ForConstructionPros.com

By now, your season is well underway, and your equipment will soon be feeling the long days just as you will be feeling them. Your pavement saws will work particularly hard, cutting out sections of asphalt or slicing through concrete – in many instances with blades turning at better than 2,000 rpms all day long.

You can't do much to lighten the work load for these machines, but you can provide a little tender loving care that will help keep them running smooth the rest of the season.

Grease 'n' tighten

A little lubrication goes a long way, says Kevin Cote, technical field representative for Diamond Products located in Elyria, OH. Diamond manufactures a full line of pavement saws with blade capacities that range from 8 to 54 inches.

"Keeping the blade shaft bearings lubricated is tops on my daily maintenance to-do list," Cote says. "I tell operators of our units to grease these bearings at the end of every work day. They should give each bearing two pumps of grease while the machine is still warm from operation and while the shaft turning over at an idle speed. I say no more than two pumps because over greasing may blow out the bearing seal and ruin the bearing."

Making sure the blade shaft belts maintain the proper tension is important, as well, he adds. "With new saws, I advise operators to run them an hour or so and then retighten the belts without over tightening them, which could damage the belts and bearings. After that, they should routinely check the belt tension until the belts have stretched to their limit.