How to check the Undercarriage of the Excavator

It always pays to check your construction equipment regularly. This will prevent future downtime and prolong the life of the machine. In these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to keep your equipment running efficiently and reliably, and your maintenance staff may have some extra time to perform inspections.

Monitoring the machine’s landing gear is especially important. The landing gear supports the total weight of the machine and is constantly exposed to rocks and other obstacles during operation. Many parts of it are exposed to constant wear and stress. It is also the most expensive part of the excavator. By keeping the landing gear in good condition, you can expect to improve the safety and efficiency of your machine.
The technicians at your Rainbow dealer are a great resource for landing gear inspections. However, we recommend a visual inspection every week or every 40 working hours, which means your technicians and operators should do the same. With that in mind, I want to give you some tips to check your gear landing gear and a downloadable checklist to make it easier.
A quick description: Visual landing gear inspection should not replace traditional landing gear management. Proper landing gear management requires measuring the landing gear, tracking wear, replacing worn parts, and changing part locations to extend the overall life of the landing gear. You will need an undercarriage conversation sheet to change the wear percentage for each brand.
Clean the machine before inspection
When inspecting the machine, it should be cleaned to some degree to ensure accuracy. While this may take time, regular cleaning of the landing gear will leave it in better condition, making it easier to identify problems sooner and reduce parts wear.
Track Tension
Measure and record track tension. If necessary, adjust track tension and record the adjustment. You can find the correct track tension in the operator’s manual.
Parts to check
When checking the landing gear checklist, check only one side at a time. Remember, the sprockets are at the back of the machine and the idlers are at the front, so the left and right sides of the report should not be confused.
Remember to check.
See this checklist for more information on what to check for each part. There are a few things I want to point out in particular.
Check the component against the description of the particular component. Take notes and write down any useful comments.
Check each link carefully for cracks, spalling, side wear, and pin holder wear. You can also count the links to see if one was removed during the assembly process to strengthen the landing gear. If someone has made it too tight, that will mean trouble in the near future.
For more information, and to see what I’m talking about, watch this video on inspecting the undercarriage of an excavator.
Wear distribution
The final step is to compare the two landing gear assemblies to each other. Is there more on one side than the other? Use the wear curve at the bottom of the checklist to show the overall wear on each side. If one side has more wear than the other, mark the side that is farther from the center, but still has wear relative to the better side.
Other Chassis Resources
If you’re not sure what you’re looking at or what you might need to do, your local dealer can help. You can also read more about the importance of landing gear care here.
Buying a machine with undercarriage warranty coverage is another great way to make sure parts stay in good working order. Volvo recently introduced a new extended chassis warranty that provides four years or 5,000 hours, whichever comes first, for eligible customers who purchase a replacement and dealer-installed chassis.
In addition to checking the landing gear of your current fleet, it’s also important to carefully evaluate the gear and other components of any used machine you’re considering buying. See my blog post, How to Inspect Used Equipment Components, for more tips.