The performance of forestry machines guarantees the quality of the work carried out. To ensure their reliability, it is necessary to maintain them properly and carry out a short maintenance checklist, particularly before deploying the equipment. In addition to ensuring good work performance, excellent maintenance also effectively prevents breakdowns and premature wear and tear. What are the main maintenance routines to adopt in order to optimize the performance of SpiderMax machines and maintain them properly? Let's take a look at some best practices to better prepare for the season and equip ourselves with high-performance forestry machines!
Perform a general inspection
In order to prevent forestry equipment breakdowns at an early stage, inspection remains essential. This involves checking the condition of each component of the forestry machinery. More specifically, it is a form of preventive maintenance that allows problems to be detected well before they occur. In addition to ensuring the reliability of your equipment, this also
ensures the complete safety of the operator.
In the case of a hydraulic felling pruner, for example, you can focus your attention on the frame structure. Check for cracks or other types of deformation, the tightness of bolts and pins, the positioning of safety covers, etc. For your forestry mulcher, take the time to check the condition of the rotor, hammers and blades, belt tension, etc. For hydraulic models, you will need to examine the connections, hoses, seals, and oil level.
If you want to take care of a rail axle before starting work, you should inspect it for cracks, scratches, and signs of corrosion. You should also check the rail axle tires for wear and deformation. Depending on the type of axle you have, you can perform an ultrasound or magnetic particle inspection. You can disassemble the bearings to check them and determine the condition of the seals and cages.
Clean and lubricate
The warning signs that a Spidermax machine needs maintenance can vary from one piece of equipment to another. For example, when the blades or hammers of your shredder are cracked or dull, this can result in poor shredding performance or relatively large chips. When the rotor is out of balance, you may hear abnormal vibrations. Overheating of the housing or rotor may indicate insufficient lubrication. You may find that these are malfunctions that can be easily avoided.
To prevent these potential breakdowns, it is advisable to clean and lubricate forestry equipment properly. Cleaning must be thorough. It should remove all dirt that has become encrusted on the machine, such as sawdust, resin, and mud. The chain on your brush cutter should be sharpened with a round file. During this operation, you should ensure that the sharpening angle and number of strokes are approximately the same for each tooth.
Of course, some equipment is easier to maintain than others. This is particularly true of forestry grapples. However, this does not mean you should neglect to check for cracks, check the rotation axes, and check the condition of the grapple arm or rotator, etc.
Continue maintenance during and after work
Even if you have followed the SpiderMax forestry equipment maintenance routine perfectly before the season, it is important to note that maintenance must continue during and after each use. For regular use, it is essential to monitor the performance of the tools by sharpening them properly, for example, in the case of blades. You must remain alert to unusual noises and vibrations.
Cleaning must be carried out after each use. This includes removing plant debris and mud. The parts concerned must be lubricated appropriately and the condition of all components must be inspected quickly. Once the equipment has been cleaned, it must be stored in a shed away from moisture. Blades must be protected by applying an anti-corrosion spray.
Keep a maintenance logbook
To help you keep track of maintenance work on a regular basis, we recommend keeping a logbook for this purpose. You can use it to record sharpening work carried out, parts replaced, machine operating hours, etc. You can note down all the information you need to keep your SpiderMax forestry equipment in perfect working order.
Call on our team for preventive maintenance of your SpiderMax machines
It's true that preventive maintenance of SpiderMax machines requires a certain amount of know-how and specific skills. In addition to selling several models of forestry mulchers and other equipment, we also provide maintenance services for your equipment. Depending on the warranty for the machine in question, we can even undertake repairs and replace parts. However, in order to keep forestry equipment in good condition, regular maintenance is essential.