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4. Check the air filter daily. Clean it as needed. "If you don't check it you usually will cause damage to the engine," Gallert says. "If you can't get air to the engine the engine heats up and that causes an engine failure of some type."

5. Check radiator fins and make sure they're not clogged. "Debris or material caked in them will make the engine run hotter," says Juan Quiros, product support manager for Multiquip. "It could overheat to the point where it shuts down, you wait until it cools, then add fluid and you're good to go. Or it could overheat to the point where it damages the engine bloc in which case you're looking at a significant expense."

6. Add fuel at the end of the day. Brooks says fueling the roller at night reduces the likelihood of condensation in the tank. Quiros adds that filling the tank at the end of each day assures greater productivity the next day. "If you don't check, and you don't check in the morning, you might have to stop in the middle of a job if the roller runs out of fuel," Quiros says.

7. Grease moving joints and bearings. "If you have moving parts and you don't grease them, they're likely to fail. It's one of the things everyone knows but often don't do," Gallert says.

Brooks agrees most contractors neglect greasing articulation joints and the steering cylinders. "If these points are not greased, the bearings will need replacement much sooner than they normally would," Brooks says. "The bearings should last for years, but if they're not greased, they could wear out in a year or two. The bearings are expensive, so they should be taken care of."