Construction vehicles are machines used by humans to facilitate various types of work, such as the construction of buildings, the movement of large materials, the cleaning and compaction of land, and the excavation of soil for certain purposes.
Construction vehicles are generally very large in size and specifically designed to handle work that other project vehicles cannot.
So it can be said that this Construction vehicle is very useful to help the agricultural sector, development projects, mining, and construction.
What are all the types of construction vehicles?
The following are various types of Construction vehicles complete with explanations and functions.
Excavators
Excavators are construction vehicles used to dig and move (load and unload) a material made from earth, coal, sand, and others but it is also commonly used for various purposes such as heavy lifting, demolition, dredging, logging, etc.
This excavator is in the shape of a long arm whose end is like a scraper bucket, then there is also a part of the operator’s machine cab and it runs on crawler wheels.
The entire layout of this cab can be rotated up to 3600 to facilitate operation in the field.
Backhoe
The backhoe is another type of construction vehicle that is widely used for various purposes. The name “backhoe” itself indicates that this vehicle consists of a hoe arrangement placed at the rear, while the dredge bucket is provided at the front.
This vehicle is especially useful for digging using a “hoe” under the rear of the machine and using the front loader for activities such as unloading and lifting material.
Bulldozer
Bulldozer (batcher) is another type of soil digging equipment that is used to remove topsoil to a certain depth. Generally, the ground lift is done with a wide metal plate with a sharp point at the front. The plate can be lowered and raised employing a hydraulic piston.
The bulldozer itself can be divided into two parts based on the wheels used, namely, wheel dozer and crawler dozer. Both are commonly used to help work in swamps, lift rocks in the topsoil, or make piles of material.
Grader
Motor graders are construction vehicles often used in construction, especially for road construction. This vehicle is also called a soil grader because its main function is to level the surface of the ground.
Motor graders are specially designed to have a horizontal blade between the front and rear wheels where this blade can be lowered to the ground while working. While the operating cab is available on top of the rear axle arrangement.
Grading machines are generally used for various purposes, such as removing snow or dirt from the road, leveling the ground surface before installing the asphalt layer, removing unnecessary layers of soil, etc.
Trencher
Trenchers are a type of construction vehicle that is commonly used for digging dirt and it is available in two types, namely chain trenchers and wheel trenchers.
This machine is generally used to excavate earth for pipe laying, cable laying, drainage purposes, etc. However, for the excavation of layers of soil that are considered very hard, the use of wheel trenchers is considered more suitable.
Dragline Excavator
Dragline excavators are a type of construction vehicle used in open pit mining projects and civil engineering. This vehicle consists of a long boom (large frame structure) and a digging bucket that is hung from the top of the boom by a cable.
In general, this dragline excavator can be used to help carry out port construction, underwater excavation, sediment removal in water bodies, etc.
Loader
This loader machine is generally widely used in construction sites to load various materials into dumpers or trucks. The materials can be in the form of excavated soil, demolition waste, raw materials, etc.
A specially designed loader has a large bucket at the front with a shorter swing arm so it can move large amounts of material.
The way it works is by lowering the bucket in front of the material and pushing it so that it is full of material, then the tractor will back up and start lifting the bucket to the dumpsite.
Cranes
A crane is a construction vehicle used for lifting purposes in the construction of tall buildings. Heavy materials such as concrete blocks, steel or iron structures, as well as construction equipment are difficult to move by human force both vertically and horizontally.
The crane consists of a pylon that is the vertical support tower, an arm that is the operating arm of the crane, a counter jib that is another arm that carries the counterweight at the rear of the crane, and an operator’s cabin where the crane can be operated.
There are several types of cranes, such as:
- Tower crane
- Mobile crane
- Hydraulic crane
- Crawler crane
- Overhead crane
Read more: Types of tower cranes
Wheel Tractor Scraper
Wheel tractor scrapers are a kind of construction vehicle used to level the ground surface by scraping. Therefore, this scraper machine is widely used to cut slopes of dams or embankments and can also be used to level roads.
The front of this vehicle is similar to a wheeled towing vehicle, while the rear contains scrapping devices such as horizontal blades, conveyor belts, and a hopper for collecting dirt.
So when the horizontal bar is lowered to ground level and the vehicle starts moving, the blade will start digging/scraping the dirt to collect it into the hopper via the conveyor belt. When the hopper is full, the rear is lifted off the ground and the hopper is discharged into the chute.
Asphalt Paver
An asphalt paver or paver is a construction vehicle used to spread asphalt material to be evenly distributed in road construction.
So in this construction vehicle, there is like a feeder bucket where the asphalt material is continuously loaded by dump trucks and evenly distributed or spread on the road surface with little compaction.
However, for the finishing stage of the road construction process, the help of a roller vehicle is needed to carry out more perfect compaction.
Rollers
The roller or crossbow is a construction vehicle that is used to compact the material or the soil surface. There are different types of rollers available for different compaction purposes, some of which are:
- Smooth-wheeled rollers, for compacting shallow layers of soil or asphalt.
- Sheep-foot rollers, for compacting deep or thick layers
- Pneumatic tired rollers, for compacting fine-grained soils, asphalt layers, etc.
Telescopic Handler
Telehandlers are construction vehicles used in construction to lift heavy materials to required heights or to provide construction platforms for workers.
This vehicle contains a long telescopic boom that can be raised or lowered and can be customized with forklifts, buckets, cabs, lift jibs, etc. according to the requirements of the position.
Dump Truck
Dump trucks are a type of construction vehicle used on construction sites to transport large amounts of material from one place to another or the landfill.
These off-road dump trucks are shaped like trucks with very large wheels and tailgates that allow them to transport large amounts of material in a variety of terrain contours.
Feller Buncher
Feller Bunchers are construction vehicles used to cut down large trees in the area to be built.
As for this vehicle, they can fell trees and collect them without felling them, and collect all the felled trees in one place which facilitates the work of loaders and dumpers for the next process.
Pile Boring Machine
Pile drilling equipment is commonly used to drill holes in construction sites for the installation of precast piles or ground nails.
Pile Driving Machine
Another construction vehicle used for driving piles on construction sites is pile driving equipment. This vehicle is used to lift the post and hold it in the correct position and push it into the ground to the required depth.
The various types of pile driving equipment available are
- Piling rigs
- Piling hammer
- Hammer guides
So the way it works, the pile will be pushed to the ground by hitting the top of the pile, which is done either hydraulically or by dropping it hard.
Boom Lift
Boom Lift is a type of construction vehicle that is used to carry workers to a certain height to do their work. This vehicle is in the form of a wheeled vehicle with a long arm at the end of an iron pass box for standing workers.
The lift arm is operated with a hydraulic system so that it can lift workers to the desired height.
The various types of construction vehicles mentioned above are widely used with different functions. In addition, there are several world-renowned construction vehicle manufacturers such as Hitachi, Komatsu, Caterpillar, Doosan Infracore, Volvo, etc.
