Every excavator relies on a handful of components that determine how well it operates day to day (and whether you’re dealing with downtime or smooth sailing). Those parts include the hydraulic pump, final drive, swing motor, control valves, and undercarriage components like track rollers and idlers.
In this article, we’re going to walk through each part, explain what it does, and help you spot early warning signs before something breaks. If you’re running equipment on-site or managing a fleet, partnering with a leading supplier makes sourcing reliable parts far easier.
Let’s start with the hydraulic pump, which powers nearly every movement your excavator makes.
Hydraulic Hoses and Fittings
Hydraulic hoses fail more frequently than almost any other excavator component because they’re constantly flexing under extreme pressure, exposed to abrasive debris, and subjected to temperature swings that degrade the rubber over time. You know what? Most operators don’t realize a hose is compromised until it ruptures mid-job (which usually happens at the worst possible moment).
Here’s what typically goes wrong:
- Abrasion and external wear: Hoses rub against the machine frame, bucket linkage, or other metal surfaces during normal operation. As a result, gradual wearing through the outer protective layer is found until the reinforcement cords are exposed and the hose bursts under pressure.
- Age-related degradation: Even hoses that look fine externally can fail because the rubber compound hardens and cracks over time, especially when exposed to UV light and extreme temperatures that accelerate chemical breakdown in the material.
- Improper installation and routing: When replacement hoses are slightly too short or positioned with sharp bends, they experience stress concentrations that lead to premature failure. According to our observation, it is often within weeks rather than the expected service life of several years.
According to Gates Corporation’s hydraulic maintenance research, hydraulic system failures cause 80% of heavy equipment downtime, with hose failures being the primary culprit. Pretty annoying thing, right?
Don’t wait for catastrophic failure, by the way. What we suggest in this circumstance: replace hoses at the first sign of cracking, bulging, or external damage. Most problems can be prevented through proper routing and regular inspection to keep your machine operational and avoid costly downtime.
Filters: Engine, Fuel, and Hydraulic
Next up, we’re going to cover the filters that keep your excavator’s vital systems running clean and prevent contamination from destroying expensive components.
Most operators underestimate how much damage microscopic particles can do to high-pressure systems (especially when those systems operate at 3,000 PSI every single day).
Unfortunately, some buyers don’t care about it as well. The thing is, filters are the first line of defense between your excavator and premature component failure.
Let’s break down the three filter types you need to monitor closely.
Engine Oil Filters
Engine oil filters remove contaminants and metal particles from your engine oil to prevent wear on internal engine components. Without proper filtration, abrasive debris grinds against bearing surfaces and cylinder walls, accelerating wear and reducing your power plant’s service life.
Quality filters trap particles as small as 20 microns before they circulate through the system. Changing your engine oil filter at manufacturer-recommended intervals (typically every 250-500 hours) protects against the kind of internal damage that leads to costly rebuilds.
Fuel Filters
Fuel filters trap dirt, rust, and water before they reach your injection system, protecting the high-pressure fuel pump and injectors from damage. Modern common-rail fuel systems operate at pressures exceeding 30,000 PSI, where even tiny contaminants cause catastrophic failures.
We’ve seen operators skip a $30 fuel filter change only to face a $5,000 injector replacement three months later (along with several days of lost productivity while waiting for parts). That’s not all, either.
Water in diesel fuel accelerates corrosion inside precision components, making regular filter changes non-negotiable for anyone running equipment in humid or dusty environments.
Hydraulic Filters
Hydraulic filters catch microscopic particles in your hydraulic fluid that would otherwise cause premature wear on pumps, cylinders, and valves. As we mentioned before with hoses, hydraulic system failures account for 80% of heavy equipment downtime.
Most hydraulic filters need replacement every 500-1,000 operating hours, depending on work conditions. Excavators operating in sandy or dusty environments will need more frequent changes, as airborne particles inevitably find their way into the system through rod seals and breathers.
Bucket Teeth and Pins
Bucket teeth and pins are the fastest-wearing parts on your excavator, and having spares means you can replace them during lunch breaks instead of losing half a day waiting for parts to arrive. From what we’ve seen across hundreds of job sites, this is where operators get the best bang for their buck in terms of preparedness (especially when you’re working with abrasive materials that accelerate wear).
The wear pattern depends heavily on what you’re digging. If you’re working in rocky soil or breaking through compacted clay, teeth can wear down to nubs in less than 200 hours, while softer ground might give you 400-500 hours before replacement becomes necessary.
Most experienced operators replace teeth when they’ve lost about 50% of their original length, well before they become completely ineffective and start damaging the bucket adapter underneath. What’s more, worn pins can allow excessive movement in the tooth assembly, which accelerates wear on both the tooth and the adapter (turning a $30 fix into a $200 problem).
Moving on to inventory strategy, keep at least one complete set of replacement teeth and pins on hand for each machine. That way, when a tooth snaps off mid-shift, you’re swapping it out in ten minutes rather than shutting down operations until the parts supplier opens tomorrow morning.
Track Shoes and Bolts
Have you ever had to shut down a job because a broken track shoe made your excavator impossible to move safely? It happens more often than you’d think, and the damage adds up fast (both in lost productivity and emergency repair bills that could have been avoided with better monitoring).
Track shoes and bolts wear differently depending on terrain, and here’s what you need to watch for:
- Bolt loosening: Frequent in high-vibration applications, leading to track separation
- Shoe cracking: Starts at stress points, accelerates in rocky conditions
- Thread stripping: Happens when bolts are over-torqued during installation
- Missing hardware: One loose bolt can cause catastrophic track failure
Like we said before with bucket teeth, catching these problems early turns a quick fix into a scheduled maintenance task instead of an emergency shutdown.
Most operators don’t realize that a single failed track shoe can damage multiple adjacent shoes and the master link assembly during continued operation (turning a $200 repair into a $2,000 problem overnight).
Inspect bolts weekly and keep replacement shoes and hardware kits on hand, because waiting for parts when your machine is immobilized costs far more than the inventory investment.
Electrical Components and Fuses
Electrical failures account for a surprising number of excavator breakdowns because vibration, moisture, and corrosion constantly work against your machine’s wiring and components, yet these are some of the easiest and cheapest parts to keep in stock.
According to Construction Equipment research, equipment downtime costs construction companies an average of $300,000 per year, with unplanned maintenance accounting for 42% of total downtime.
Here’s what should be in your electrical spares inventory:
- Fuses and relays: A complete assortment costs about the same as an hour of lost productivity, but keeps you running when a circuit overloads during startup or operation.
- Electrical connectors and terminals: These corrode rapidly in dusty or humid conditions, causing intermittent failures that are frustrating to diagnose (and even more annoying when you don’t have replacements on hand).
- Wiring harness sections: Common failure points near articulation joints, where repeated flexing causes wire fatigue.
Test connections regularly with a multimeter, and protect exposed terminals with dielectric grease to extend their service life and prevent corrosion-related failures.
How to Store Your Spare Parts Properly
Now that we’ve covered which parts to stock, let’s talk about how to store them so they’re actually usable when you need them. We’ve all seen the toolbox where someone tossed a hydraulic hose in with loose bolts and filters (and then spent twenty minutes digging through everything to find the right part during a breakdown).
Poor storage ruins parts before you even install them. Rubber components like hoses and seals degrade faster when exposed to direct sunlight or temperature extremes, while metal parts develop surface rust in humid conditions that can compromise their fit and function.
Group similar parts together in labeled bins or drawer systems, keeping hydraulic components separate from electrical parts to prevent contamination. Store filters in their original packaging until you’re ready to use them, because exposure to dust defeats their purpose before they’re even installed.
Climate matters more than most operators realize, especially for hydraulic and rubber components. Ideally, parts should be stored in a climate-controlled space between 10-25°C with moderate humidity levels, though a clean, dry shed beats leaving them in an open truck bed where they’re exposed to weather and temperature swings that accelerate deterioration.
Stock Smart, Stay Running
We’ve covered the spare parts that will save you the most time and money when things go wrong on the job site. According to Plant Engineering’s maintenance research, preventive maintenance and proper parts inventory management can reduce equipment downtime by up to 50% (which translates directly into more billable hours and fewer emergency repair bills).
So, start with the high-wear items we discussed: hydraulic hoses, filters, bucket teeth, and track components. Then add electrical spares and storage systems that protect your investment. The upfront cost of a well-stocked parts inventory pays for itself the first time you avoid waiting three days for a critical component to arrive while your excavator sits idle.
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