Unit Group

7312 Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics

Heavy-duty equipment mechanics repair, troubleshoot, adjust, overhaul and maintain mobile heavy-duty equipment used in construction, transportation, forestry, mining, oil and gas, material handling, landscaping, land clearing, farming and similar activities. They are employed by companies which own and operate heavy equipment, and by heavy equipment dealers, rental and service establishments, and railway transport companies and urban transit systems.

Example Titles

construction equipment mechanic
diesel mechanic – heavy equipment
farm equipment mechanic
heavy equipment mechanic
heavy mobile logging equipment mechanic
heavy mobile mining equipment mechanic
heavy-duty equipment mechanic apprentice
heavy-duty equipment technician
locomotive mechanic
tractor mechanic

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Main duties

Heavy-duty equipment mechanics perform some or all of the following duties:

• Check bulldozers, cranes, graders and other heavy construction, agricultural, logging and mining equipment for proper performance and inspect equipment to detect faults and malfunctions
• Diagnose faults or malfunctions using computerized and other testing equipment to determine extent of repair required
• Adjust equipment and repair or replace defective parts, components or systems, using hand and power tools
• Test repaired equipment for proper performance and to ensure that work meets manufacturers' specifications
• Clean, lubricate and perform other routine maintenance work on equipment
• Service attachments and working tools such as harvesting and tillage equipment, blades, ploughs, winches and side booms
• May perform repair work on heavy trucks
• May attach components and adjust new farm equipment.
• Heavy-duty and farm equipment mechanics may specialize in specific types of machinery such as combines or tracked vehicles, or in engine overhaul, power shift transmissions, fuel injection, hydraulics or electronics.

Employment requirements

• Completion of secondary school is usually required.

• Completion of a three- to five-year apprenticeship program
  or
  A combination of over four years of work experience in the trade and some high school, college or industry courses in heavy equipment repair is usually required to be eligible for trade certification.

• Heavy-duty equipment mechanic trade certification is compulsory in Quebec and Alberta and available, but voluntary, in all other provinces and the territories.

• Farm equipment mechanic trade certification is available, but voluntary, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

• Interprovincial trade certification (Red Seal) is also available to qualified heavy-duty equipment technicians and farm equipment mechanics.

Additional information

• Progression to supervisory positions is possible with experience.
• Red Seal trade certification allows for interprovincial mobility.

Classified elsewhere

• Construction Millwrights and Industrial Mechanics (Except Textile) (7311)
• Motor vehicle diesel engine mechanics (in 7321 Automotive Service Technicians, Truck and Bus Mechanics and Mechanical Repairers)
• Supervisors of heavy equipment mechanics (in 7216 Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades)