Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85913
Applications&Innovations Stage 2: Off-season Repairs This stage runs from May through July. "This is when we take on all of the work we couldn't get to in the winter," Tews says. "It's more of the catastrophic failures, for exam- ple when an a plow hit a raised sewer grate causing major damage, or a quick repair was done to keep the equipment running but now an extensive repair is needed. Sometimes an operator continued to use a plow when it should have been dismounted and tagged for repair." Tews cites as an example: "If you wear down past a plow's cutting edge and you're halfway through the cut- ting edge mounting bolts, now you're ripping things apart leaving huge chunks of metal on the ground." This is the time when heavy repairs such as this are done. The agency also begins its detailed inspection for the fall as well as the more intensive "C-level" preventive maintenance (PM). "C-Level PM is where we do the most detailed level of PM, where we inspect everything, all the soft parts and hard parts, and we make sure the oil and filters are changed, check all the belts, hoses, and do maintenance suggested by the manufacturer," Tews says. "We look for any problems that have popped up during the winter. For example, we had mounting bolts on a plow that had start- ed to deteriorate so badly they were falling off. We examine the problem, figure out whether it's a warranty item and how many units are defective." The City of Milwaukee uses same rotating beacon light on its entire fleet to make maintenance and repairs easy, and eliminate the need to stock several types. Stage 3: Getting Ready July is when the City of Milwaukee begins looking at parts contracts and determining whether it has vendor contracts for all the parts it will need during the winter season. "We look at things like cutting edges, all the parts of the salters and all the hardware we are going to use," Tews says. "We start inspecting block heaters for the trucks and order am- ple spare blower motors for the heater systems and defrost- ers. We make sure that we'll have enough on hand." Write 176 on Reader Card. 30 April 2012 Better Roads Write 177 on Reader Card.