Tilt rotators on excavators

[Big J]

Why does hardly anyone use tilt rotators in the UK? 

 

I'm reasonably handy on a digger, having dug out many forestry tracks, but only in the UK and only with 'dumb' excavators with direct mounted buckets.

 

In nearly 1.5 years living in Sweden, I have yet to see an excavator without a tilt rotator, with most equipped with a grab on that rotator too. Watching theIt jm work, it quickly leaves you with the impression that to not have a rotator would be insane. 

 

It just seems very odd.

[topchippyles]

Price would be a massive factor i would have thought. 

[monkeybusiness]

It’s down to the numb way the plant hire industry is set-up in the UK - a 13 tonne excavator with 3 buckets and an agency driver costs x per week, there is no appreciation of efficiency gains so there hasn’t really been any incentive for machines to be up-spec’d by hire firms as they won’t get their investment back from hire rates.

Tiltys are gaining traction over here now (I’ve got 2, and I know plenty of other people with them) but it tends to be owner-operators who invest and benefit from the increased efficiency on price works and ability to use the machine for a lot more than just digging square holes. 

[John Shutler]

9 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

Price would be a massive factor i would have thought. 

it depends whether you can see beyond that.

I'm on my second machine with a tilt rotator and wouldn't go back

[Big J]

38 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

Price would be a massive factor i would have thought. 

 

I guess so, but you'd see big efficiency gains, meaning you can charge more. Also a lot less annoying to operate. 

 

When I had the Vimek with the tilt rotator grab, it was just brilliant. Going back to a normal swinging, non-tiltable grab afterwards was awful.

 

28 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

It’s down to the numb way the plant hire industry is set-up in the UK - a 13 tonne excavator with 3 buckets and an agency driver costs x per week, there is no appreciation of efficiency gains so there hasn’t really been any incentive for machines to be up-spec’d by hire firms as they won’t get their investment back from hire rates.

Tiltys are gaining traction over here now (I’ve got 2, and I know plenty of other people with them) but it tends to be owner-operators who invest and benefit from the increased efficiency on price works and ability to use the machine for a lot more than just digging square holes. 

 

27 minutes ago, John Shutler said:

it depends whether you can see beyond that.

I'm on my second machine with a tilt rotator and wouldn't go back

 

Glad to hear you're both getting on well with them. 

 

I have even seen 2t machines with them. They don't even seem to consider using a digger without one.

 

The other thing which seems incredibly efficient (and I'm pretty sure it's illegal in the UK) is for wheeled excavators to run (often tipping) trailers. Coupled with tilt rotators, they are versatile machines for all manner of road work, reducing the staffing costs due to reduced machine requirements.

[monkeybusiness]

26 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

I guess so, but you'd see big efficiency gains, meaning you can charge more. Also a lot less annoying to operate. 

 

When I had the Vimek with the tilt rotator grab, it was just brilliant. Going back to a normal swinging, non-tiltable grab afterwards was awful.

 

 

 

Glad to hear you're both getting on well with them. 

 

I have even seen 2t machines with them. They don't even seem to consider using a digger without one.

 

The other thing which seems incredibly efficient (and I'm pretty sure it's illegal in the UK) is for wheeled excavators to run (often tipping) trailers. Coupled with tilt rotators, they are versatile machines for all manner of road work, reducing the staffing costs due to reduced machine requirements.

Yeah, for some reason that’s not allowed over here. The Scandinavians are light years ahead of the UK with this type of mechanisation. 

[Slicer Dicer]

All depends on application though. They're pretty expensive which is fine if the work warrants the extra efficiency but for alot of bulk forestry/agri work etc they are of little benefit, in some cases a hindrance and therefore no point paying for a machine equipped with one. 

[Slicer Dicer]

Also having been to Sweden many times. They will bring in a 16 ton duck with a tilty to dig over some flower beds. The amount of council work done there where they have used a sledgehammer to crack a nut so to speak is impressive but not always  necessarily terribly efficient in my eyes🤣

[doobin]

It’s the cost. They are silly expensive. 
 

I went down the route of purchasing mini loaders rather than tiltrotators for my diggers and I reckon that’s made me a lot more profit. If I only did excavations it might be a different story. 
 

tilty prices have gone mad in the last few years. At the end of 2019 I had a quote from engcon for an ec02 and top hitches to share between a 2.7t and 1.7t- see pic. Nearly 9k for the unit, two top hitches and three buckets. That would now cost you around £15k. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 
 

after three years of waiting, I’ve finally picked one up second hand. £3k. Great you say. But adding three buckets and a two top hitches is another £4k, and then I’ve got to spend a bit more and a lot of sweat and workshop time converting any ‘standard’ buckets I want to use in the future, as everything needs to be s30 hitch, even if direct mounted to the top hitch. Should have just bought it in 2019! Easy to say that, but 9k in machinery in 2019 seemed a lot more expensive than it does now post covid and inflation. 
 

plus that price was for an ‘ss1’ control system, whatever that is. This secondhand tilty I’ve bought is a ‘dumb’ tilty just with four pipes- although it does have the ports through its slew ring for a grab plus it has a hydraulic hitch which is good. 
 

I can see why people just buy a new digger on finance with engcon fitted and a bucket set on the finance too! This had better be worth it. 
 

I specced both my e27 and e19 to be optimised for both a grab and rotator and possible future tiltrotator when I bought them. Twin auxiliaries with joystick rollers, extra counterweight each and a short dipper on the e19. If anyone is thinking about a new digger but not wanting to commit to a tiltrotator just yet, think about how you spec it would be my advice. At the very least start off with an s-type hitch and buckets. Wish i had! I share an oddball pin centre between all three diggers, if it has been s30 I’d have saved a few k in time and hassle now. 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by doobin

[lux]

46 minutes ago, doobin said:

It’s the cost. They are silly expensive. 
 

I went down the route of purchasing mini loaders rather than tiltrotators for my diggers and I reckon that’s made me a lot more profit. If I only did excavations it might be a different story. 
 

tilty prices have gone mad in the last few years. At the end of 2019 I had a quote from engcon for an ec02 and top hitches to share between a 2.7t and 1.7t- see pic. Nearly 9k for the unit, two top hitches and three buckets. That would now cost you around £15k. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 
 

after three years of waiting, I’ve finally picked one up second hand. £3k. Great you say. But adding three buckets and a two top hitches is another £4k, and then I’ve got to spend a bit more and a lot of sweat and workshop time converting any ‘standard’ buckets I want to use in the future, as everything needs to be s30 hitch, even if direct mounted to the top hitch. Should have just bought it in 2019! Easy to say that, but 9k in machinery in 2019 seemed a lot more expensive than it does now post covid and inflation. 
 

plus that price was for an ‘ss1’ control system, whatever that is. This secondhand tilty I’ve bought is a ‘dumb’ tilty just with four pipes- although it does have the ports through its slew ring for a grab plus it has a hydraulic hitch which is good. 
 

I can see why people just buy a new digger on finance with engcon fitted and a bucket set on the finance too! This had better be worth it. 
 

I specced both my e27 and e19 to be optimised for both a grab and rotator and possible future tiltrotator when I bought them. Twin auxiliaries with joystick rollers, extra counterweight each and a short dipper on the e19. If anyone is thinking about a new digger but not wanting to commit to a tiltrotator just yet, think about how you spec it would be my advice. At the very least start off with an s-type hitch and buckets. Wish i had! I share an oddball pin centre between all three diggers, if it has been s30 I’d have saved a few k in time and hassle now. 

 

 

You’re really stretching the excuses for not taking your missus on holiday for another year mate 😉