A daily inspection on an excavator takes about ten minutes and runs in the same order every morning: one loop around the machine on the ground, a look at the cab before you climb in, then a function test before the first dig. Done in that order it catches the faults that stop a machine for a day, and it costs nothing but the ten minutes.

This guide is the tracked-machine version of that walk. The fluid levels and leak checks are the same on every machine on site and are already set out in our construction equipment service schedule. What follows is the part that belongs to an excavator specifically: the slew ring it turns on, the pins in the front, the coupler holding the bucket, the tail that swings behind you, and the undercarriage it all sits on.

What is a daily inspection on an excavator?

It is a fixed walk-round done before the first start of the day, by the operator, with the engine off and the machine on flat ground. Not a form to sign. A look and a feel at about twenty points, in a set order, so that nothing gets missed on a morning when the site is in a hurry.

The order matters more than people expect. If you start the engine first, you can no longer safely put a hand on a pin or look under the machine, and the two faults that hurt most — a loose coupler and a cracked pin boss — are both found by hand and eye, not from the seat.

One rule sits above the whole list. If you find something that affects lifting, slewing or holding the bucket, the machine does not work until it is fixed. Everything else can be noted and watched.

What do you check walking around the machine?

Start at the front left of the machine and walk anticlockwise, so you finish where the steps are. Slew means the turning of the upper body on top of the tracks, and the slew ring is the big toothed bearing it turns on.

Where you stand What you look at What a problem looks like
Front, at the bucket Bucket teeth, side cutters, the coupler lock Missing or loose tooth, lock pin not fully home
Front, at the arm Boom, arm and bucket pins and their retaining bolts Shiny wear marks, grease leaking out black, a missing keeper bolt
Either side, at the rams Cylinder rods, the polished steel that slides in and out Scoring, pitting, a wet film of oil on the rod
Either side, low Tracks, rollers, idlers, and mud packed inside the frame Track hanging slack, packed mud, a roller wet with oil
Rear Counterweight bolts, the tail, engine covers Loose or missing bolts, a cover that will not latch
Centre, under the house The slew ring and its grease, drips on the ground Dry or rusty teeth, fresh oil where the machine stood

Two of those deserve a second sentence. Packed mud inside the track frame is not cosmetic: it forces the track tight, and a tight track eats rollers and chains faster than any amount of digging. Clean it out at the end of the day, when it is still soft. The detail on sag, tension and wear limits is in our excavator undercarriage guide.

The second is pin play. Grip the bucket and rock it. A small knock is normal on a worked machine; a clear clunk with visible movement at the pin means the pin or its bush is worn, and that gets worse quickly once it starts. Grease points and grades are covered in our guide to greasing a construction machine, and the components themselves are named in excavator parts and components.

How do you check a quick coupler?

A quick coupler is the fitting between the arm and the bucket that lets one machine change attachments in a minute instead of an hour. It is also the single most dangerous item on this list, because a coupler that is not fully locked will hold the bucket through most of a shift and drop it during one particular movement.

Check three things, every day, on every machine that has one:

  • The lock pins are fully through. Look at them, from the side, with your own eyes. Do not judge it by the sound of the lever or by a lamp in the cab.
  • The safety catch is engaged, where the coupler has one.
  • Crowd the bucket back and press it down on the ground before you carry anything. If the coupler is not locked, the bucket moves and it does so while pointed away from you.

If your machine runs a hydraulic breaker or a shear on the same coupler, the check matters more, because those tools are heavier than a bucket and they are usually fitted in a hurry.

What do you check before climbing into the cab?

Look at the steps and handholds first. Diesel and mud on a step is how most site injuries on machines actually happen, and it takes ten seconds to wipe.

Then the glass, the mirrors and the cab structure. The frame around the operator is the ROPS, the roll-over protective structure, and it only protects if it is undamaged and properly bolted down. A cracked or welded-up cab frame is a repair for the dealer, not for the site fabricator, because a repaired frame no longer behaves the way it was designed to.

Check that the fire extinguisher is in its bracket and in date, and that the cab door latches open and shut. A door that swings on a slope is a distraction at exactly the wrong time.

What do you check from the operator’s seat?

Sit down and do these before turning the key:

  • Seatbelt. It works with the ROPS, not instead of it.
  • The safety lever, also called the house or pilot lock — the bar beside the seat that isolates the controls. It must lock the controls out when it is raised. Test it.
  • Controls back to neutral, and the travel pedals free of tools, bottles and mud.
  • Mirrors and camera set for where you will actually be working today.

Turn the key to the on position without starting, and watch the dashboard. The warning lamps should all light and then go out. A lamp that never lights is as much a fault as one that stays on, because it means you will not be warned when it matters. What each colour and symbol means is set out in our guide to excavator warning lights, and an air-filter restriction warning is explained in excavator filters.

How do you function-test an excavator before work?

Start the engine and let it idle. A cold hydraulic system is thick and slow, and working a machine hard in the first few minutes is one of the quiet causes of pump wear. Give it a few minutes, longer in a cold-weather district.

Then, with nobody near the machine, test each function on its own at low speed:

  • Slew a full turn each way. It should be smooth, without a knock at the start or a shudder through the turn.
  • Boom, arm and bucket through their full travel. Listen for a change in the engine note and watch for a movement that drifts back down on its own.
  • Travel a machine length forward and back. Both tracks should pull evenly; a machine that crabs is telling you something.
  • Horn and travel alarm. Both, every day. On a busy site these are the only warning a person on foot gets.

Last, before the first real movement, look behind you. An excavator’s tail swing is the part of the upper body that overhangs the tracks when it turns, and it reaches further than new operators expect. Walk the radius once and note what is in it: a wall, a parked pickup, a stack of pipes. Most machine damage on Indian sites is a tail into something that was not there yesterday.

Putting a machine to work this year? Compare live excavator models and prices and ask the dealer what the handover training covers.

What if you find a fault?

Write it down the same morning, with the hour-meter reading. A note that says “small oil weep at boom cylinder, 2,140 hours” is worth something three weeks later when it has become a real leak. A memory is worth nothing.

Then sort faults into two piles. Anything on lifting, slewing, the coupler, the brakes or the ROPS stops the machine. Everything else goes on the list for the next service point, and our service schedule guide sets out when those fall due. What deferred repairs end up costing is worked through in our note on excavator maintenance cost in India.

Owners who rent machines out should ask for the daily sheet back with the machine. It is the cheapest evidence you will ever have about how your machine was treated, and it is what protects the resale price.

Read next

The parts named in this walk-round are described in full in excavator components and how they work. If you are inspecting a machine you are about to buy rather than one you already run, that is a different and much longer check: see our used equipment inspection checklist. For the rest of the range and the guides behind it, start at the excavator guide.

Prices, specifications and features are indicative, vary by variant, location and date, and should always be confirmed with the official OEM or authorised dealer before any purchase decision. DesiMachines is not liable for decisions taken on the basis of information that may have changed after publication.