Hastings Deering is bringing a whole-of-life approach to machinery maintenance with its free undercarriage inspection service, helping Cat customers get the most from their equipment.

With a machine’s undercarriage often taking the brunt of wear and tear, applying a regular maintenance schedule is imperative to avoid unplanned downtime and costly repairs.

To help Cat machinery owners better manage their machinery maintenance and get the longest lifespan possible from their undercarriages, authorised Australian dealer Hastings Deering offers a free undercarriage inspection service.

Hastings Deering customer support representative David Onn says that as up to 50 per cent of a machine’s operating costs come from maintaining and replacing parts of the undercarriage, keeping a close eye on the wear rates of the various components can lead to significant cost savings.

“It’s about helping a customer plan and budget for future repair costs, but it’s also about highlighting any concerns that an owner might be having, so that we can make adjustments along the way,” Onn says.

“As well as physically inspecting the machine, we also talk to the customer about how they're operating it, the conditions it’s being used in and the applications it’s used for, so that we can adjust the maintenance schedule to help the undercarriage last longer and keep the customer’s cost per hour as low as possible.

“We also look at the machine as a whole, not just the undercarriage, which sets us apart from other non-genuine competitors who may just focus on one component. Caterpillar designs their machines to work as a system (powertrain, hydraulics, attachments etc), the undercarriage forms part of that system.

“The overall aim is to ensure that customers gain the most value, for the lowest possible cost, for the whole machine, over its entire life.”

Fechner Bros has seen the benefits of Hastings Deering’s undercarriage inspections.

Know your wear

During an inspection, Hastings Deering isn’t just looking for broken components or missing bolts – it’s a process of understanding the wear rate of all the different aspects of the undercarriage, finding solutions to extend life where possible and get an accurate assessment of when parts will need replacing.

“We measure each of the undercarriage components to see how much they have worn as well as visually checking the entire machine to make sure everything is the way it should be,” Onn says.

“We use the Caterpillar Wear Management System (CWMS) Program that utilises an Ultrasonic Wear Indicator Probe and other specialist tooling to measure the undercarriage and from the information gathered the CWMS Program calculates how much each component has worn over however many hours, giving a percent worn and a projection of life.

With the undercarriage responsible for half of a machine’s maintenance costs, regular inspections can have significant benefits.

Fechner Bros

One long-term Hastings Deering customer who has been seeing the benefits of a regular undercarriage inspection is Queensland earthmoving contractor Fechner Bros.

Steven Fechner is the second generation of the family to run the business from its base in Beaudesert in the Scenic Rim region, mainly focusing on farm work in the local area.

“We offer a wide range of services from dams and drains to general earthmoving, right through to car parks and roads for the rural sector here, mostly farmers and land holders with a bit of government and civil work,” he explains.

“We also do a bit of soil conservation work with Healthy Land and Water [the government natural resource management body for South East Queensland]. They work with landowners and, if there's a soil erosion problem, we might end up rebuilding riverbanks or addressing erosion in gullies where we need to divert water away from it.”

Fechner says his family has been a fan of Caterpillar machinery for decades, ever since his business’ beginnings in 1962.

“We've always bought Cat machines, so we have a long standing relationship with Hastings Deering.

“At the moment we have a D6R dozer, 320D excavator, 140 grader, 232D skid steer, a new 305 CR Next Gen excavator and a little CC34B roller, which has the smooth drum and the multi tyres on the back.”

Hasting Deering undertakes preventative maintenance of the fleet, making regular visits to ensure the machinery is kept in top condition.

“With Hastings Deering doing the inspections, we can factor in any maintenance that needs to come up, or they might pick up on an issue. Understanding where and how a machine is wearing is important to us, because we deal with various soil types where we are, from very abrasive to black soil. With Hastings monitoring it, they are giving us the advice on how long we're going to get out of an undercarriage before we need to do something.

“It's mainly about keeping an eye on the condition and picking up on problems if wearing has increased, so we can get maximum life out of the components.”

Fechner Bros in South East Queensland keeps its fleet of Cat machinery well maintained with help from Hastings Deering.

Special Offer

From April 1–June 30 Hastings Deering customers who spend $2,000 or more on an undercarriage will be entered into a draw for a Cat 301.5 excavator with a trailer.

During this period, Hastings Deering is also offering 20 per cent off all General Duty Undercarriage transactions made on parts.cat.com when code PCC_UC20 is used. VIEW NOW.

To find out more about Hastings Deering’s undercarriage inspection service, CLICK HERE

Article Credit: Earthmovers & Excavators Magazine