Noobs Guide on How to run an Excavator pt 2 

Here is my 2 cents for new operators,[ old hands too ] 1. Spin your tracks using the boom to lift each side off the ground before you leave the cab . This will insure you don't have a rock stuck in the tracks and free up excessive mud. 2. Fuel and grease your machine at the end of the day. No chance you forget to bring fuel in the morning. Grease, because the pins are warm and will take grease easily. Also while greasing you can check for anything that may have worn or broken that day. 3. Get good, then get fast. 4. remember to close the door and windows. Sitting on a wet seat will really piss you off in the morning. 5, Always operate safely, say within your limits, never go against your judgement. get dirty!!!

Ok now that beginners parts are over, can you make some advanced excavators videos now? The Interwebs are full of "check your fluids" and "wear appropriate gears while working" but lacks of real life tricks. Getting across a trench, slopping, working in heavy mud, near water, in winter time, burying an angry customer, grading a road or a a land, looking at other bucket styles and other attachments, measuring while digging, cleaning your tracks and your whole machine inside out. Keep up the good work and make some more videos with the cool Amish guy. Cheers!

People think equipment operators has the easiest job but what they don't know is the responsibility and every job site is a new obstacle and new objective

We had a guy 2 yrs ago get killed by getting between a counterweight and a pipe, and i always put the control lockout down when someone is around the machine talking, great videos!

This is cool...I'm a student currently studying on Excavator operator...this can really help👍

In the first part they talked about always flipping up the safety switch when someone approaches the machine but when Stan walks up to it dan dan flipped it down less than 1% of the time

Every single things they are teaching me in school right now is in this video. Great job !!!

Would love to see how to run the actual excavator and how the controls work! Plus would love to see more of these with all other equipment such as bulldozer, front end loader, rock truck, earth scraper, backhoe, etc

Been operating an excavator for 3 and half years now great video with great tips for new operators keep up the great videos!

Working with ground workers from landscaping companies that do not train their people. I was working a 14k pound mini X. I found one of the crew members trying to cool off on a no shade site. He was leaned against a drive gear. He fell asleep (lunch). I kept working to get the project done. I took off and came back. Now yes it was a mini. So I could easily see him. However trying to explain why this is a bad habit yet the thought if it was a full size. My what if hit me. So I explained it simple being out of site of the cab is like looking down a gun barrel and pulling the trigger with out checking if itis loaded. This gentleman actually became one of my best ground safety men i have ever had. Operators please always do a walk around before going back to work...

Excellent information Stan. Thanks for doing this series.

Great videos man. Not only very informative, but also very entertaining! Cheers

Excellent video Stanley. This video is great.

Greetings from New Zealand Stanley, nice video for an operator on a new machine. We set up rules for approaching plant and rules for ground staff around machines on our job pre-start forms/talks, then we watch each others back especially the green horn. We're looking at supplying two way radio's for individual crews to aid communication and safety.

I never knew that was why you didn’t grease the swing gear often thank you!

Make one of these for skid steer loaders!!! 😍

Nice video, I will never forget the Four wheeler who drove below me on a slippery slope, luck he moved before I slid to where he had parked. I had no control once I hit quick sand.

I’ve had many instances where blade hands almost loose their lives not using common sense. The best story I have was one of my operators was running the 992K loading the 777F’s, one of our plant operators decided he would fly up behind the operator in order to get his attention. But when you’re 3 feet from the ass end of a 992 unless it has back up cameras you have little vision up to about 10-15 feet behind you. Let’s just say the brand new work truck was crushed. Luckily nobody lost their lives but man, you’re telling the truth when you say common sense isn’t so common. I have a lot of stories but that was my favorite.

Would love to see videos on skid steer and Dozer and Graders also. Great work Stanley love it!

Yeh I really enjoyed these two digger walk through as we just bought a hitachi zx110 and there is no videos out there as well put together as this one. Good job 👍

What about a video of the basic motions when digging? Like how you want the boom, stick, and bucket operating together?

Thanks Stan they're very educational

Hi Stan. My wife and I are looking to start the house building process and love it if you could do a ditch witch video. thanks again for your time Dustin

Excellent performance ,thanks.

Thanks its nice to know some of the new features!

The first time I used my buddy’s excavator I was amazed. Between playing video games and RC cars as a kit, the controls were instantly familiar to me. I know it takes a lifetime to get the rest but it was an easy first step.

Volvo sure makes nice stuff

Good general vids stan thanks man!

Very informative. Thanks for sharing your knowledge & skills. By the way, the cowboy safety hat looks good. Im going to order one.

Loving the videos. More please

Safety instructions good. Basic instructions good. Appreciate all the effort and I'm not complaining. I do wish more video was shown on actual movement. More hands on tips on operation. Thanks.

I like how in the first video they talked about putting the red safety bar down when someone approaches the machine and at 13:48 Stan just walks right up and the other guy just goes on trying to explain other stuff😂😂😂

Love to see more like this

Good video Stan yes you need to make more

Great tips.

I really like your videos. I've ran different types of equipment ranging from Scissor Lifts, to Lowell's, forklift, 50, & 90 ton Rock trucks, terminators, front end loaders, all the way up to a drag line. I've never used a excavator day in and out on a consistent full 8-10 hr day work week. Any free time I'd have breaks lunch whatever. I'd honestly make deals with some of the guys if they had some not super sensitive or as precise work that I'd check all there fluids daily fuel there equipment whatever. Just to get some time in the seat even if I'm only moving it to the fuel tank and back still getting seat time. Then alot of the guys would actually teach me different ways to move the boom and stick to position yourself to where to dig safely and how to set up for trenches. I'd take advantage of having different excavators fron super small mini excavators up to like 320 I think was the biggest one I dug with and drove around.Could you guys do a video on tasks as a operator or good ways to practice making stock piles. Just anything when I have seat time to get the most practice doing anything that I would do day in and out. Like maybe building a shelf on a pile to load out trucks or maybe show some basic tasks you can do to improve on certain skills. There's a company around me hiring for Excavator Operators, and other pieces of heavy equipment. I've generally done labor style jobs. Pipeline lowered in pipe, geeped and environmental, and even digging trenches for silt fence and silt sock. I've worked in a above ground coal mine running front end loader and Rick trucks, oiled on the drag line. My most recent job was doing demolition work from hole buildings to sections to only interior demos.As I've learned more and more the opportunity came up to start running a lift and I never stopped. I also was a tree trimmer for a few years started out as a flagger to groundsmen up to running a top kick bucket truck. Which is kinda like your boom and stick when running the two boom hand controls. So I have a decent amount of experience with equipment and all sorts of different stuff I slowly went up from being like a guy on the ground or gopher to operating a lift or lowel or Skid Steer on a daily basis. I honestly would love to get this Excavators position. Ever since I have been crawling, I've played with Tonka Trucks, we had about everyone they made. I was amazed by all the noise the smell of the diesel. When I saw my first excavator my mind was blown. Excavators in my opinion as a kid look like robots, or a dinosaur, or something. But ever since I can remember I've been fascinated by heavy equipment. My goal is to have the opportunity to get into a Excavator Operator's position and in time be able to operate with this amazing tool. Thanks again for making these videos. Thank you Volvo as well.

Hey Stan as I run and own a dump truck. Let's see some dump truck videos safety tips thanks great video I find myself watching your videos for hours in the evening after work love what you do for us out here wanting to learn and get information much appreciated

Thanks for the video!

Skidsteer video for sure!

Great info!! All the little details helped me! Now I want to change my purchase from a CAT to a Volvo!!

Love the job

I have ran quite a few excavators in my short life and I suggest that you learn to use the pedal controls to drive the excavator early as possible it will come in handy one day!!

I really enjoy your video very interesting sir

Thanks helped me tons!!!

Dan the Man... oh yeah and you'r'e pretty good too. Great job as always.

Love this. Stuff .. vary smart

Been watching your videos recently. Great job. Down to earth, sqare business reports. Found you while researching ztr lawn mowers.

I'd like to see a video of you guys actually digging and moving earth with an excavator. There aren't a lot of videos on youtube that go into this thoroughly enough.

Sweet! Awesome topic

I like how the counterweight on the zero tail swing is all scraped up, but the regular counterweight is basically spotless.

Thanks for your video i subscribed I’m going for my license this month fingers crossed 🤞🏻

Nice job on the vid. Very entertaining and helpful. Also like Jo Rush comment below: would like to see more advanced videos on equipment operation. Thank you.

I think one on dozer operation would be good. I operated an old Case 450 but it was very simple. Anymore most modern ones are way more complex.

Good, solid info. And, well done. Pro tip: lose the cowboy lid.

Greetings from the LooseNatural farm in Andalusia

I’ve only used a small excavator once. I wish I’d seen this video first. I have been a paramedic for thirty years. More times than I can remember I have been on calls where a ground pounder ( your label, not mine) was injured by getting in the wrong place around heavy equipment. Please pay attention and put me out of a job.

Skid steer loader basics would be useful!

I put the grease gun on the grease point, pump it and damn! no grease goes in, just a big blob on the floor. Any tips for getting a stubborn grease point to work again ? 👍

One of the things I was always told was if you ever manage to tip any piece of equipment over you should never attempt to jump out of the cab.

Nothing is worse than seeing a pedestrian at a safe distance away and continuing what you are doing and then you look for them again and they have vanished.

If your boot slips while holding on with two hands your still gunna take a shinner.

Always wear your seatbelt / restraints! Stick out and bucket down when traveling down hill.

Hey that hat is cool. I'd wear it. Plus they aren't as expensive as I expected. 20 - 40 bucks on average.

I know it all ❗️but I watched both videos and learned more ( don’t be a know it all !(Adam Henry) ) 👷🏻‍♂️

For trenching there are 2 ways on how to put the material out. 1st way: put material to the right of the trench so when you swing back in you can see the men in the trench and not hit them. 2nd way: put material to the left so you can see where your men are outside the trench and not hit them. Hope you guys like my advice

A track to the shin sure tops a bump into a protruding Reese hitch.

I always travel long distances with my idlers in front and park the machine with the idlers in the back with the ram that controls the bucket positioned straight up and down... and I always help pull the machine up a hill instead of the sprockets doing all the work.

I’m not a super experienced operator but I have operated enough and greased enough equipment, this doesn’t exactly apply to most excavators but wheel bearings, driveline joints and slip clutches can be over greased along with a few other parts just look at the size and if it is sealed or not.

Definitely good pointers on running excavators. Would there be a chance on seeing ones for wheel loaders?

Danny says Dont check the air filter until the warning system tells you to, so you don't contaminate the intake, Right after he says that you tell everyone to check it everyday if they are working in dusty conditions. It looked like Danny was biting his tongue as you contradicted what he said.

Lol, when he said lot controls!!

Stanley, will you be making one with a dozer too?

All machines are to be treated with respect. Respect the fluids before you step up!

Had one of the 3 labors I was working with walk within 1 foot of the back of the 326 excavator I was running to get to the other side of me. I didn't see him walk behind me. At the same time i needed to move back a few feet. I started to move backwards a few inches and noticed I only could see 2 of my guys. So I stopped moving and looked over my right shoulder to now see that labor walking away very close to me on the right side. If I wasn't keeping aware of the guys around me I would have hurt someone that day. The best thing you can do is to turn to the direction you want to track and/or have a spotter but sometimes its not possible. You have to be aware always and stop to check if you think somethings not right.

I’d love to see one on dozers

A nice way to show the novice driver how to work this. I learn just from watching the show here.....

Coming from a truck driver...three points of contact means two arms ONE foot/leg (or more) Or two feet and one arm/hand(or more) .. only giving constructive feedback..please don't take this comment the wrong way..

making eye contact is all i do during a job when im in a bob cat, or on the ground, if i see something i spring out the way.

How would you know the right hours to grease the ring gear if there's more than one operator at various times and how much grease to put in ?

Backhoe loader/ skiddsteer training

greasing until you see the grease protrude is the messy way. I grease by the size of the pins, the smallest pins get 2 pumps and the biggest pins get 7. most pins on a skid steer are 3-4 pumps

Stanley, I need You guys to put up a "training film on the D 10 caterpillar. Nothing less. I'm soon buying one for an Emergency team effort incase Of "Earth alterations"..."earthquakes, etc..". It's gonna happen, just want to be prepared. If not me then for others after me.

Review s backhoe if you get a chance. Thanks brother. Be safe.

19:07 you point out that he put the red bar down while talking to you, but a second later in the next shot as it pans in, you can see it is clearly up....

6:00 - get enough wear and it'll start to burn it's own lub' oil and give you a runaway engine - YT has plenty of examples why that's a bad idea. I knew of one case where a driver refitted the air filter incorrectly and in less than a day in dussty conditions it reached that runaway point!

3 points of contact is and the safety lever is very important, yesterday my safety vest got stock on the joy stick while I jumped out of the excavator,it hanged me,then the zip burst n I feel on the side of the tracks which grazed my lap, thnxs god they design the lever so we have to put it down before getting out,it could b much more scary for me

Do as many different types of equipment you can please

I worked for a large cat rental store. We had guy that rented a boom lift and got killed by power lines. The long reach excavators are horrific to move in confined areas.

So I have been running heavy equipment for about 8-10 years. I have been union for about 4 of those years. I have ran excavators that would fit through a door in your house and I have ran a Volvo 700 loading on road trucks in 2/ 2.5 buckets. I see a couple pieces of advice that I could give but I’m also happy to take in any advice that would make my job easier or faster. As far as dumb stuff that that put myself and the people in a bad position, I was working a 3 to 1 slope facing down hill digging out a soft/wet spot. I swung to my left up hill and was swinging back down hill to my right. On my return swing about 1/3 of the way back to the hole I noticed my boss standing with 3 inspectors in the hole I just dug (they had been about 30 feet away from the hole when I took the last scoop) I immediately pushed my left hand stick back to the left hand side trying to stop my swing, by time the hoe had stopped swinging back down the hill and towards the now occupied hole I would have been within 8 feet of hitting all 4 of them. Luckily I had the presence of mind to stick in and bring the bucket close enough to the cab that even if I had swung over the hole I would have missed them. It very easily could have ended their life. It was a 360 komatsu just for reference.

Do one for a backhoe

thats one of my dreams, use one of these machines to work.

Maybe Volvo could make an excavator giveaway to your viewers? That'll be awesome! I'd take one. :D

Ok, I have all the basics down. How about grading? I guess that comes with a lot of experience.

Hey stan would i have possible to get a job on an excavator when i haven't ran any excavator but one day ve had an 22 metric ton ex and i got in the operator seat and we had an 15 year worked excavator operator there and he said that i was very nice but i haven't ran an excavator ever before and also i had to lift 6 ton concrite panels (sorry for bad english i am from small country named estonia)

If my rear tires aren't off the ground 20x a day I'm not doing work. I've probably got 25 or 30 thousand hours under my belt and I'm not condoning what I do. But the difference in an operator and a seat warmer is when things dont go right the operator reacts where the seat warmer hesitates.

can u do a vidio on the other 3 machines you need to start ur buisness

I watched an operator removing a mobilehome, while he was turning, he forgot how far the ass end stuck out. He ended up taking down a very large section of the neighbors home.

Is it as fun as it looks?

I would like to see a part 3 showing basic to advanced excavation techniques with an excavator. I was self taught many of years ago in a wheeled backhoe but am always looking to learn more like leveling the grade, determining digging depths and not over digging a trench too deep etc.

where'd you get that hard hat🤣😂 i need that lol