Construction Projects often rely on many different types of equipment to complete required tasks. Heavy contractors use equipment both large and small for road building, mixing concrete, digging, and various other jobs. Some of the more common pieces of heavy equipment include backhoes, bulldozers, and cranes, but there are some other tools that aren’t as well known that are vital to heavy construction projects. This comprehensive list of heavy construction equipment will detail some of the most important pieces of construction equipment used by heavy contractors
Asphalt Plant
An Asphalt Plant is designed to produce hot mix asphalt. It uses aggregates, sand, asphalt oil, and filler material in specific proportions to produce hot mix asphalt (HMA) also known as asphalt concrete or black top. The main function of an asphalt mixing plant is that it will heat aggregates and then mix them with the asphalt oil and other adhesive substances to prepare hot mix asphalt which is a paving material. Aggregate here can be a single sized material or it can be a combination of various materials of different sizes with a combination of fine and coarse particles with or without addition of a filler unit.
Backhoe
A backhoe is an excavation machine that utilizes a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. Backhoe loaders are typically loader or tractor units that have a loader-style bucket on the front and a backhoe add-on (a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm) attached to the rear. Backhoes are excellent at staying stable while moving heavy loads, as they utilize hydraulic outriggers, stabilizers and a pair of legs that can be lowered down for extra stability. Backhoes are often used to dig trenches for utility lines and are most often driven directly to the job site
Belly Dump Trailer
The belly dump trailer, sometimes referred to as a bottom dump trailer, has a clamshell gate on the bottom of trailer that allows dumping of materials straight from the bottom of the box. This type of trailer discharges the material in a windrow, which releases materials in a long line instead of a dumping pile.
Bulldozer
A Bulldozer, also called Dozer, is a powerful machine used for pushing earth or rocks, used in road building, farming, and construction projects; it consists of a heavy, broad steel blade or plate mounted on the front of a tractor. The blade is lifted and forced down by hydraulic rams. Bulldozers are used for shallow digging and ditching; short-range transportation of material; spreading soil dumped from trucks; rough grading; removing trees, stumps, and boulders; and cleaning and leveling around loading equipment. A bulldozer alone can do many types of excavation, and it is useful in combination with other machinery in most excavation work.
Concrete Laser Screed
A laser screed machine is used to level concrete in large floor pours. A laser screed helps to both level and vibrate the concrete. The on-board technology allows it to deliver a smoother, more level surface across large spaces. A laser screed machine can determine the correct elevation height for a concrete floor and produce an accurate finish.
Concrete Pump
A Concrete Pump is designed to pump concrete through a hose, originating from a pump mounted on a truck or trailer. The concrete pump is normally a ram type pump, that pushes the concrete, using a piston, into a hose. Concrete pumps are specific to a particular application and are capable of pumping concrete several hundred feet, if not more. The ability of the modern concrete pump to push concrete vertically has made the construction of extremely high concrete structures possible.
Concrete Truck
A Concrete Truck transports the concrete mix from the batch-plant to the construction sites. The revolving drum mounted on the truck is the concrete mixer with built in blades inside it. The drum turns one way to mix the concrete and turns the opposite way to discharge the concrete.
Conveyer Truck
A Conveyer truck (or Stone Slinger) is a construction truck used to “sling” or place rock, sand, mulch, soil, dirt, and other aggregates. A Conveyer truck can place materials in precise positions and reach hard to access areas.
Crane
A crane is a machine that is used to lift and move heavy loads, machines, materials, and goods for a variety of purposes. They are used in all different sectors of industry, from construction to manufacturing to shipbuilding and material loading. There are two main categories of cranes: static cranes and mobile cranes. A static crane is a permanent/semi-permanent structure fixed to the ground or building that lifts and moves loads along a fixed path. A mobile crane is mounted on treads or wheels and can be moved from job site to job site.
End Dump
An end dump unloads by engaging the hydraulic lift cylinder which lifts the dump box into the air and discharges the material from the rear. Often made of aluminum, end dumps typically have higher sides than belly and side dumps, which give them greater capacity to handle larger loads and rough materials for greater payloads.
Excavator
An excavator is a large, diesel-powered construction machine made for digging out dirt and rocks with its bucket to create trenches, holes and foundations. It’s a staple of large construction jobsites. By swapping out the bucket for another attachment, excavators can also drive piles, clear brush, load, grade a jobsite and perform other heavy-duty jobsite tasks.
Loader
A loader is a heavy equipment machine frequently used in construction industry, mainly used to load material into a dump truck. The Loader has a large bucket with a shorter moving arm. Large quantities of material such as soil and construction materials can be moved and loaded with this machine. Loaders are best suited for earth moving, road construction, agricultural purposes, and also in large, and small scale, construction projects.
Pneumatic Rock Drill
Rock drills are used for mining and rock excavation. Pneumatic drills are typically used to drill small diameter holes in hard rock in mining and construction sites which are then filled with blasting agents to “blow” the rock apart.
Road Grader
A road grader is a construction machine with a long horizontal blade used to create a flat surface. It is commonly called either a road grader, a blade, or a motor grader. Graders are mostly used in road construction for construction and maintenance of dirt and gravel roads. A grader typically consist of three axles with the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the vehicle, with the blade in between.
Rock Crusher
A rock crusher is a piece of equipment designed to take large rocks as input (Feed) and produce small rocks as output. There are various types of rock crushersused in the aggregate industry including impact and roll crushers, but the most commonly used today are jaw and cone crushers. Jaw crushers normally take the mined material and reduce it to a manageable size – say 10 to 4 inches. Cone crushers take the material from a jaw crusher and further reduce the material size. Jaw crushers offer reduction ratios of up to about 6:1, while cone crushers can reduce material size up to a maximum of 8:1 ratio. The finer the crushing, the smaller the reduction ratio.
Roller
Rollers are the construction equipment used for the compaction of soil, gravel, sand, crushed stone layers, and asphalt. The roller working principle is based on vibration, impact loading, kneading and by applying direct pressure on the respective layer.
Scraper
A scraper is a machine used for moving or removing dirt, gravel, and any other unnecessary material from the surface. There are many earth-moving machines on the market, but the scraper is specialized for scraping and it is the most efficient machine for this task. One advantage over the other earth-moving machines is the capability to remove wet soil from the surface. With other machines, the operators will need to wait for the wet soil to become dry. Also, the scraper performs efficiently on heavier soils and other tough soil conditions. The scraper is a versatile and flexible machine, as it can be used for a variety of tasks.
Transfer Truck
A transfer truck is a dump truck setup which consists of a standard dump truck and a trailer. The trailer has a long tongue and slightly smaller box on it than the dump truck. When it arrives at the job site the trailer is unhooked and the driver dumps the contents of the truck. Once the truck box is empty the driver then backs up to the trailer box and transfers it off the trailer via rollers into the truck box, locks it into place and then dumps the material from the trailer box. This setup up allows for delivering two loads of material by one driver.
Vacuum truck
A Vacuum truck sucks up liquids, slurry, sludge, aggregates, and solids that are located at a particular location, or job site. The vacuum trucks then transfers these materials into a storage tank, that is mounted on a heavy-duty truck, to be disposed of at an approved site.
Volumetric Concrete Mixer
A volumetric concrete mixer (also known as volumetric mobile mixer) is a concrete mixer mounted on a truck or trailer that contains separate compartments for sand, rock, cement and water. Materials are mixed on a job site to produce the exact amount of concrete needed. The volumetric mixer varies in capacity size up to 12 cubic yards and can have up to a production rate around 60 cubic yards an hour depending on the mix design. Many volumetric concrete mixer manufacturers have innovated the mixer in capacity and design, as well as added features including color, admix, and fiber systems.