A paver with a blown hose doesn't pave. The trucks keep coming from the plant, the mix in them keeps cooling, and the property manager wants to know why the lot is closed and nothing's happening. Most of those mornings start with something a ten-minute walk-around would have caught in the yard.
This is a working checklist. Your machine's operator's manual wins wherever it disagrees, especially on grease intervals.
The paver, every day
Before it leaves the yard or starts on the lot:
- Engine oil, hydraulic oil and coolant at the right level.
- Walk every hydraulic hose you can see. Look for weeping fittings and hoses rubbing through.
- Slat conveyor chains and flights: tension, broken or missing flights, missing bolts.
- Augers: worn flights and anything packed with cold mix.
- Screed heat comes on and comes up to temperature. On a cool morning a cold screed tears the mat.
- Tow arm pins and screed adjustment cylinders: no play, no leaks.
- Spray the hopper, conveyor and augers with an asphalt release agent before the first truck.
Use a release agent made for asphalt, not diesel. Diesel softens the binder it touches and ends up on the ground, and many state DOT specs don't allow it.
The paver, every week
- Grease every point on the schedule in the manual. On a machine working full days, some points are daily.
- Tamper bars and screed plates for wear. A worn screed shows up as an open, uneven mat texture.
- Engine air filter. Paving dust loads a filter faster than most job sites do.
- Hoses again, closer: cracking at the crimp and chafing where they cross the frame.
The roller, every day and every week
Daily:
- Engine oil and hydraulic oil.
- Water spray system runs and every nozzle sprays. A dry drum picks up mix and tears the mat.
- Scrapers and mats on the drums are in place and touching.
- Drums: no flat spots, cracks or cold mix stuck to them.
- On a vibratory roller, vibration engages on both drums and doesn't sound or feel different than yesterday. A new rattle is usually a bearing or the eccentric.
Weekly:
- Drum edges. Parking lot work means rolling off the edge of the mat, and that chips drums.
- Grease drum bearings and drive couplings per the manual.
- On a rubber-tire roller, check every tire's pressure. Uneven pressure means uneven compaction.
- Clean and check the water tank filter.
Trucks, every trip day
Federal rules expect the driver of a commercial truck to check it before driving and to report defects, so make the pre-trip a habit:
- Lights, mirrors, horn and wipers.
- Tires: pressure, tread and sidewalls.
- Brakes, and air pressure build-up on air-brake trucks.
- Bed hoist raises and lowers smoothly with no leaks.
- Tailgate latches and chains.
- Bed is clean. A layer of cold mix at the front of the bed keeps the truck from emptying into the hopper.
- Tarp works. Many states require a covered load, and a tarp holds heat in the mix.
Keep a maintenance record for each truck: oil changes, brake work, tires and repairs, with dates. Federal rules require a carrier to keep inspection and maintenance records on its commercial trucks, and a buyer asks for the same records when you sell one.
Write it down
A checklist nobody signs gets skipped by week three. Put the list on a clipboard in each machine or in the truck, have the operator initial it, and look at it when you walk past. When the same item fails twice in a month, that's a part to order before it fails a third time on a lot.
Related articles
- Buying a paver, roller or screed: what to check before you sign
- Winterizing paving equipment when the plant closes
- OSHA and safety for paving crews: hot mix, work zones and the injury log
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