[Aditya]

Construction vehicles are a common sight on our roads. Most of us get irritated on seeing them, as they are slow moving and slow down the traffic massively. Some disturb you with banging noises when you are trying to concentrate hard on a job at hand or just catch some sleep.

However, there is no denying the fact that they play a very important part in our day to day life. The buildings we stay or work in, the roads and bridges we travel on, the airports, jetties and railway stations we use to travel to places - all are built with the help of construction vehicles and machinery. Remember that Ladakh drive when a pagal nala brought boulders on the road with it? Who helped clear the road? Yes, it was a backhoe loader.

Construction vehicles and machinery are extremely useful in all construction projects. Many human hands working together will not be able to match the output of a construction vehicle or machine. These machines speed up the construction process big time.

Each type of vehicle has a specific use. Let's have a look at some types of the heavy construction vehicles and machinery and their uses.

Backhoe Loader:
This is one of the most common construction vehicles seen around. JCB Backhoe loaders are seen in almost all parts of our country today. The backhoe gets its name from the hoe arrangement at the rear of the vehicle. It has a loading bucket at the front is suitable for multiple applications. They are used in the construction and infrastructure sector for digging, moving, grading and loading earth and other loose aggregates. These machines can excavate trenches below the machine level and use the front bucket to load, unload and lift materials. They are also useful in heavy industry and mining activity.

Backhoe loaders are wheeled machines and come in 2WD and 4WD configurations.









Images: JCB

Excavator / Digger:
Excavators help lay a firm foundation for construction. While they are generally used for the purpose of excavation, they are also used for heavy lifting, demolition, river dredging, cutting of trees and other functions. They are used in different industries such as roads, mining, infrastructure, railways, urban infrastructure, real estate and more.

Excavators have a long arm with a digging bucket at the end and a cabin in which the operator sits. The cabin can rotate up to 360 degrees which makes operation easy. Excavators are available in both wheeled and tracked forms of vehicles and come in various sizes to suit customers' requirements.







Images: JCB, OEM Off-Highway

Loader:
Loaders are used at construction sites for loading, moving and grading earth and other loose aggregates. They are also used in heavy industry and mining activity. A loader consists of a large loading bucket at the front with short moving arm. This machine loads material onto dumpers and trucks. It can also be used to move material around job sites. The materials may be excavated soil, demolition waste or raw materials.

Loaders come in tracked or wheeled models. Wheeled loaders are widely used at construction sites, while tracked loaders are used where wheeled vehicles cannot reach.









Images: JCB

Dozer / Bulldozer:
Dozers or bulldozers are a type of soil excavating equipment and are used to remove the topsoil layer up to a particular depth. They are widely used for the removal of weak soil or rock strata, lifting of soil etc. Bulldozers are used in various earth moving and landscaping jobs such as surface mining, waste disposal management, irrigation and road development and maintenance among others.

Bulldozers come in both tracked and wheeled models. They come with a sharp-edged, wide metal plate provided at the front which can be lowered and raised using hydraulic pistons.





Images: ACE

Motor Grader:
A motor grader is used in the construction industry mainly for the construction of roads. It is used to level the soil surface. It is also useful for removing snow or dirt from roads, to flatten the surface of soil before laying a layer of asphalt layer, to remove unnecessary soil layer from the ground etc. Other industries that a motor grader can be used include mining and various maintenance jobs.

A motor grader is a wheeled vehicle. It consists of a horizontal blade between its front and rear wheels which can be lowered in to the ground and a cabin for the operator on the top of the rear axle.









Images: ACE, Equipment World, KHPlant

Paver:
A paver is a piece of construction equipment used to lay asphalt on roads, bridges, parking lots and other such places. It consists of a feeding bucket in which asphalt is continuously loaded by a dump truck. The paver distributes the asphalt evenly on the road surface with slight compaction before it is compacted by a roller.











Images: Hastings Deering

Compactor:
Compactors or Rollers are machines used to compact loose soil or asphalt. They are primarily used for construction of roads and highways. They can also be used for ground compaction / stabilisation at construction sites. Smooth wheel rollers are used for compacting shallow layers of soil or asphalt, while sheep-foot rollers are used for deep compaction purposes. Pneumatic tyred rollers are used for compacting fine grained soils, asphalt layers etc.

Rollers come in tandem and single drum versions. While the former has a drum on the front as well as the rear axle, the latter gets a drum on the front axle and a pair of wheels at the rear.









Images: JCB

[Aditya]

Crane:
These include mobile cranes, truck mounted cranes, tower cranes, crawler cranes and more.

Mobile Cranes which are used in engineering, construction and infrastructure industries. They are used for loading, unloading, moving, shifting and erecting material.



Image: Alibaba

Truck mounted cranes are hydraulic cranes mounted on a truck chassis, with a hydraulic expandable and often rotating boom.



Image: Minitowoc

Tower Cranes are fixed cranes that are used for bigger construction projects. They are used for hoisting purposes in construction of tall structures. Heavy materials like pre-stressed concrete blocks, steel trusses, frames etc. can be lifted to required height using this type of equipment.



Image: ISHN

Crawler cranes (tracked models) are used on soft ground for erection and maintenance work. Crawler cranes are able to swing loads 360 degrees. The tracks give it stability and there is no need of outrigger stabilisation.



Image: World Highways

Telehandler / Telescopic Handler:
A telehandler is used in construction to lift heavy materials up to the required height or to provide a construction platform for workers at greater heights. It consists of a long telescopic boom which can be raised or lowered or forwarded.

Different types of arrangements like forklifts, buckets, cabins and more can be attached to the end of telescopic boom.









Images: JCB

Piling Rig:
This includes static pile drivers, dual-purpose drilling rigs, hydraulic crawler drills and tunnel boring machines which can find application across segments of urban infrastructure, metro and rapid rail connectivity, bridges & flyovers and general construction. Pile boring equipment is used to make bore holes in the construction site to install precast piles, while pile driving equipment is used to lift the pile and hold it in proper position and drive it into the ground up to the required depth.









Images: Geo Drilling, Sydney Build Expo, ACE, Dutch Piling Eqiuipment

Forklift:
Forklifts are used to move heavy loads in a warehouse or at a construction site. There are available in different types and sizes, and are suitable to carry different loads.







Images: Evotcs, Hoppecke, Hyster

Dump Truck:
Dump trucks are used in construction and mining industries to carry large quantities of material from one site to another site or to a dump yard. They come in various sizes and even off-road versions. Off-road dump trucks are monstrous in size with huge space for carrying materials. They have large wheels which enables them to negotiate any type of terrain.









Concrete Mixer Truck:
A guaranteed sight at any construction site, the mixer truck combines cement, sand or gravel, along with water to form concrete. It has a revolving drum that mixes all the necessary components. The concrete mixer truck is also known as a portable concrete mixer. It is used when smaller quantities of cement are needed at a construction site. It provides the workers enough time to use the concrete before it gets hard.







Images: Macons, Schwing Stetter

Information sourced from JCB, ACE, Lemon Bin, The Constructor and more.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line.

[arijitkanrar]

Thank you so much for this thread!
I was always interested in these machines. Some of them might look crude but are very advanced.

I started playing a game on Android called Construction City 2.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...city2&hl=en_IN
Its a fun little game where you perform various tasks using a range of these machines. The game is pretty addictive and I cleared multiple levels. But it was in 2D so I thought why not take it to the next level. Then started playing Construction Simulator 3.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...n.cs3&hl=en_IN

This is a paid game but it is way more advanced and has real vehicles from the real world!
You can be starting a mission to flatten a patch of land using a Backhoe loader, dumping the waste soil on a truck, dropping the soil off to a processing center and using the trucks crane to assist in a construction job. Its immensely fun!

[1.2TSI7DSG]

You missed my first memory of construction machine - the simple road roller (not the compactor).
I still have a dream to drive one of these.

[tharian]

Always a joy to see these heavy machinery, especially the trucks since most of them are seen only in mines and sites.
Here is a thread of EXCON 2015 which I visited and posted about which showcases new and existing products from almost all the construction equipment companies.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...on-2015-a.html (Picture Report : EXCON 2015)

Originally Posted by 1.2TSI7DSG

You missed my first memory of construction machine - the simple road roller (not the compactor).
I still have a dream to drive one of these.

Here is a video of operating it. Although it is in Malayalam, it is entertaining to watch the driving part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMTGui4r5T0

[varunsangal]

Not necessarily a street legal vehicle but it moves (10 mts/min) and it surely digs (240,000 cubic metres of overburden daily - the equivalent of a football field dug to 30 m (98 ft) deep).

Image Credit: By Martinroell - selbst fotografiert und zusammengesetzt von User:Martinroell, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=841443

[volkman10]

A must have equipment for Quality Road Building - Pneumatic Compactor for sealing the top layer thus sealing the fissures that prevent rainwater from seeping through, destroying the road surface during monsoons.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Now a days, the large construction sites have their cement & flyash delivered in loose (not bags) carried by water proof containers called Bulkers. They can be in the tractor trailer type or the Body on Frame types!






Now the industry is experimenting with portable capsules of cement to be used for ciculation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y844Fibo7NI

Also Concrete pumps!




Any one remebers this that used to be towed by tractors to jeeps to even once seen an omni pulling this

[gthang]

Of all the heavy equipment that interests me, the one that I would love to buy is this:
The Bobcat.
Source: bobcat.com
Can't wait to get one so that I can get a farm to go with it.

Cheers

[rangarx]

Lovely thread. There are monster Off Highway Equipment, like Cat 793 which can haul over 300 Tons in a go. And, the correct name for that Bobcat is Skid Steer Loader!

[NiInJa]

Another piece of art: The concrete paving machine. There are different versions of this. Off-late one can see a lot of these in India as road development gathers momentum.



Source

[gthang]

Originally Posted by rangarx

And, the correct name for that Bobcat is Skid Steer Loader!

Bobcat pioneered the skid steer loader, so the name became kind of generic.
But to be accurate, the picture I posted is the Bobcat A770 all wheel steer loader, so it's not just a skid steer.
Did I mention that I wanted to buy one?

[shaheenazk]

Originally Posted by volkman10

A must have equipment for Quality Road Building - Pneumatic Compactor for sealing the top layer thus sealing the fissures that prevent rainwater from seeping through, destroying the road surface during monsoons.


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I read somewhere that roads are made such that they absorb as much rain water to recharge underground water table and at the same time they do not get destroyed in the monsoons.This technology is called 'pervious concrete roads' in which there are open pores on the road surface. It lets the water seep into the ground beneath.

[Fordlover88]

Thanks for this awesome thread. HEMM(Heavy Earth Moving Machinery) hold a special place in my life as my first job was in a mining industry(Sesa Goa) & i have driven quite a handful of them like Volvo/Komatsu dumpers,JCB front/back hoe, wheel loaders, tipper trucks etc. Sharing a few pictures of them.Some of these are clicked by me while others are downloaded.

Volvo-A40E


Unfortunate Mishap in Mines. Glad the driver survived.


Random view of an Opencast mines with HEMM's working


An excavator loading Komatsu-KH10.


Komatsu-KH10


Volvo in action.



Random view of an Opencast mines with HEMM's working


Komatsu's being loaded by excavator