FEATURE
said Dan Dragone, a sales manager with BAUER Equipment
America. “Replacing teeth when they show wear or break is
another part of daily maintenance.”
Over time, more complex, technical maintenance will be
required such as cutting off and replacing the Kelly box. “The
key to success is to choose the right tool for the job and do
the daily maintenance,” said Dragone. “When the tool needs
to go to the shop, send it in. Don’t drill it to destruction.”
Krueger, Royan and Dragone have all seen issues come out
on jobs that damage expensive equipment and sometimes
there’s not much that can be done to prevent damage. It’s not
common, but there are projects that are particularly hard
on equipment.
For instance, a crew was drilling a foundation at an old
steel mill. As they drilled into the soil, they hit steel slag, causing
the auger to bend up and break. “They couldn’t see they
were getting into it, so they destroyed tools,” said Dragone.
Fortunately, that’s a worst-case scenario and it’s not a
common occurrence on work sites. If equipment is used for
the applications for which it was built, it will have a lifespan
of six months to four years.
In general, earth augers last longer than rock augers and
need less maintenance. For dirt tools, a lifespan of one to four
years is reasonable. For rock tools, it’s not uncommon for the
lifespan to be around six months, but it can be as long as two
years – and that’s with good maintenance.
“Eventually it becomes cheaper to buy a new tool,” said
Dragone. When is it time to replace equipment? When it
stops performing as it should and when sending it to the
shop would just be a Band-Aid solution.
A crew hit steel slag, which caused the auger to bend and break
PHOTO: BAUER EQUIPMENT AMERICA
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