LGP Eddie

Jack, just buy yourself a Tractor and Trailer. The country is full of them doing NFG transport of all kinds, and you’ll be able to get a kid to drive it to save a bit more.? Eddie.

Close enough for Steve Foster Cranes. Eddie.

What’s the base machine? Eddie.

According to Shaun Rototilt UK are Dealers for the Multi-X range. The setup shown is around £500, and it sold well into double figures of couplers at the Demo which shows what people are thinking of it. I know from bitter experience one single screw in 3/4 port in my Ec-Oil connection block is £300 a pop to replace! Eddie.

They do loads of sizes/options, and even electrical kits. Personally I’d be doing a bit of legwork and seeing who’s doing them in Scandinavia, as they really do utilise these an almost every install. They’re readily available and I’ve seen stands full at the shows in Sweden. Been a bit of behind the scenes push back going on in terms of the current ridiculous pricing of parts from Tiltrotator manufacturers, what a bit of Google, e mail and a few calls can achieve is staggering! Multi-X Range | CEJN WWW.CEJN.COM Eddie.

It’s all in the details and despite this being the most popular way of installs in Scandinavia and seen over here on Loader Tractors for some time they haven’t really caught on yet. However with the cost of fully automatic quick couplers like Ec-Oil and Oil Quick plus the ridiculous price of parts for them, this Multi-X coupler offers a real alternative to getting your Tiltrotator unit off in seconds with no drama. It was able to be disconnected and connected with the machine running, only the electrical plug above to complete the task. It did set me thinking what a difference this could make to the usual Arb/De-Veg setups, where residual pressures in pipes and leaking fittings can produce all sorts of hassles. Going from Shear to Grab could be seconds of a job with no hassle whatsoever. Shaun is absolutely delighted with the upgrade and it’s made a real difference. Eddie.

That’s the Turret not the ring, it could be kept narrow to enable it to get back down to 1100mm wide with tracks retracted. No saying it doesn’t flare out at the ring to give a larger bearing surface.

Some nice setups, the Komatsu Pc30 is absolute full spec, Tracking and Blade functions are on the joysticks via proportional rollers. Kubota Kx57 just as quick as ever. Couple of lovely Volvo Ec140’s Big one for me was the Takeuchi TB290 with Two piece boom and Tiltrotator. Fair setup, way faster and much smoother than I remembered the Kubota, good power and huge cab. However it’s all just too much for it, I had my machines, cut, lengthened and widened in the track frame and fitted with 900mm tracks. I was able to use all the performance through 360 degrees, this would even pick itself up over the end if provoked, and cross carriage wouldn’t be for everyone. Goes under the has all the potential, needs a trip to Scotland to unleash its full potential! The bit you never see, but this is where the money goes, the worm drive. Eddie.

Brilliant day at the Rototilt Demo. Plenty of kit to try, experienced operators with their setups and I got to scratch a few itches in terms of machines I’d hoped to catch up with. Rototilt not shy with the catering or goodies for anyone attending, and fair play to them for putting on such a great event. If you can get tomorrow, well worth it. Takeuchi Tb225 was actually bigger than I’d somehow anticipated, was handling the Rototilt R1 with ease, even though this version had the removable gripper cassette installed. Running off the twin auxiliary circuits of the Takeuchi, with a changeover from Tilt to Gripper, it represented a brilliant towable package, and I liked it. Main downside is the expanding undercarriage that requires straight beams to function and this reduces clearance dramatically over traditional X frame undercarriage design. Big machine that slims down to 1100mm and clearly capable of some serious work. The Rototilt adds another dimension, and credit to Takeuchi it was brilliantly controllable via the standard pipework and proportional rollers in the joysticks. Eddie.

Just a heads up that Rototilt are putting on a Dig Day event tomorrow and Saturday, right off the M1 in Northampton. The list of machines does include a few favourites for Arb/De-Veg and my good mate Shaun Gratton will have his Komatsu mini there which are a pretty rare tool. The Takeuchi TB290 is a Two Piece Boom model for those that have never experienced what a difference this geometry brings. Going myself to try a Takeuchi Tb225 with the Rototilt R1 on, has to be a right up there combination for anyone needing a towable solution. Eddie.

Farmer ain’t having one, but the Estate Manager is going to look cool with his arm out the window of it.??

Doesn’t matter what they turned out, there’s no money in trying to put 5 years warranty on a 20k version built to be dogged to destruction by the average hill farmer. Take 20k more off someone who will use it basically as an executive van at worst. They’re all just opinions at the end of the day.

Yes, the 2.2 just lost that bit of low down torque, but it’ll go well enough. If I wanted more from it, it’s a simple process, and in many respects that’s still the appeal for many, you pay the money and you can have what you want.

Yes they can all be made something different, but out of the crate, a 2.4 and six speed is on another level. Not only in engine/gearbox, the updates and convenience packs made a real difference to daily use. The 2.2 is just gutless by comparison.

Had them one after another in series and worked them hard. 300tdi would have a special fondness, but nothing comes close to the 2.4. I’m talking standard vehicles, with money they can all be made something completely different.

Guy on Twitter in the Plant job, built his own and is now starting up doing them by the look of things. He must think there’s something in it, but from my experience with machines, boy there’s going to be some legwork to do and wankers to deal with! Eddie.

I’ll second that, ran a Farmi 260hfc with conveyor and it was happiest on a 120hp Valtra. Larger tractors didn’t add anything apart from twisted lemon tubes! You can run them on 540, and you’d undoubtedly do something even with 50hp, but not really a matched productive setup. As for conifers it wouldn’t be the best, they have a habit of wrapping material around the feed rollers, easy to eliminate when you have the feed conveyor and can reverse it all out, but I’d imagine a nightmare by hand. Not taking anything away from the Farmi, I had great success with it and wouldn’t hesitate to purchase if I needed another. Eddie.

Not my thing obviously, and looking like a total shit storm brewing, but how will this impact the one that always puzzles me as an onlooker. How many ropes will you now need to ride the crane hook legally? Eddie.

The Terex Duck got sold and seems to be giving good service to it’s new owner from the images he posts up. Quite easy to end up there if it was John Craig’s Kx57 Demonstrator around the show circuit, and could just be someone snapped it up to move on. Simply posted it up as it’s a relevant machine package to many guys here. I’d assume most would do their homework before any deal especially anything e bay. Eddie.

It’s almost certainly John Craig’s Demonstrator Machine that I posted up before it was sold, looking like it’s had a few bits added. I could be wrong but a call to John at JCC Engcon should find out who’s it is. Eddie.

Kubota kx057 excavator engcon tiltrotator ex demo WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Kubota kx057 excavator engcon tiltrotator... Might do someone a turn.

Generally accepted is if you want to utilise the grab for assisted felling type work and not just handling, put 40 degrees of angle on it. Obviously if you have the facilities nothing better than a bit of trial and error until you get it just how you want it. I use three pin pickups at 90 degrees to have the best of both worlds. Eddie.

Depth helps to grab a bit of extra reach, angle makes it easier to crowd the head vertical closer in. Eddie.

So many options now where do you start? Quite simply what do you want from a Shear? Do you want it to cut and 100% Hold for safety, or are you happy to have a small percentage of material get away from you? What do you intend to cut and where are you mainly cutting? Sounds daft but if you’re on clearance work you’ll literally want everything off at the bottom end of, for Farm type work a lot is trimming or topping. How much much manipulation do you want? You can have a fixed Shear that will do an awful lot, especially if you’re just hitting everything at the bottom, but there’s a huge choice of ways to give more angle of tilt of even 360 rotation. Collector? Do you do a lot of small material you wish to gather together for easier handling after, and reduce the need to slew, drop and return from every tiny piece. Weight? Load chart legal or simply does it feel ok and crack on, everyone will have an opinion on how different machine/shear combination will feel when operated. Price/parts? At the basic end you literally shouldn’t have to pay a huge amount to get some serious productivity and literally no parts should be required. Go to the top end, simply eye watering price and if the rotate shits itself, seriously long faces all round! Dealer? You happy enough for it to land on a Pallet, have someone to pipe it and do the essential pressure test to get it dialled in 100% or do you want the full service of a site install. Training/Guarding, only joking what’s that all about, crack on and post your biggest cut up on Instagram, but extra marks for door/front and top window open!? Here’s my own personal list: Cut and Drop only, you’ll never beat the Exac-One cutting unit, it’ll go way over rated capacity with absolute ease, great manipulation and can process stuff brilliantly in the right hands. TMK, I really rate them, so many options including the automatic collector, and you can get rams to properly suit the pressures you have. Essential these are setup on the machine with a Pressure tester. Hans Habbig, expensive, top quality, average in terms of cut capacity, but fantastic in terms of safe hold. Intermercato, the T-Cut have really moved these on, you can now cut either side of the blade, they give a large grab area and are absolutely bombproof build even if you may need to carry spare blade bolts. I sell these and guys love them, but I don’t own one as my work is more specific. Westtech, the ‘C’ series Westtech are hugely expensive for a reason, they’re top quality, will cut anything you can get in them, but you’ll pay if you break it! These are ones I’ve used enough to comment or own/sell, there’s so many more but the dark horse is 100% the Terra Tech. If you want in at the bottom biggest cut for you cash, I don’t think you’ll beat them. I’d say they combine Exac-One type cut where you’ll pinch a bit more than capacity easily and should hold as well as a Westtech. So many out there, if it works for you that’s all that matters. Demo/Hire to buy your shortlist of prospective Shears. Ask lots of questions about Rotators if fitted and Warranty of them. Do yourself a favour, budget for a bit of guarding, ( Yes I 100% agree that most decent Ag/Forestry fabricators can do a better job than factory Excavator items, don’t get hung up on it being tested, at least sit yourself behind something properly constructed than nothing) and keep the door shut, you’ll only bend one once and it’ll cost a lot! Eddie.