I work as a quality/compliance manager in the mobile crushing equipment industry. I review every machine handover before it reaches a customer—roughly 60 units per year, plus 200 or so related documents. In 2024, I rejected about 9% of first deliveries. Usually because of incomplete records or missing safety labels, not because the crusher itself was broken.

This checklist is for anyone about to accept a Kleemann mobile jaw crusher, impact crusher, or cone crusher—especially the EVO2 series. I use it when a machine arrives on site, and I've used it long enough to know what gets skipped.

There are seven steps. Step 4 is the one most people skip.

The 7-step handover checklist

Step 1: Confirm the machine identity

Match the type plate and serial number against the purchase order. Check the engine serial number too. This sounds obvious, but I have rejected a handover where the machine in front of me was a demo unit, not the new unit in the contract. The paint was right. The serial number was not.

Use terms from ISO 21873-1:2015 when you write your handover notes. That standard gives you neutral language for mobile crusher terminology and commercial specifications. It makes a later dispute a lot less messy.

Step 2: Paperwork first, before you start lifting hatches

If the machine is new and CE marked, the file must contain a Declaration of Conformity. This document is required under the EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. It should list the exact model and serial number. If it doesn't, stop.

Check the operator's manual language and maintenance book. I'd rather spend 10 minutes explaining what a lockout/tagout point is than discover later that the manual is in the wrong language for your crew. An informed customer asks better questions and makes faster decisions.

Step 3: Walk around the outside before you open anything

Look for transport damage: dents on hopper edges, scratches around tie-down points, cracked welds on the discharge conveyor frame. Check hydraulic hoses for chafing. Check track pads, sprockets, and idlers for unusual wear. If the machine has been washed, a clean surface can hide a small leak—look for fresh residue around fittings.

This is not a 10-second lap. Use a flashlight and run your gloved hand along bracket edges. What I mean is a slow walk: undercarriage first, then crusher housing, then all conveyors. That's it.

Step 4: Safety guards, labels, and emergency stops—the step most people skip

Buyers can spend an hour on the engine and miss a missing emergency-stop label. Test every emergency stop on the control panel and remote. Check guards on belt drives, flywheels, and discharge conveyors. Check that lockout/tagout points are marked and accessible.

Why does this matter? Because a machine without a guard is not a complete machine. EN 1009-3:2020 is a useful safety reference for mobile crushing plants. If the supplier works outside Europe, they may not build to that exact standard, but the physical logic is the same: if you can touch a moving shaft, it's not safe.

In our Q1 2024 audit of 12 handovers, we found three machines with safety labels in the wrong language. A German-built machine can arrive with German labels. For an English-speaking site, you want English or international pictograms. Don't assume the dealer swaps them automatically.

Step 5: Fluids, filters, and lube points before first start

Check engine oil, hydraulic oil, coolant, and fuel for contamination. If a machine has sat on a dealer lot for months, condensation can collect in the hydraulic tank. A dipstick can look fine until you wipe it on a clean cloth and see a milky trail. That's water.

Check the grease points and central lubrication system. This sounds basic, but I have rejected a handover where a lubrication line to the crusher bearing was dry. The machine started fine. The bearing was another story.

Check the hours meter and service records. If the maintenance book is missing, that's a red flag even on a 'new' machine.

Step 6: Cold start and control checks

Start the machine when it's cold, not after the dealer has warmed it up. Watch the start sequence. A healthy EVO2 controller runs a self-test; it should not fire a wall of alarms as soon as the battery key turns.

Test every function: track travel forward and backward, feeder speed, main conveyor start and stop, and the emergency stop on the remote. Test the remote range from the distance you would actually use it. I said 'included in the package.' They heard 'available as an option.' The machine arrived without the remote-control kit. That mismatch cost us time and a separate invoice.

Step 7: Run a short material test, or at least a no-load run

If the handover site allows it, run at least 15 minutes of actual feed through the crusher. Watch belt tracking, listen for vibration, and check that the product size matches the crusher setting. This is not a production test. You're looking for obvious faults.

In my first year, I made the classic specification error: I assumed 'hourly throughput' meant the same thing to every vendor. It doesn't. Feed material, moisture, closed side setting, and screen configuration all change the number. That lesson cost us a $22,000 redo and a two-week delay.

If the supplier quotes a throughput number, ask what feed material and setting they used. I still kick myself for not documenting a vendor's verbal fuel-consumption promise. If I'd gotten it in writing, we'd have had clear grounds when the actual number didn't match.

Common mistakes after the walkaround

Don't sign the handover report before the machine is running. Period. I've been on handovers where the buyer signed because the machine was late and the crew needed to keep moving. That's how small problems become expensive ones.

If a dealer says 'we'll fix it later,' get it written on the handover report with a date. Otherwise, later means after the warranty clause expires.

The most frustrating part of handover inspections is how often the same issues reappear: missing labels, loose fasteners, incomplete files. You'd think a big-ticket crusher would arrive complete. Final assembly and transport remove that assumption.

A service manager named Eddie once told me to do handover checks before breakfast. Not because the machine changes after lunch—because your patience does. The whole checklist should take under two hours if the paperwork is ready. That's faster than a redo, a delay, and a customer conversation you don't want to have.

If you're a first-time buyer, you don't need to become a mechanic. You need a checklist and a supplier who treats a question as normal. If you ask me, the handover is part of the product. When a checklist feels routine, the machine is more likely to be right.