 Back in the old days highway maintenance was a real gang operation or as a personnel specialist might say it was a labor intensive activity. What that means is most of the work was done with hand tools and lots of hands. Back then when you talked horsepower you meant horsepower or maybe mule power. Well luckily things have changed a lot since then. Maintenance work has become equipment intensive. Heavy machinery has taken the place of the large road gangs and when everything's working the way it's supposed to you can get a lot more done in a lot less time. But when the equipment breaks down the work comes to a stop and you're back where you started using your hands. The thing is breakdowns can often be delayed or completely prevented if the operator spends just a few minutes each day looking over the equipment. Equipment problems usually don't just happen most of the time there are signs of trouble before it occurs. That's what preventive maintenance is all about spotting trouble before it gets out of hand and taking the small but important steps to ensure a trouble-free day of operation. Equipment that's not out on the job working isn't worth very much. Downtime is expensive. The cost of new parts and labor for a major overhaul can easily exceed the price of a new car but that's not all. You also have to put a value on the work that's not being done while the equipment is being repaired. So when you consider parts plus labor plus lost work it really starts to add up. The department has put together a series of videotape programs on equipment operator training. The programs cover most of the major pieces of equipment we use to maintain our roads. Each program will include segments on preventive maintenance. The series of daily checks the operator should perform to make sure the equipment is in good shape. Now you might wonder what does daily maintenance have to do with equipment operation? In a word everything. You see there's a world of difference between someone who can operate equipment and someone who can just drive it. An operator is someone who knows the equipment not only how to use it but also how to take care of it. That doesn't mean you have to be a mechanic. You just have to know what to look for and you know most of that already. Let's say you are going to pack up your car and go on a cross country trip. You'd want to make darn sure your car won't break down out in the middle of nowhere. The first thing you'd probably do is just walk around the car and look for obvious problems. Loose or broken parts, a puddle of water or oil under the car. Then you check your tires. Look for uneven tread wear and cuts on the sidewalls. Keeping your tires at the recommended pressure makes them last longer and it gives you more control when you're driving. You'd want to make sure all your lights are working. Head lights, turn signals and tail lights. Look for burned out bulbs or broken lenses. Then you'd probably check under the hood. A good look. Try to spot any leaks or broken parts. The first thing most people think of under the hood is the engine oil. Now we all know that you can ruin the engine if you don't have enough oil but contaminated oil can be just as bad. So if the oil's really dirty, schedule an oil change. Dirty air can ruin the engine too and that makes air filters absolutely critical. Usually you can get most of the dust out of the air filter by tapping it lightly to shake it out. But if it's really clogged, it's probably time to get a new filter. While you have the filter off, you can check around the carburetor for leaky fuel lines and loose clamps. Make sure everything is nice and tight. The next check might be the coolant level. You'd want to make sure the level is at the full mark on the reservoir or about an inch from the top of the radiator. Low coolant leads to an overheated engine. Bad fan belts and hoses can also cause overheating. If they're loose, tighten them. If they're worn or cracked, get them replaced. A lot of people don't even think of their batteries, that is until they can't get started on a cold morning. So make sure the battery is in good shape and fully charged. Keep the battery cables and terminals tight and free of corrosion. There are some more fluid levels you'd want to check, especially if you haven't checked them in a while. That would include your brake fluid, transmission fluid, and power steering fluid. If they aren't up to the right level, you're just asking for trouble. Okay, that about does it for engine checks. You're almost ready to go, but before you do, make sure you can see clearly all around. That means adjusting your mirrors and cleaning your windshield. A dirty windshield is both aggravating and dangerous. One more thing to check, the fuel. Fill it up soon unless you like walking, and before you leave, I hope you'd fasten your seat belt. Nothing adds more to your safety than the few seconds it takes to buckle up. Now you can go, and you'll feel a lot more comfortable knowing the car's in good shape, but your checks shouldn't end as soon as you pull out of the driveway. In fact, they should continue throughout the day. While you drive, you need to pay attention to how well the car is running. Keep an eye on the gauges or warning lights. Look, listen, and feel for signs of trouble. If you notice anything unusual, pull off the road as soon as possible and investigate. Now, believe it or not, checking out your car before you go on a trip is a lot like checking out heavy equipment before a day's work. The whole idea is the same. Stop trouble before it stops you. The only real differences are the frequency and the number of the checks that you make. The programs you'll see in the training series will emphasize daily checks, and there are two good reasons why they are done daily. First, heavy equipment works in a tough environment. Rough terrain, dusty air, and heavy workloads put a strain on heavy equipment that would destroy a car in no time. Now the second reason. When you are assigned to a piece of equipment, you probably won't know if or when these checks have been made. Let's say your car has been leaking oil. You're aware of it because you use the car every day, but you'll often have no idea who has operated the equipment last, and if it breaks down while you're on it, you're the one who will have to explain. So that's why you should look over the equipment every day. And for the most part, that's all you have to do. Look. If you find something wrong, fix it yourself, or let your supervisor or mechanic know about it. Now for the number of checks. We'll use a front-end loader as an example. The checks you'd make on the loader are pretty much the same as those we've covered on the car. First, the walk-around, looking for obvious problems. Then engine checks, fluid levels, air filter, belts, and hoses. And then the little things, cleaning the glass and checking the lights. During the day, you have running checks, watching the gauges, listening for unusual noises. And when trouble occurs, you stop working on and investigate. Whenever you stop for a break, take a few minutes to look over the equipment. Try to spot problems before you get back to work. Don't get me wrong, there are some differences. Greasing, for example. Heavy equipment works hard, usually in a lot of dust. So it's necessary to do some greasing every day, but only the parts that get the most wear. You don't do a whole loop job every day. Another difference is hydraulics. On loaders, the hydraulic system controls the steering and the movements of the boom and bucket. Without hydraulics, the loader is just about useless. But all you really need to do to keep the hydraulic system working is make sure you've got enough hydraulic oil in the tank and check the hydraulic lines for leaks. It really is that simple. Check the level and look for leaks. There is one last difference I should mention. When you go to park the loader at the end of the day, you should let it idle a few minutes to cool down gradually. Shutting off a hot diesel engine immediately after working can damage it. And that's it. Except for a few things, preventive maintenance on a loader is about the same as checking out your car. You just have to do it more often. And you know, just like cars, heavy equipment will vary from one manufacturer to the next. So it's always a good idea to read the operator's manual before you get on any machine that's new to you. As I said earlier, you really can't separate preventive maintenance from equipment operation. To become a good operator, you have to know the equipment and be able to spot, report and describe potential or obvious problems. So it all comes down to this. We keep the equipment in good shape to keep the roads in good shape to keep the traffic rolling.