Tilt rotators on excavators

[doobin]

Got the secondhand unit fitted to the little machine this PM. Hose routings will

be improved in due course, it’s the old users hoses and a few fittings to tee into the existing hydraulic hitch line. So far from perfect but working for now. 
 

[doobin]

Very handy. Years of grab and tilt bucket operation has provided me with the muscle memory for it pretty much straight away. 

[dumper]

3 hours ago, doobin said:

Very handy. Years of grab and tilt bucket operation has provided me with the muscle memory for it pretty much straight away. 

Has it made any noticeable difference to the balance of the machine? Is it on three tonne?

Edited December 8, 2023 by dumper
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[doobin]

8 hours ago, dumper said:

Has it made any noticeable difference to the balance of the machine? Is it on three tonne?

Not really. Obviously you know it’s on there but it’s not terrible.  It’s on a 1.9t with a top hitch.
 

The E19 is already a very wide, stable machine. I knew when I bought it that it would be used on a rotating grab and that I might one day get a tilty, so I specced twin aux, extra counterweight, and most importantly the short dipper option. 
 

I have no experience of tiltys previously, but I’d say you’d be hard pressed to find a better 1.9t carrier machine. The joystick rollers flow share perfectly and everything is second nature. It’s stable and precise. 
 

I’m waiting for a top hitch for the e27 and then I’ll try it on there also. 

[Martin du Preez]

On 20/11/2023 at 19:53, 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.

 

from someone that does groundwork’s as well you can’t necessarily charge more. People don’t see it that way, if you’re on hire they don’t see the benefit, it’s just the uk.

 

a hell of a lot of people do have them in the uk though, or tilt hitch. We’ve got a tilt bucket (scandy style) and does everything for us. The rest comes down to a good op 😉

[dumper]

Martin it’s not all down to rate tiltrotators remove labour from the job and speed it up therefore saving time and leave a more precise job, it just so much more efficient if the operator is good, you really should buy one, time is money

[doobin]

1 hour ago, Martin du Preez said:

 

from someone that does groundwork’s as well you can’t necessarily charge more. People don’t see it that way, if you’re on hire they don’t see the benefit, it’s just the uk.

 

a hell of a lot of people do have them in the uk though, or tilt hitch. We’ve got a tilt bucket (scandy style) and does everything for us. The rest comes down to a good op 😉

Priced jobs is where you’ll make your money back on one. Doing things quicker.  Round holes for round tanks, less concrete. Etc. 

 

people always used to say ‘a good op can do it without’ about anything more than three buckets, but it’s frankly

bollocks and outdated thinking. The UK is so backwards in this respect. Same with loaders. I’m working next door to a building site on this job, and all day there’s been a digger sat at a stockpile of stone loading a dumper every five minutes. I just grab my stone from the stockpile and put it exactly where I need it- the second man on my job has been putting a fence up rather than sat on his arse on a dumper. 
 

My profit levels per job show the value to me in investing in machinery. I can’t stand working for builders on a day rate, they are 99% thick as shit, messy as pigs and my time is better spent elsewhere where I can make a grand a day for a skilled bloke and a machine by quoting the job right and doing it quickly and accurately. 

[doobin]

How much would your average thick as shit builder charge to remove this wall all the way around the perimeter? Including footings? This photo was taken at the halfway point.
 

They’d have a micro digger, a pecker and a tracked barrow. They’d smash it all down with the bucket (animals), peck at the footings and then sit there gouging out buckets half dirt and half concrete, loading a track barrow. Chasing bricks around the grass. Waiting for the tracked barrow. I guarantee the bloke on the tracked barrow would screw it round at the pile every time rather than drive backwards also. 
 

Say two men for the day and two machines. £600? And then two grab lorries- £350 a go around here. That’s £1300. 
 

I pulled it out in chunks with the grab, span around and placed it at the roadside. Where the bricks were too loose I placed the loader bucket right next to them, knelt down the chucked them in in five seconds flat. Then I pulled the footings, and only the footings, up with the grab and placed them on the pile. Called the grab lorry, nipped home for lunch. Got back, stuck the pecker on and easily broke up the large lumps and footings as he loaded it.  Then digger back on trailer and away. Luckily i was already on a job 100 yards down the road, if I hadn’t had the loader there a large bucket on the tiltrotator would have done exactly the same job. 
 

Total time on site 4 hours. One (very full) grab of CLEAN concrete at a much reduced rate of £125. Cost to the customer £850. You can see how little a trench was left where the footings came out (between the rubble pile and the concrete path)
 

cheaper for the customer and a decent rake for me. 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by doobin

[dumper]

Got any video of Tilly working?

[doobin]

26 minutes ago, dumper said:

Got any video of Tilly working?

Don’t have time for videos! Plenty on YouTube.