Cranes, excavators, loaders, and any other large equipment you might find on a construction site are considered construction equipment. While some of you might see construction equipment as hammers, saws, and other smaller items they are in fact construction tools. Are you looking for some construction equipment to help you with your next job? If so you need to know a little bit about the equipment available.

Cranes: You can have many types of canes from the all terrain hydraulic crane, to the boom truck. A boom truck is a piece of construction equipment that has a flat bed with a crane on it rather than a smaller cab for the crane with tracks. This crane system can be used to haul the material as well as move the crane about while hydraulic cranes tend to need a trailer and then roll off to be placed on the ground. These types of cranes tend to rotate 360 degrees.

Excavators: These are consider bobcats, and backhoes of the construction equipment. The size you will need is again dependent upon the job you will have. Most construction companies have a variety for the type of work and land they will have. Bobcats usually work out well when you have a little job, where as backhoes are great for digging larger holes.

Loaders: The are also many types of loaders from a front end loader to a wheel loader. Loaders are often seen used for road construction as well as other construction jobs. These are tractors that have a bucket on the front and use a hydraulic system to raise the bucket and dump the material either in a dump truck or off to the side.

Construction equipment is important whether you work on housing sites or road construction. The equipment you choose will depend on the type of work you do and will also be determined by the terrain you work on.

Posted by admin | No Comments »

In today’s unstable economy, the startup and seasoned business has an unique opportunity to acquire an attractive deal for off leases and repos for commercial trucks and construction equipment. Due to a contracting economy, many lenders have excess inventories on their books that they need to put back on the street. These in-house inventories are non income producing, therefore putting pressure on the lender to make a deal with the consumer. These deals can be found in the price, the financing or a combination of both.

An off lease commercial vehicle and/or construction equipment has been returned to the lender as the lease has expired. The lessee has made a decision to return the item in lieu of exercising the buyout option. A repo has arisen due to a default of the lessee for non payment terms or a violation of the terms of the lease. Either way, the lender has taken these trucks and/or equipment back and now must recondition the items and either sell these items or re-lease them. The lender will either advertise their inventory through their internal sales force or outside professionals such as brokers to move their inventories as quick as possible. Sometimes as these inventories either sit or whatever reason aren’t moving, the lender may put these items up for auction.

For this article, the type of items we are going to identify as potential off lease and repo deals are the following:

Dump trucks, flatbed trucks, grapple and landscape trucks, fuel and lube trucks, bucket and boom trucks, over the road and day cabs, water trucks, tow trucks, box vans and straight trucks, dry van and reefer trailers, end and bottom dump trailers, flatbed trailers, backhoes, bulldozers, crawler tractors, forestry equipment, excavators, forklifts, and other type loaders.

Some of the ways the startup and/or seasoned business can locate these deals are through trade publications, surfing internet search engines, contacting lease brokers for information and speaking to lenders directly.

Some of the lenders in the market have advertised personal credit qualifications as low as 575, prior bankruptcy rules amended or ignored and startups welcome. Additionally, the front money to commence the lease can start as low as first payment to whatever you might able to negotiate.

In conclusion, this is a buyers market for commercial trucks, trailers, and construction equipment. Check out all the deals in the market and make sure that you have a stable income base to assume whatever debt that you may occur. Happy hunting for your acquisition and related financing.

Posted by admin | No Comments »

Skid steer loaders are machines used in different types of construction sites, and are applicable especially in tight spaces because they are small and easy maneuverable.They are equipped with wheels and can turn in their own tracks, making them extremely valuable for applications that require a compact, agile loader. They have light weight and so, they can be towed behind a pickup truck.The skid steel loader has four wheels and its characteristic is that the left-side drive wheels are independent of the right-side drive wheels. This way, wheel speed and direction of rotation of the wheels will determine the direction the machine will turn.

The skid steel loaders have a simple operating system. Inside the cabin there are two joysticks: a left hand joystick and a right hand joystick. The left hand one is made for controlling the direction. The right hand one is for controlling the loader arms and bucket. By pulling the joystick back, the arms of the machine will raise; by pushing the joystick forward, the arms will be lowered. In order to tilt the bucket up the joystick must be moved to the left. By moving it to the right the bucket will dump. All the system is powered by hydraulic pumps, meaning that there is no mechanical transmission.

The Skid steel loader is suitable for digging and moving landscaping and other building materials. Due to its numerous tools it can also grade, jackhammer cement and load trucks. Some of the special tools of the skid steer loaders are: a dirt bucket, utility grapple bucket, pallet forks, utility fork, angle blade, auger, broom, cold planer, hydraulic hammer, landscape rake and tillers, material handling arm, stump grinder trencher and a vibratory compactor. These tools make skid steel loaders quite useful because there will not be necessary 10 machines any more to complete all these functions.

Another useful machine in the construction field is the backhoes. They are generally used for many different jobs and can replace many other types of heavy equipment at the construction site.They are designed in a unique way; they have tools sticking out from every way of the machine. The backhoes can be considered to have three pieces of construction equipment combined into one unit: a tractor, a loader and a classical backhoe. Because the backhoes can use all these three functions at a construction site they are considered to be quite valuable and replace other machines.

The backhoe’s core structure is the tractor. Its design allows the machine to move easily over different type of rough terrain. It is equipped with a turbocharged diesel engine, with tires and a cabin for the pilot.The loader is another part of the backhoe. It is attached in the front, while the backhoe is situated in the back. The loader is used as a spoon that picks up and carries a lot of loose material. It can also be used for smoothing things over, or for pushing dirt.

The backhoe loader also has a backhoe in the back of the tractor. Its function is to dig earth, or to lift heavy loads and then drop them in a pile at the side of the hole. All kinds of holes can be digged with a backhoe but most of all is suitable for ditches. In order not to fall inside the hole, the backhoes are equipped with stabilizer legs.The backhoes are used mostly for digging ditches with the backhoe, and then for carrying out the dirt with the loader. After the work is done in that are, the loader will fill back the ditch with the extracted dirt.

These machines, the skid steer loader and the backhoe are very useful nowadays because they are very efficient and they save a lot of time because the operator doesn’t have to switch between two different pieces of equipment any more.

Posted by admin | No Comments »

The business owner has to consider two options when it comes to buying construction equipment. First of all there are primarily two paths to getting the construction equipment needed. Buying the equipment outright or leasing it. Both have advantages and drawbacks.

Business Loans Can Help Buy Needed Construction Equipment

Bulldozers, backhoes, and other digging equipment are some of the equipment necessary for starting a construction business is very expensive. Buying the equipment outright can be very cost prohibitive for the business start-up, but a business loan can level the playing field. If the construction equipment is maintained properly, it will last years past what a lease payment offers.

Business owners also like the fact that once the business loan is paid off they own the equipment outright. This helps the business build accrued equity. The equity can be used later in time to help secure working capital if the need arises. This will most likely not be necessary since a good unsecured lines of credit can provide all the extra working capital they need in most cases. In terms of taxes, equipment that is owned can be counted on taxes as depreciation.

The Benefits of a Leasing Construction Equipment

Tax benefits of leasing equipment is one of the top benefits to the business owner. The IRS has made leasing 100% deductible and many business owners love this aspect of leasing equipment. The type of lease that gives this benefit is what is called a “true lease.” If you do not know what we mean by a true lease, the Internal Revenue Service uses the term true lease to define how a lease is structured.

To qualify for “true lease” status, the construction equipments must be declared at fault fair market value when the leases end. This all this sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. If you have questions it is good to consult with a professional tax consultant to help you figure out your best options.The leasing company will often give an option to buy the equipment following the terms of the lease. Another benefit to leasing, is that business owners an often enter a lease agreement without a down payment. This is great for start-up businesses that do not have a lot of cash on hand.

A Final Thought on Leasing Equipment verses Buying

When considering leasing verses buying equipment, it is important to consider the future and the long term effects to your business. Look at both sides of the coin, and determine the best route for your business.

Posted by admin | No Comments »

Excavators are heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. An excavator, also called a 360-degree excavator or digger, sometimes abbreviated simply to a 360, is an engineering vehicle consisting of a backhoe and cab mounted on a pivot (turntable is a more apt description) atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. The term excavator is sometimes used as a general term for any piece of digging equipment.

Roles of Excavators

Excavators are used in many roles:

1- Digging of trenches, holes, foundations
2- Demolition
3- General grading/landscaping
4- Heavy lift, e.g. lifting and placing of pipes
5- River dredging
6- Mining, especially, but not only open-pit mining
7- Brush cutting with hydraulic attachments

Varieties of Excavators

Excavators come in a wide variety of sizes. The smaller ones are called a mini-excavator or compact excavator. One manufacturer’s largest model weighs 84,980 kg (187,360 lb) and has a maximum bucket size of 4.5 m³ (5.9 yd³). The same manufacturer’s smallest mini-excavator weighs 1470 kg (3240 lb), has a maximum bucket size of 0.036 m³ (0.048 yd³) and the width of its tracks can be adjusted to 89 cm (35 inches). Another company makes a mini excavator that will fit through a doorway with tracks that can be adjusted to only 70 cm (28 inches) wide.

Often the bucket can be replaced with other tools like a breaker, a grapple or an auger. Excavators are usually employed together with loaders and bulldozers. Most smaller excavators have a small backfill (or dozer-) blade. It’s a horizontal bulldozer like blade attached to the undercarriage and is used for pushing removed material back into a hole.

Examples of Excavators

1- Compact excavator

A compact hydraulic excavator is a tracked or wheeled vehicle with an approximate operating weight of 6 metric tons (13,228 lbs). It generally includes a standard backfill blade and features independent boom swing. The compact hydraulic excavator is also referred to as a mini excavator.

The compact hydraulic excavator is somewhat unique from other construction equipment in that all movement and functions of the machine are accomplished through the transfer of hydraulic fluid. The compact excavator’s work group and blade are activated by hydraulic fluid acting upon hydraulic cylinders. The excavator’s slew (rotation) and travel functions are also activated by hydraulic fluid powering hydraulic motors.

2- Dragline excavator

Dragline excavation systems are heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. In civil engineering the smaller types are used for road and port construction. The larger types are used in strip-mining operations to extract coal and these are amongst the largest mobile equipment (not water-borne), and weigh in the vinicity of 2000 metric tonnes, though specimens weighing up to 13,000 metric tonnes have also been constructed.

A dragline bucket system consists of a large bucket which is suspended from a boom (a large truss like structure). The bucket is maneuvered by means of a number of ropes and chains. The hoistrope, powered by large diesel or electric motors, supports the bucket and hoist-coupler assembly from the boom. The dragrope is used to draw the bucket assembly horizontally. By skillful maneuver of the hoist and the dragropes the bucket is controlled for various operations.

3- Bucket-wheel excavator

Bucket-wheel excavators are heavy equipment used in surface mining and civil engineering. The excavation component itself is a large rotating wheel mounted on an arm or boom. On the outer edge of the wheel is a series of scoops or buckets. As the wheel turns, the buckets remove soil or rock from the target area and carry it around to the backside of the wheel, where it falls onto a conveyor, which carries it up the arm toward the main body of the excavator. Additional conveyors then may carry it further; in some cases, several long conveyors are placed end-to-end, each supported by a large vehicular base.

Especially large bucket-wheel excavators, over 200 meters long and up to 100 meters in height, are used in German strip-mining operations, and are the largest earth-movers in the world. These tremendous machines can cost over $100 million, take 5 years to assemble, require 5 people to operate, weigh more than 13,000 tons, and have a theoretical capacity of more than 12,000m³/h. Specifically, the RB293 bucket wheel excavator manufactured by MAN Takraf is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest land vehicle.

Posted by admin | No Comments »