Heavy Equipment Names: 30 Machines Every Construction Worker Should Know

Construction and agricultural sites are full of machines, and their names can be confusing. Here is a quick-reference list of the most common heavy equipment, what each machine does, and where to learn more.

Earthmoving

1. Excavator: digs with a bucket on a boom and arm, on a 360-degree rotating house.
2. Mini excavator: an excavator under about 6 tonnes for small sites.
3. Wheeled excavator: an excavator on rubber tyres that can drive on roads.
4. Bulldozer: a tracked tractor with a blade for pushing soil.
5. Motor grader: fine-grades roads and surfaces with a long blade.
6. Wheel tractor scraper: cuts, carries and spreads soil.
7. Trencher: cuts narrow trenches with a chain or wheel.
8. Drill rig: drills blast holes in rock.

Loaders

9. Wheel loader: scoops and loads material onto trucks.
10. Compact wheel loader: a small articulated loader.
11. Backhoe loader: a loader at the front and a digging arm at the back.
12. Skid steer loader: a small, highly manoeuvrable loader that takes many attachments.
13. Compact track loader: a skid steer on rubber tracks.

Hauling

14. Articulated dump truck: an off-road truck that bends in the middle.
15. Mining truck: a giant rigid-frame truck for mines.
16. Site dumper: a small hauler for construction sites.

Lifting and access

17. Mobile crane: a road-going crane with a telescopic boom.
18. Crawler crane: a tracked crane for the heaviest lifts.
19. Tower crane: the tall crane on building sites.
20. Telehandler: a telescopic forklift for rough terrain.
21. Forklift: lifts pallets on a vertical mast.
22. Aerial work platform: scissor and boom lifts that raise workers.
23. Concrete pump: pumps concrete through a boom or pipeline.
24. Material handler: lifts scrap and bulk material with grapples.

Road construction

25. Cold planer: mills off old asphalt.
26. Asphalt paver: lays new asphalt.
27. Road roller: compacts soil and asphalt.
28. Mobile crusher: crushes rock and concrete into aggregate.

Agriculture and forestry

29. Tractor, combine harvester and forage harvester.
30. Harvester and forwarder: fell and carry trees in cut-to-length forestry.

For definitions of the terms used on spec sheets, see our heavy equipment glossary.