There is a rapid advancement in the field of heavy equipment technology. Unlike the earlier days now, using global positioning satellite technology, heavy equipment placed anywhere in the world can be checked or diagnosed. Finding the right new equipment suitable is also getting to be a big challenge. With lot of options and features to consider, it will be an overwhelming chore.

Among the heavy equipment, backhoe-loaders are used in small demolitions, breaking asphalt, construction, digging holes/excavating, light transportation of building materials, powering building equipment, and paving roads. To smash concrete and rock, tools such as breakers can be used instead of the backhoe bucket. To empty its load more quickly and efficiently, some loader buckets have a retractable bottom. Grading and scratching off sand is executed with retractable-bottom loader buckets. The front assembly may be permanently mounted or have a removable attachment. Often other devices and tools replace the bucket. In order to mount different attachments to the loader, the backhoe loader must be equipped with a tool coupler.

Bulldozers are heavy equipment but they are also large and tracked engineering vehicles. With the mobility and ground hold given by the tracks they can move through very rough terrain. Swamp tracks in bulldozers are merely extra wide tracks.

The three distinct assemblies of compact hydraulic excavators are workgroup, undercarriage and house. The boom, arm or dipper and attachments such as bucket and breaker are parts of the workgroup of a compact hydraulic excavator. They are connected to the front of the house structure of the excavator via a swing frame that allows the workgroup to be hydraulically pivoted right or left to achieve offset digging for trenching.

Las cosechadoras hoy en día realizan prácticamente toda la tala comercial en Suecia y Finlandia y se desarrollaron en estos países. Las cosechadoras funcionan mejor en terrenos menos difíciles mientras se talan áreas de bosque. En los países nórdicos se utilizan cosechadoras pequeñas y muy ágiles para las operaciones de aclareo.

En los martinetes se incluyen una plancha o un cilindro colocado entre dos varillas metálicas para que pueda deslizarse libremente hacia abajo y hacia arriba. Se utiliza un sistema de poleas para elevar el cilindro, lo que puede implicar el uso de mano de obra, vapor o hidráulica. En los martinetes modernos se utilizan pequeñas explosiones en la cámara para elevar el cilindro.

Una pieza de equipo pesado que se utiliza para el movimiento de tierras en la ingeniería civil es una mototraílla. Una tolva móvil verticalmente en la parte trasera con un borde delantero horizontal afilado realiza el raspado. La subida y bajada de la tolva se realiza hidráulicamente. El borde delantero corta el suelo como un cortador de queso cuando se baja la tolva.