That man lift you depend on has to be at peak performance on the work site.
To increase your equipment’s reliability and productivity in the field, follow these best practices when it comes to aerial lift maintenance.
PERIODIC AERIAL LIFT MAINTENANCE
Scheduled inspections and preventative maintenance is the number one way to help guarantee the best performance from your man lift. It’ll help you identify small problems before they grow and down your unit.
For example, minor damage to a component, like a leak in a hub that will grind up if unchecked, damage in a boom tube that becomes a crack, or a neglected cable adjustment that allows a cable to jump off the sheave, are all preventable. Potential reliability issues are cheaper and easier to fix the earlier they’re spotted.
OEM PARTS
Look to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the best ways to keep your fleet up and running. When it comes to replacement parts, the individual costs may seem small, but you know that their impact on a machine’s uptime is enormous.
Replacement parts that aren’t factory-fitted might physically fit, but they may not work as well and often cause downtime. Joysticks, for example, can cause issues — they can be the wrong style, that either doesn’t work with your unit, work poorly (operating in one direction but not another) or for a very short period of time.
Because your boom lift or scissor lift should be on the job site when you need it, dealing with downtime and failures caused by parts that aren’t specified for your Genie machine isn’t in the budget or the schedule. This can be avoided by using genuine parts purchased from the OEM, like Genie Genuine Parts or JLG Genuine Parts.
Having those parts installed quickly is equally important since waiting on parts to arrive and be fitted are the major cause of unplanned downtime. So, the ability to quickly order and receive OEM parts, along with the age of units serviced by your aerial lift dealer, are important factors for your equipment’s reliability.
COST TRACKING
Tracking the cost of repairs is also an indicator of the equipment’s total cost of ownership. An engine failure, or sometimes just a pump replacement, may be a signal that the cost of ownership curve is no longer sufficiently profitable.
Although some engines may have an advertised life of around 8,000 hours, boom tubes and the chassis don’t wear out unless damaged, so it’s a misconception that machines simply have a standard maximum age or hours of life — these types of parts failures are often a sign of poor maintenance and can signal future issues.
The reality is that following best practices for aerial lift maintenance can save your business a lot of money. By completing the steps outlined in these tips, you can positively impact the residual value and on-the-job performance of your booms and scissor lifts.
Read: Aerial Lift Battery Maintenance Tips for a Longer Battery Life
Content provided by Genie, a Terex brand.