How to operate
A Dump Truck Video
How to Operate an Articulated Dump Truck // Ep. 137
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everyone welcome to this training video
on how to operate an off-road haul truck
so today we'll be using a Komatsu hm 300
haul truck which is an articulated model
we have it out our Minnesota site we
thought be great do a training video on
it first things first we've already done
our pre-op inspection on the haul truck
as well as the site and then you know I
always tell you every time we're not
expert so I'm going to show you kind of
what we've learned but I always
encourage people to give comments
feedback and what they've learned so
let's get in this thing and check it out
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so first thing pretty much contact
anytime they're getting in and out of
any heavy equipment come on sue haul
trucks load from the front okay close
the door first saying seatbelt okay so
again we're in a Komatsu it's an hm 300
haul truck this is going to be pretty
similar though with any other haul truck
you might use turn the key initially to
see if there's any warnings and the key
started up first thing doing making sure
the parking brake a lot of times it's
going to initially alarm with the air
brakes it's getting making sure we're
good there I have a parking brake on for
the Komatsu haul truck there's a red
switch over to the right of the
transmission that is my parking brake
I'm gonna kind of go over some of the
controls here and again they're a little
bit different from some machines but
again the ones I've been in are fairly
similar obviously for steering
everything your left hand steering wheel
right there writes your shifter right
there similar throttle and a brake pedal
just like you would normally have
so coming kind of left to right most of
this is very basic on here you got your
radio controls there Komatsu has their
climate control system right there
lights and everything on the left side
on the right side we have a few things
on the dash here there's the
differential to lock the differential
general you want to be in Auto just to
let the you know the the machine will
let you know when it needs to lock out
or do anything like that if you're in
really soft or muddy material you may
just want to lock your differentials so
all wheels are spinning at the same so
that would be the switch there and then
other like in Komatsu there's an
emergency steering button there there's
some other features that obviously want
to read the manual and make sure you
know all the different features on it
and then to the right we have our
rearview backup camera there with the I
can adjust my display there that's very
handy and these machines to kind of see
where you're backing and where you're
dumping obviously with the backup this
is a large machine so you also want to
make sure your mirrors are positioned so
on my left and my right I can see all
the way down
machine make sure their position
appropriately outside of that we then on
the the steering wheel here so there's a
couple two different ways you break on a
off-road hull truck you've got a service
break just like you would in a car
that's gonna be typically how you'll
bring it all the way to complete stop
and then you also have a retarder on
this so on the Komatsu this is lever
right on the right of the steering
column that I pulled out and what that's
going to do it's using the hydraulics to
basically slow it down so it's if you're
going down a hill you don't want to burn
up your service brakes there so that's
usually you'll be pulling that down
actually you don't want to use it to
come to a complete stop you would want
to use it if you're in a large incline
going down just to slow the Machine down
if this thing hauls it's about a 40-ton
machine so that's got a lot of weight
you don't want to just use your brakes
you'll its generates so much heat wears
those out really quickly let's see and
then for the dump bed itself over here
you got one lever and this is pretty
standard in most dump trucks right now
if you put it in the middle
usually when you first go and you have
to reset it so right now it's in the
middle you put it down into float which
is all the way down and I on the
Komatsu's you go to display and you
can't drive or do anything unless that
is gone so it's got to be in float and
then to raise it if I just pull back on
it like that
again the Komatsu will do it on its own
so it's going up on its own you can set
those limits on where you want it
general you can also give I'm in park
and everything here give it some
throttle that will make it go a little
bit faster I'm looking out my windows
so these will stop it'll stop at a
preset point so that's there you almost
all these so have a little bit of dish
no if I pull back it'll go even a little
bit more you shouldn't necessarily have
to use that every time depending on what
material you have in there if it's
sticking in your bed and then to bring
it down just reverse you push it all the
way down and same thing it'll start
coming down I'm going to bring it down
it's obviously best practice to not be
moving forward while that's coming down
although I'll show you when we dump
typically you want to come for a little
bit to drop the material then it's all
the way down and it's down in float in
front so I don't have my indicator so
now I can drive okay so now for driving
first thing put on the service brake and
my take parking brake off transmission
on the Komatsu you basically have your
drive which is your automatic and then
you've got two different reverses for
different speeds typically I recommend
these machines are so smart let them do
all those calculations for you so drive
is going to be automatic it's going to
basically calculate what gear it should
be in so this one's right now in Drive
taking my foot off the brake and I'll
start giving it some gas
so the most unusual thing with an
off-road haul is its articulated so I
think that's the biggest thing for
someone driving a traditional dump truck
that's got your wheels in the front or
even a off-road haul truck that's not a
off-road your axles in the front this
one's just like a wheel loader so it is
articulated so that means when I turn
I'm actually my front tires aren't
turning it's actually articulating a pin
behind it the important thing to know
too is if you're in a really tight area
that actually if you notice it'll swing
my outside out a little bit so if you're
in a really tight area just be careful
and be aware that it'll swing like that
bring it all the way around
and if I'm there come to a stop and I've
got my reverse again in Reverse you want
to make sure your mirrors are set I've
also got the backup camera there's two
big back straight up stop there neutral
and then back and drive so those are the
basic controls
let's show we are excavating a little
bit of area out on our property so I
thought it'd be good to kind of drive
over and we can show you how to
basically Center set this up in position
for someone that would be filling in
okay so I've got Jake up on the
excavator we're just going to do a
little bit of an example load here so
typically know where you're going the
more you can do it pulling forward
obviously that's ideal with this I
actually have to back up typically
what's going to happen is the excavator
who's ever loading is going to have the
bucket over the area where they want you
to park so that's generally kind of a
target obviously you don't they don't
want to generally be loading over your
cab at all so I'm coming around I know a
rough idea on where I want to go trying
to line it up they're putting it in
Reverse
so the way they communicate is generally
a horn so I'll see if I can hear Jake
with that I'm also looking at my cameras
I know it's got to be right in there so
Jake honk there you're putting it in
neutral parking brake on now mine I've
got a load I mostly have a load sensor
on it
and they'll tell you how much they're
loading in there so that's this is a
30-ton 830 ton capacity there so I'll be
able to monitor that on my screen for
this I don't believe Jake's loading me
full he's just gonna maybe do four or
five in here just as an example
so once you get that horn neutral back
in the drive parking brake off I am
pulling forward
so kind of the area know where you're
going for a target we're actually just
putting a large pile here that we're
gonna be pushing out later so ideally
you don't want to raise that bed at an
angle you know the more it's articulated
machine so the more angles you're at
with this the more risk you could have
on this thing tipping so I'm gonna put a
neutral put in reverse I'm gonna back up
a little bit I got my backup camera and
then neutral usually I recommend putting
a parking brake on so now I'm just gonna
pull this back it'll start raising its
where again you can give it some
throttle
watching a dump in the mirrors and I can
also look right off my camera that'll
show me below once it's all the way up
you know generally it's always it is a
good idea to lower it with parking brake
on but a lot of times you want to pull
away with some of that material so it
falls off foots on the brake
take the parking brake off put it it's
gonna alarm at you let you know that's
still up but if I Drive forward a little
bit again I can raise this if I did want
to go up higher I can get any material
out of there and then I'm going all the
way down you definitely don't want to
start doing any turns or any maneuvers
while that's coming down it's one thing
to inch forward slowly to pull away it's
a whole other thing if you're trying to
turn and you're obviously your center of
gravity is a lot higher there it's all
the way down I have no alarm and I can
start driving forward
and I'll Park it right here put it in
neutral
obviously make sure that parking brake
is always on that keeps your machine
from rolling at all this off let it cool
down for a little bit about 30 seconds
or so we'll shut that off
three points of contact getting out
well that's our Komatsu off-road haul
truck hope you guys enjoyed this again
by no means are we experts you
definitely want to check the manual but
I'd also be interested here in to your
comments feedback so please comment
below if you run one of these things
full-time might have some good tips or
suggestions thanks a lot for tuning in
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