a professional service.
4. Avoid Equipment Misuse
Safe, efficient operation is also critical for maintaining your equipment's condition. Overloading or misusing equipment can increase failure risks through heightened wear and tear. Pushing equipment past its capacities can result in excessive stress that compromises operator safety and can result in premature damage. Always follow the manufacturer's recommendations and invest in operator training to make sure the equipment is being used correctly.
5. Use Any Integrated Technology
Many types of modern equipment include advanced technology that can indicate maintenance needs. A significant advantage of renting construction equipment is accessing this technology at a fraction of the price of purchasing new equipment. These tools use techniques like thermal imaging, vibration monitoring and similar metrics to evaluate equipment performance and inform the operator if anything needs attention.
6. Ensure Proper Storage and Protection
Your rentals need care even when you're not using them. Whether you utilize a storage location or implement other protective measures, it's crucial to protect equipment from the elements. Rain and moisture can lead to rust and corrosion, while prolonged sun exposure can cause cracks or material deterioration. Ice and snow can cause moving parts to freeze, and strong winds can dislodge components. Having proper storage and protection strategies in place when not using equipment will help ensure it's ready to perform when you need it.
7. Train Teams on Procedures
Your operators will spend the most time with your equipment rentals, so it's crucial to train them on proper maintenance procedures and equipment use. Discuss how to identify and respond to problems and how to document the situation and solution they implement. Consider requesting operator training from your equipment rental provider to establish best practices for safe equipment use.
Request Equipment Rentals From Empire Rental
Quality equipment rentals can be a tremendous benefit to your business. Renting allows you to access the latest technologies and most efficient equipment models to handle challenging, unique or short-term tasks — without the extra expenses of ownership. When your work calls for an equipment rental, trust Empire Rental to provide the solutions you need to get the job done.
With us, any preventive maintenance beyond the daily basics is included in the rental fee. We also offer complimentary operator training to ensure your team knows how to use the equipment safely and efficiently. Browse our equipment rentals to see what we have available or submit a quote request for pricing details.