TJC Plant Sales is supplying a Wacker Neuson ET65 equipped with the latest in Tiltrotator technology. Construction Plant News reports.
If you’ve decided to convert to the tiltrotator concept then you’re not alone, because it is a piece of equipment that’s been piquing the interest of many an operator of late. Almost all of the manufacturers supplying the UK market are reporting significant growth for a solution that has already reached virtual saturation point in their Scandinavian homeland, where they can now be found on 9 out of 10 machines, and the ambition is to make these time-saving tools just as ubiquitous here.
So just what are the benefits? Being able to dig and grade in a number of different directions without repositioning the machine clearly has an impact on productivity, and they’re virtually essential on rail projects as a result, but a reduction on wear and tear on the machine will also be welcome to owners. Moreover, a groundworks company might well be able to bid for work that they simply couldn’t undertake with their existing machinery.
TJC Sales’s customer, Profusion Environmental, is a company that specialise in the likes of golf construction and remodelling, as well as more general landscaping. The dextrous touch that a tilty affords is ideal for the more complex shapes they’ll encounter on site, whilst eliminating unnecessary movement on what could well be sensitive ground, or in confined spaces, is going to have benefits for the timescale of the whole job, as well as potentially reducing costs on groundworkers.
TJC Sales is a full line dealer for Wacker Neuson, providing, servicing parts and repairs as well as machines, and has already supplied one of the German manufacturer’s 7-tonne ET65 units to Profusion Environmental. Now, that unit is being fitted with a Steelwrist X07, a tiltrotator rated for compact machines from 5 – 7 tonnes. The Leighton Buzzard-based plant sales and rental outfit can itself already testify to an increased interest in the Tilty. In addition to Wacker Neuson, TJC is also a dealer for Turkish excavator, manufacturer Hidromek, and recently fitted a pair of X18 Steelwrists – the best-selling product in the tilty, portfolio and rated for 13–18 tonne – to two 14 tonne diggers.
So just what are the benefits for opting for this Swedish company’s solution? In the first instance the pin to pin build height is the lowest on the market, which means there is less loss of break out force. Despite the fact that Steelwrist claims to have the smallest and lightest Tiltrotator on the market – a crucial consideration in compact machinery – that reduced build height makes it amongst the most powerful.
In this instance the customer had opted for the cheaper and faster four hose installation, but making use of the same manufacturer’s XControl system provides the operator with the freedom to run all functions simultaneously. Not only that but by opting for the latter, joystick wheel or track steering can be incorporated, whilst dozer control can also be ran through the XControl unit. One engineer can complete an installation in five or six hours.
