8/31/2020 Earth-Moving Heavy Equipment for Construction

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Earth-Moving Heavy Equipment for Construction

BY JUAN RODRIGUEZ
Updated November 20, 2019

Heavy equipment is essential for construction jobs of almost any size, from home building
to large-scale commercial and civil projects. Earth-moving equipment covers a broad range
of machines that can excavate and grade soil and rock, along with other jobs. Earth movers
and other heavy equipment help to speed not only earth work but also materials handling,
demolition, and construction. Many types of heavy construction equipment are designed
for multiple functions, making them indispensable on job sites.

01 Excavators

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Gravskopa/Pixabay

Excavators are large construction equipment that can be driven by tracks or wheels, but
tracks are more standard. A conventional excavator has a long bucket arm attached to a
pivoting cab that can rotate a full 360 degrees. The operator sits in the cab and from there
has good visibility of the site. Excavators are highly versatile and can be fitted with special
attachments for specialty jobs. The most common uses for an excavator include:

• Material handling
• Excavating trenches, holes, and foundations
• Brush cutting with hydraulic attachments
• Demolition
• Rough grading
• Heavy lifting and pipe installation
• Mining
• River dredging

02 Backhoe Loaders

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Gravskopa/Pixabay

Backhoe loaders, often called backhoes, have a body that's similar to a farm tractor and
include an adjustable shovel in front and a small bucket in the back for digging. Backhoe
loaders are considered medium-sized construction equipment for smaller jobs and are
capable of working in limited space to perform various operations. They can move dirt,
backfill excavations, dig holes and trenches, and place pipes and other materials. One of
the best attributes of backhoe loaders is that they are wheel-driven and can be used in
urban areas. They can even be driven to a job site. The bucket in the back can be changed
to dig trenches of di erent widths.

03 Bulldozers

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Gravskopa/Pixabay

Bulldozers are considered one of the strongest and most reliable heavy equipment used in
the construction industry. A bulldozer is a powerful and extremely heavy machine used to
move dirt along large open tracts of land. Bulldozers have a wide, flat blade in front that
can be operated using two hydraulic pistons to move the blade in a limited range of angles
and depths. They are normally used to push piles of earth and for rough or fine grading,
depending on the size of the bulldozer. A bulldozer's considerable weight helps it crush
large boulders, among other operations.

04 Skid-Steer Loaders

Gravskopa/Pixabay

Skid-steer loaders are among the most versatile machines available in the construction
industry. They are small and nimble and can turn within their own footprint, just like a tank,
making them ideal for work in confined spaces or in areas where construction activity has

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been finalized. Skid-steer loaders are wheel-driven and o er good traction in snow and
mud. The wheels also minimize soil compaction and damage to finished areas. These handy
loaders come in a few di erent sizes and can be outfitted with a variety of attachments to
perform digging, drilling, compacting, log grappling, snow blowing, jack-hammering, and
other tasks. 

05 Motor Graders

Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Motor graders are heavy equipment used for fine grading and for moving small amounts of
dirt. They have a long blade that can be adjusted to meet certain angles to create a flat
surface. They can also be fitted with a second blade in front of the front axle and in some
instances can be used for underground mining. Motor graders are typically used to fine-
grade dirt or gravel roads or to prepare the road base course before placing asphalt.
Graders can also be used to create sloped surfaces or drainage ditches with shallow V-
shaped cross-sections.

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06 Crawler Loaders

Alexprevot / Wikimedia Creative Commons

A crawler loader is a cross between an excavator and a backhoe or bucket loader. Its tracks
give it excellent stability, and its versatile bucket makes it useful for moving soil and debris
and for loading material onto trucks. Crawler loaders are also used for excavation on
relatively small projects. For larger-scale work, a hydraulic excavator is often used instead
of a crawler loader.

07 Trenchers

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Ditch Witch / Wikimedia Creative Commons

True to its name, a trencher is used to dig trenches, usually narrow trenches for piping and
cabling. Trenchers come in many di erent types and sizes, from small walk-behind versions
to very large trenching machines that can cut into asphalt pavement and other hard
surfaces. The trencher has a conveyor system that carries the excavated material and
deposits it onto the ground next to the trench. Trenchers can use di erent digging
implements depending on the depth of the trench and material being excavated.

08 Scrapers

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David McNew/Getty Images

A scraper can move dirt and aggregates quickly around a construction site and is used
primarily for digging and leveling large areas of land. Scrapers are large heavy equipment
designed for open areas, where they can run at high speeds for cut and fill operations.
Large self-propelled scrapers are called motor scrapers. There are also smaller scrapers,
called pull scrapers, that are pulled behind another vehicle.

09 Common Dump Trucks

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Southern Stock / Getty Images

Dump trucks are needed on almost every large job site. They o er limited function but
perform the all-important task of moving and dumping many types of heavy material. They
are also road-ready so they can bring material into or out of site and can travel anywhere
large equipment is permitted. Dump trucks come in many di erent sizes for di erent
capacity and load needs, ranging from small utility-type trucks with dumping beds to
enormous machines used in mining operations.

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