Earth Moving Equipments are used in the construction work at any engineering site, workshop, shop-floor and mines. They are of the following types.
Backhoe Loader
Backhoe loader (or simply backhoe) is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor-like unit fitted with a loader-style shovel/bucket on the front and a backhoe on the back. These are versatile machines and are very common in urban engineering and small construction projects (such as building a small house, fixing urban roads, digging the land, picking soil, etc.). Some of the reputed brands making these machines are JCB, Komatsu, Caterpillar, etc.
Crawler excavator
A crawler excavator (or crawling digger) is designed to dig or grade, or move earth and large objects. It is a tracked vehicle, unlike a Backhoe loader which is wheeled. Related to tracked tanks used by armies, these crawlers use a similar system. Due to their tracked design, they are suitable for soft surfaces like marshy land areas, snow, and mud that lead to operating conditions and terrains.
The traction is greater if we use tracks instead of wheels. The tracks have a lower ground pressure than wheels and are more suited to soft surfaces. For example, less ground pressure will result in less sinking in the snow or soft land. For soft surfaces, larger tires can be used, but this has its limits and cannot work in all conditions.
Motor Graders
Motor graders (road graders or simply) graders are absolutely necessary equipment at any construction site. Typical motor grader models have three axles with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the vehicle with the long adjustable blade in between. The major use of graders is for making smoother surfaces, fine grade, leveling the soil and removal of snow. In simple terms, motor graders are used to finishing grade (refine, set precisely) the rough grading performed by heavy CE such as scrapers and bulldozers.
Off-Highway Trucks
Off-Highway trucks or Haul trucks are off-highway, rigid dump trucks specifically engineered for use in high-production mining and heavy-duty construction environments. Haul trucks are also used for transporting construction equipment from job site to job site. Some are multi-axle in order to support the equipment that is being hauled.
Skid Steer
Loaders Skid Steer Loaders (skid loader) are known for their small size and maneuverability that allows them to operate in tight spaces. Due to their lightweight, they can be easily towed behind a pickup truck, and reach to the site. In addition to this, the wide range of labor-saving work-tools and attachments made them very flexible to perform various kinds of tasks. Skid steer loaders are used to dig and move landscaping and building materials.
Skid-steer loaders are typically four-wheel vehicles with the wheels mechanically locked in synchronization on each side, and where the left-side drive wheels can be driven independently of the right-side drive wheels. The wheels typically have no separate steering mechanism and hold a fixed straight alignment on the body of the machine. Turning is accomplished by differential steering, in which the left and right wheel pairs are operated at different speeds, and the machine turns by skidding or dragging its fixed-orientation wheels across the ground. The extremely rigid frame and strong wheel bearings prevent the torsional forces caused by this dragging motion from damaging the machine.
Track-Type Tractors
Track-type tractors are ideal for navigating soft, uneven ground that can’t accommodate big, heavy wheels.
Wheel Loader
A loader is a type of tractor, usually wheeled, sometimes on tracks, that has a front-mounted square wide bucket connected to the end of two booms (arms) to scoop up loose material from the ground, such as dirt, sand or gravel, and move it from one place to another without pushing the material across the ground. A loader is commonly used to move a stockpiled material from ground level and deposit it into an awaiting dump truck or into an open trench excavation.
Articulated dump truck
An articulated hauler or articulated dump truck (ADT), or sometimes a dump hauler, is a very large heavy-duty type of dump truck used to transport loads over rough terrain, and occasionally on public roads. The vehicle usually has an all-wheel drive and consists of two basic units: the front section, generally called the tractor, and the rear section that contains the dump body, called the hauler or trailer section. Steering is made by pivoting the front in relation to the back by hydraulic rams. This way, all wheels follow the same path, making it an excellent off-road vehicle. In comparison to rigid dump trucks or off-highway trucks handle great inclines and slippery conditions.
Wheel Dozers/ Bulldozers
Bulldozers are strong machines that mainly assist with pushing, digging, excavating, and leveling materials like soil and debris at a work site. They come with large, heavy blades in the front that push material. Some come with other modifications like rippers in the rear to help break down the tough ground.
Wheel Dozers are of three types – Crawler Bulldozer, Wheel Bulldozer, Mini Bulldozer.
Crawler Bulldozers is used for muddy or marshy areas due to higher traction than the wheel on the other hand Wheel Bulldozers are more maneuverable then Crawler Bulldozers.
Mini Bulldozer combines the benefits of both Crawler and Wheel and due to small size, they can be loaded in trucks to reach the construction sites easily.