Guide of Mining Excavator Repair and Maintenance

Excavators are earth-moving machines that uses a bucket to excavate materials above or below the excavators and load it into a transport vehicle or unload it to a stockyard. In open-pit mining projects, excavators are the main mining equipment, which are mainly used for ore excavation, loading and rock stripping. However, mining excavators often have inevitable failures during operation, these failures will cause the excavator to stop operation, thus affecting the project process. So how to repair and maintain the mining excavator in the production process? This article will introduce from the following three aspects.

  1.  Importance of mining excavator repair and maintenance

  2.  Common faults and repair of mining excavator

  3.  Mining excavator maintenance strategies

Excavators are common equipment in mining operations. Once a failure occurs, the progress of the project will be delayed. Repair and maintenance are technical activities implemented to improve equipment performance, which improves labor productivity and the ability to avoid production accidents. The quality of repair and maintenance directly affects whether the mining excavator can work normally and efficiently.

During the operation of the mining excavator, improper operation or excessive operation will cause the parts of the excavator to be worn out, which greatly reduces the safety of the excavator, resulting in a continuous decline in the performance of the excavator and gradually reducing its work efficiency. If the fault is not repaired in time, some parts of the excavator will be damaged and the equipment stops working or will cause an explosion, threatening people’s lives and property if the case is serious. Therefore, mining enterprises must establish a sound equipment management system and a maintenance system compatible with the characteristics of the equipment.

Reduced Excavator Work Efficiency

（1）Failure Cause

The reduced efficiency of the mining excavator is due to severe abrasion on the internal components of the excavator. When the excavator is working for a certain period of time, the internal parts of the excavator hydraulic pump will wear out. Once the abrasion is excessive, the internal leakage of the hydraulic system will result in insufficient flow in the hydraulic pump and excessive oil temperature, which greatly reduces the speed of the excavator.

（2）Inspection and Repair

For failures caused by long hours of work, excavator maintenance personnel are required to replace severely worn parts. 

If the work efficiency of the mining excavator is not slowed down by long hours of work, it is necessary to carry out other troubleshooting of the excavator:

• First carefully check the fuse of the excavator circuit and other related lines to determine whether there is a short circuit or open circuit.

• Check whether the servo control valve system is stuck and whether the distributor confluence is normal.

• Check whether the pilot pressure value of the equipment is at a normal value.

Lifting Failure of Rocker of Excavator

（1）Failure Cause

The failure of the rocker mainly affects the automatic lifting and operating lifting. If the rocker arm suddenly fails to lift normally during the working process of the mining excavator, it may be that the remote control, the signal receiving end of the equipment or the microcomputer control end has malfunctioned, which will cause the rocker cannot work normally.

（2）Inspection and Repair

• If the rocker malfunctions because of a problem with the remote control, it can be solved by replacing the normal remote control.

• If there is a problem with the electronic control signal, it can be processed according to the situation displayed by the signal light.

• The short-circuit of the microcomputer control end may also cause the rocker to malfunction, so solving the short-circuit can make the rocker operate normally.

Excavator Motor Heating Failure

（1）Failure Cause

A cooling device is usually installed inside the excavator, so the temperature of the excavator motor is generally not too high. If the temperature of the excavator is too high, it is likely that there is a problem with the cooling device, such as insufficient water in the cooling water pipe or blockage of the water pipe that prevent cooling water from entering the working position can cause the motor to heat up.

（2）Inspection and Repair

If the motor heats up, it may be that the water pipe is clogged. It is necessary to remove the water pipe for back flushing or high-pressure water flushing. If the problem of motor heating cannot be solved, then the motor needs to be disassembled and repaired separately.

The purpose of maintenance work for mining excavators is to maintain normal wear of the equipment and avoid accidental wear. Maintenance work should be an important part of production throughout the daily production work. The maintenance work of the excavator includes three specific contents: inspection, cleaning, and lubrication.

Inspection

During the operation of the mining excavator, attention should be paid to the operating conditions of the motors (engines), mechanical transmission conditions, and whether there are any abnormalities in the braking system, control system, cooling fan, lighting, and signals.

During the non-operation period of the mining excavator, the inspection work should include three parts. The first is to check whether the anchor screws and bearing shell screws are loose; the second is the meshing and lubrication of each gear; the third is whether there is abnormal wear and damage of various parts such as bearing, powerhouse, control system, brake, reduction gearbox, track shoe, basic part, cable, wire rope, and bucket teeth.

Cleaning

All mechanical and electrical parts of the mining excavator must be kept clean to prevent dust and foreign matter from entering the interior. Frequent cleaning and wiping are not only good for early detection of various faults, but also improve the operating conditions of the driver and extend the service life of the machine.

Lubrication

Good lubrication can reduce mechanical wear and failure during operation. The lubrication work must be carried out in strict accordance with the time limit, oil quantity and lubricating oil type specified in the excavator manual. When filling oil, keep the lubricating oil circuit clean to prevent dust and impurities from mixing into the lubricating oil. For newly installed excavators, all parts must be filled with oil before trial operation, and the lubrication conditions must be checked in shifts during the working cycle.

With the rapid development of the mining excavator industry and the improvement of excavator manufacturing level, the requirements for the maintenance and management of excavators are getting higher and higher. Affected by the operating environment and human factors, excavators are prone to failure. It is recommended that all mine owners do a good job in the maintenance of excavators, so as to reduce the occurrence of excavator failures, improve the efficiency and safety of excavators, and provide a strong guarantee for the smooth progress of efficient production of enterprises. The above introduced the reasons for the failure of the mining excavator and the maintenance methods. Does your current excavator equipment have the above problems? If so, find the answer from the above methods!

If you have other questions about the repair and maintenance of mining excavators, you can consult the online customer service and leave a message, we will contact you as soon as possible!