ABSTRACT
Mobile plant is generally considered to cover the civil engineering contractors’ plant — tractors/bulldozers (both rubber-tyred and caterpillar-tracked), scrapers, graders, cranes, cable and hydraulic excavators, air compressors, dump trucks and fork lift trucks. Items of mobile plant are virtually all powered by diesel engines. The diesel engine although more expensive in initial cost, offers considerable fuel economies. Apart from its inherent improved fuel consumption compared with other types of engines, the fuel used is exempt from the considerable taxation levies on all petrol and diesel oil for road transport use. In mobile plant the drive line covers practically every engineering device. The lubricants may be specified by brand names or by specification or description. In a plant depot there will certainly be a variety of oils specified by the various makers of the items. However it is possible to simplify the requirements in many cases by consultation with the oil supplier.
