Regular Maintenance Matters for Your Ready Mix Truck Drums
Look Out for the Drums You Rely on.
Your ready mix truck fleet is the backbone of day-to-day operations, helping your crew complete projects efficiently, keeping customers satisfied and increasing the likelihood of repeat business. But between transporting heavy loads, turning to keep material fresh and navigating everything from tight job sites to long hauls, your fleet faces demanding conditions. Over time, that takes a toll.
Hardened concrete that accumulates along the inner walls of your ready mix truck drums reduces capacity, adds strain and can result in lags or halts in drum rotation. Mechanical issues can also enter the mix, resulting in slowdowns or breakdowns that hit bottom lines and project loads hard. This is where concrete chipping becomes invaluable.
By incorporating consistent drum maintenance into your workflow, you not only protect your ready mix truck investment, but also ensure safer, smoother and more productive workdays for your entire team. Here, General Chipping’s concrete chipping pros offer a look at what it means to take a thoughtful approach to drum care. Let’s dig into how regular maintenance helps keeps downtime at bay and costly repairs to a minimum, and tips for ensuring your trucks remain ready to roll.
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Chipping Concrete: Why it Matters and How the Process Works
Chipping concrete from the walls of your ready mix trucks is essential to maintaining a safe, efficient and properly functioning fleet. Every time a drum mixes and transports concrete, a small layer of material remains inside. And what begins as a thin coating can quickly become thick, hardened buildup after repeated loads. As this accumulation grows, it reduces the drum’s usable capacity, meaning a truck rated to carry 10 yards of material might effectively handle far less. This directly impacts productivity, often requiring more trips to deliver the same volume of material.
Buildup can also affect the integrity of your poured material. When concrete can’t move freely inside the drum, it becomes difficult to achieve quality blends. In addition, dried material can break away from the drum wall and become incorporated into the blend. As a result, crews may wind up with lumpy pours, inconsistent texture or material that fails to perform as expected once it reaches the job site.
Finally, as we’ve mentioned, maintenance is important for your redi mix trucks and drums themselves. The heavier the buildup, the harder your drum has to work to rotate. This places strain on hydraulic, mechanical and structural components. Eventually, the stress can lead to expensive repairs or mixer replacements.
Chipping concrete from your drum walls on a quarterly basis helps keep your fleet healthy, your blends serving you well and your work on track. Here’s how the process typically unfolds.
Trained crews enter your ready mix truck drum through the hatch, wearing full protective gear and carrying handheld pneumatic jackhammers.
During overnight shifts — typically 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. — crews use their jackhammers to strategically break away hardened concrete, section by section. Overnight shifts are ideal, as they allow your fleet to remain available during peak operating hours. If noise restrictions or local considerations require alternative timing, however, your crew should be able to accommodate such needs.
Chipped material is ushered outside, and crews haul off the debris for disposal, concrete recycling or reuse. Afterward, the interior of your drum is significantly lighter, safer and better prepared for upcoming work.
At the same time your crew is chipping concrete from your drums, they’re oftentimes cleaning your silos and central mixers, too. This helps them look after your system as a whole.
Why Hire Concrete Chipping Companies as Opposed to Letting Your Crew Handle the Work?
Although the concept of chipping out hardened concrete might appear straightforward, the work is far more complex — and far more dangerous — than it seems. Trained concrete chipping companies are the only ones who should ever handle such maintenance, as it exposes workers to risks such as confined space hazards, unstable footing, airborne dust and flying debris. One wrong move can result in serious, even life-threatening injury.
Professional concrete chipping companies follow strict safety protocols to mitigate risks. Crews are equipped with PPE such as eye and face protection, gloves, steel-toe boots and respirators, and they undergo specialized training in drum entry, tool handling and confined space ventilation. Beyond protecting themselves, experienced concrete chippers know how to protect your equipment. They’re familiar with drum contours, blade configurations and mechanical components that must be protected during the cleaning process.
Reputable concrete chipping companies also offer additional advantages. Professional crews can identify early warning signs of mechanical issues, structural fatigue or safety concerns that your team may not recognize. This proactive insight can help you address minor problems before they escalate into major — and often expensive — equipment failures. Partnering with trusted experts ensures not only safety, but efficiency, consistency and long-term savings.
Concrete Chipping Tips for Smarter, More Streamlined Maintenance
A proactive and organized approach to concrete chipping helps keep your fleet running smoothly while minimizing downtime and cost. Because demand for professional chippers is often high, and because ready mix truck drums benefit most from routine care, planning ahead can dramatically improve your maintenance experience. Here are some tips to help streamline the process.
- Book in Advance: Getting maintenance on the calendar weeks or months ahead of time helps secure your preferred time slot and avoid express chipping charges related to last-minute scheduling. At General Chipping, we recommend booking a full year’s worth of appointments at once!
- Communicate with your Concrete Chipping Company: Before your appointment, educate them about issues that might impact their work — anything from equipment placement to site access and known issues with your redi mix truck drums. This helps your crew approach your appointment in the safest, smartest manner possible.
- Combine Appointments: Pairing concrete chipping service with silo cleaning and central mixer cleaning helps protect your entire system while also saving you time, as everything gets completed at once.
- Ensure Easy Access: Remove obstacles and clear debris that might prevent crews from reaching your redi mix trucks. Position vehicles in a way that facilitates the work.
- Maintain a Recurring Chipping Schedule: Don’t wait for buildup to become problematic. Consistent maintenance helps reduce wear, streamline appointments and keep costs predictable.
- Document Service Dates & Recommendations: Making note of when chipping appointments occurred and what — if any — service recommendations your concrete chipping companies make can help support long-term maintenance planning.
These simple but impactful steps can help you avoid express chipping fees and take a more effective approach to maintenance — all while helping you look out for the long-term health of your fleet.