The week the plant closes, everybody wants to be done. That's the week the equipment needs half a day each. Mix left in the conveyor sets up hard over the winter, water left in a roller's spray bar splits fittings the first cold night, and a battery that was weak in October is dead in March.
Your operator's manual has the manufacturer's storage procedure. Follow it. This is the list most shops work from on top of that.
The paver
Clean out every bit of mix. Run the machine warm and empty. Scrape the hopper wings, the slat conveyor, the augers and the screed plates, and spray them with an asphalt release agent. Mix that sits all winter bonds to the steel and comes off in spring with heat and a chisel.
Use a release agent made for asphalt, not diesel. Diesel softens the binder, ends up on the ground, and many state DOT specs don't allow it.
Grease everything on the manual's schedule. Fresh grease pushes out water and grit before the machine sits.
Fuel. Most manufacturers want a diesel tank filled before storage, so there's less air in it to condense water, with a stabilizer added if it'll sit for months. Check your manual. Some newer engines have specific rules for stored fuel and DEF.
Hydraulics. Top off the reservoir and look at the oil. Milky or cloudy oil has water in it. Change it now, not after the machine has sat on it all winter.
Electrical. Disconnect the batteries or put them on a maintainer. If it's stored outside, cover the control station and electrical boxes.
The roller
Drain the water system completely. Tank, pump, lines and spray bars. Pull the nozzles, dry them and store them inside. Follow the manual on whether to blow the lines out with air or run a winter mix through them. Water left anywhere in that system freezes and cracks it.
Clean the drums while there's still some warmth in them. Mix left on a drum becomes a flat spot in the mat next spring.
Grease, fuel and hydraulics the same as the paver. On a vibratory roller, check the eccentric housing oil if the manual has a change interval.
Tires on a rubber-tire roller: inflate to spec and, if it'll sit for months, block it up or move it every few weeks so the tires don't flat-spot.
Trucks and the rest
- Wash the undercarriage. A season of tack, mix and road salt shortens the life of everything under there.
- Load-test the batteries. Replace the weak ones now.
- Check antifreeze protection against the coldest night where the truck will be parked.
- Treat the fuel for cold if trucks will run or sit outside in a hard winter. Summer diesel gels.
- Service the bed hoist and grease the tailgate hinges.
- Brakes and tires get inspected now, while there's time to fix them.
Small equipment too: plate compactors, saws, crack sealing kettles and sealcoat tanks. Drain water out of anything that holds it. Run small gas engines dry or add stabilizer.
Write down what you found
Keep a sheet for each machine: what you did, what you found, and what needs a part. Order those parts in January, not the week before the plant opens, when every other contractor in the region is ordering the same ones.
That sheet is also your record when you sell the machine or file an insurance claim on it.
Related articles
- Equipment maintenance checklist: paver, roller and trucks
- Buying a paver, roller or screed: what to check before you sign
- Running a five-person paving crew: roles, the night-before call and the daily log
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