LGP Eddie

Some images of a superb JCB Hydradig setup and this really demonstrates the ridiculous situation we have in the UK at present, being one of the few markets that can’t legally tow a Trailer behind Wheeled Excavator. It’s a tiny piece of legislation that’s genuinely holding back progress. Full Tiltrotator equipped Wheeled Excavators are ultra versatile, and need their attachments with them. As for braking, couplings etc, it’s all there for other markets, tested and proven, ready to go. They should be allowed to carry attachments only, and materials whilst within the confines of a site or closure. Towing fixed axle Plant like a Compressor or even Powered Chipper should be included, but not Plant on Trailers to keep things simple and prevent abuse. Lovely setup. Eddie.

For those that haven’t seen the Denis Cimaf Head, what actual sharps can do, or see some great footage of how a VT Motor simply holds in longer and spins back up instantaneously, even on standard carrier machines, this is a great video. The simple fact is it’s not going to like ploughing in the ground or smashing the back out of Rhodie roots you’ve turned over. It is however the closest to having a chipper on the end as you’ll get. We figured, one of these in first to clear the way to just above ground, making a very easy job for a Tracked Skidsteer following which hate standing trees, would be a really productive team. The FAE, with sharps is as close as you can get whilst still able to do a reasonable amount of ground engagement for an all round machine. Oh and that Petrol Grinder they give you!?? Eddie.

Simplest answer is the Variable Torque Motor is always trying to get the maximum from the flow available itself, no settings to make, just give it what you’ve got in terms of oil from the carrier machine. The bit to be concerned with is it holds on an awful lot longer when in material by producing more torque, and this translates into the ability to almost eliminate a stall situation when operating. However if you do pull the head speed right down, the recovery time is literally instantaneous, which all put together over the course of a shift make a huge difference. I waited a couple of weeks to get my version and had to put a very good client who I was part way through a large Rhodie clearance on hold. However once the new Head was Installed with VT Motor they came to me after around three days and said if we didn’t actually know you’d switched the head on the machine, we could accuse you of tossing it off on your last visit, such is the production increase! This was actually install day, first time this had ever been done through Ec-Oil with no hoses or wires to connect. It had doubters but went on and is still performing perfectly to this day. The doors are controlled by the rollers in the Joysticks that normally do the Tilt and Rotate, with the actual Mulcher activated via a latching on/off button on the Joystick. Its actually only being fed here from a tiny bit of flow that’s coming from the feeder valve for the Engcon unit to activate the door, but you can see/hear how crisp it is. Totally different when you turn her up flat out and press the actual joystick button for full flow, it really flew then! Still be a good setup today.? Playing for the camera!? Eddie.

I've run fixed carbide on tractor mounted mulchers but I've had a few people say and probably rightly that the size machine we are running won't cope with fixed teeth as takes a lot more power. If I was going 8ton class I'd definitely go solid but don't think a 2.6 will be up to it even going steady The most essential thing these days I’d to try and spec a Variable Torque Motor. I had a straightforward 30 percent increase in productivity when switching from standard, literally night and day. Eddie.

In that application you can’t beat having something fixed and preferably sharp. I’ve always run sharps in preference to carbides, it’s the old saying you’d not try and cut wood with a hammer when you have an axe, and I suppose you could say you wanted that axe to have a good solid shaft, not broken with the head flopping about, hence Fixed tooth. The closest I suppose you could get to a chipper on a machine is the Denis Cimaf type setup, but everything contacts something it shouldn’t at some time, and those really sharp teeth aren’t going to like it! I found on my FAE I would get around 60 days on a set of the sharp teeth including reversing them. They give good performance throughout and then went on to cut any grass etc through the summer perfectly when absolutely blunt. All this is based on Excavator with Mulcher Heads where you have limited power to play with and can come down on the material and minimise ground contact. Carbides are essential in most other carriers due to the amount of ground engaging they do. If he was running Y flails then yes they’ll be a lot less effective than some good heavy boot flails. Eddie.

Video from my friend Matt out in the USA, showing a comparison between his regular Flail and Fixed tooth Mulcher on his 5 tonne Kubota setup. A really nice touch on the Fixed tooth Mulcher is an small Hydraulic Thimb setup on the back of it which is ideal for moving material about. You can see the difference Fixed tooth brings in such applications, also the fact they show a lot more face to the material makes it easier to cut down tops or work your way into things like Rhodies. One thing I always found, when you work your way down to what is generally the point of refusal, and then have to start taking stabs for the last bit, between allowing the rotor to spin up, go down lower and work upwards on the side of the material to reduce its diameter and then come down on it again. This helps prevent the long strands splitting off as you’re working on something solid. Again the larger face or opening door of the Fixed tooth type allow this, where a Flail you’re stuck with nibbling straight down. https://youtu.be/9123UzXn6Es Eddie.

Just get a Unimog and use that magic legislation dissolving white diesel in it!? This has taken some time, but finally Gregor McArthur and John Craig came together to install my new Mecanil SG280 Felling Head. I’ve run someone else’s Mecanil for them on all sorts of carriers, and done a lot of work in getting tweaks/mods sorted, eventually getting them Factory done into this latest version for myself. This setup is done so it runs through the SVAB Joysticks in the cab, no additional pedals or buttons are required to be installed, which transmits via radio remote to the head, allowing continuous 360 Operation. It would of had a top quick hitch and the whole setup done through the Engcon Ec-Oil system so I didn’t even need to get out of the cab to install it, but experience has shown, you mainly leave the head on for long periods, the weight saving is essential on this carrier machine and it’s about the equivalent of changing a breaker on a JCB 3cx in terms of time, so no real hassle. Hopefully this combined with the Engcon/TMK setup it already has, should make it a fair weapon. Eddie.

This really is little bigger than a Transit, certainly a nice solution. Eddie.

Do the necessary and enjoy doing the job in comfort instead of dragging the arse out of a pickup with some trailer that’s never been maintained since the day it was built. Not for everyone but an impressive compact solution. Eddie.

Yes I believe it’ll carry 3.5 and tow 3.5. It’s size was something done in a nice colour could, with a dropside and flat floor kit, could literally be a daily drive too. Eddie.

I should have written down all the various weights John quoted me for this Iveco, it certainly had me scratching my head, that this thing no bigger than a double cab Transit was ok for carrying 3.5 tonne? Apparently it’s legal with a U35 Kubota on it! Fair setup.? No it’s not got a fifth wheel onto that trailer! Eddie.

Yes the Tracks have been lengthened. It’s been built to a very specific spec as I wanted it to be exactly 2.9 metres wide with 700mm pads and rubber blocks for roadside work, so no movement order required making transport cheaper and more convenient. Its going to put setups twice the money in the shade Roadside with 13 metre reach, Engcon and TMK with Turbo Ram and Collector coming together to produce a very fast setup for smaller material. There’s another completely different setup for it being fitted today that will give it another dimension altogether. When in full LGP mode with the 1200mm pads it works out just under 3.4 metres wide which is basically the same as my previous Kobelco. Experience has shown that’s the maximum you’d want to go to for a balance of ease of transport and generally accessing gates etc. To achieve this and better vision working over hedges/fences or down slopes it’s had a 9” lift too. You sit higher in this than the Liebherr with the cab down. John and his team have done a fantastic job given the exacting spec and no there’s really little tolerance to play with! Credit to Adrian at Cabcare for producing me a one off Certified Cab Guard for the JS145 with a top section of the front screen grille that can be unbolted for an unobstructed view when on Bucket work. Eddie.

Just a snippet that shows John Craig at the controls dialling in the Engcon Ec209 with the SVAB controls. This actually has the latest Intermercato TG25 SR5 Grab, specced by myself and converted to Ec-Oil by Jcc Group for a no hose solution. I was really torn between which grab to spec on this unit as weight is a major consideration, but this has turned out nicely. I’ll be keeping an eye on it as I’ll probably supply this to people who want a grab for the 6 tonners or a cheaper/lighter option for an 8. John really has the unit flying now! Eddie.

John took good time to setup the TMK300 which is running through the Engcon Ec209 unit via Ec-Oil, so a no hose solution. Took a fair bit of dialling in which was an eye opener, so maybe not just a case of plugging one in and go, or if you’re running one under a Tiltrotator, take the time to get your chosen installer to pay a visit with pressure gauges to dial it all in correctly. There’s a couple of great videos from a Dealer in America that explain how the TMK with collector works and a guide to setting up the timing. Once the larger portion of the Turbo Ram was coming into play, it really did deliver a blow. I’d expect that it’ll do something like 4 to 5” on the smaller/faster stroke and from what I’ve seen pretty much anything you can get in it, once the bigger portion catches up. The fact it collects automatically is fantastic compared to something like a Westtech, you just choose when to drop the bundle, press and hold the button whilst you open the jaw. Should be a real quick setup and bunch up that awkward small stuff nicely for the following chipper. Eddie.

Had a rough few weeks on the kit front, so a very welcome sight when I visited JccGroup’s yard today to see my latest build in the flesh. She’s not new, but a really nice JCB JS145 Long Reach with only 330 hrs. Loads of spec on it and a few more to go, but certainly looked the part and the initial shakedown on attachments showed it’s going in the right direction. Eddie.

Not cheap, but a rare one. Make some setup out of this. https://www.mascus.co.uk/construction/used-midi-excavators--7t---12t/takeuchi-tb290/oqwnmqsd.html Eddie

Never got around to a Trailer when I had my Kubota's but a lot of the Scandinavian guys use this method for tipping, usually just a loop of heavy wire rope. Eddie.

Get the lad on it and pay him a fair rate, but find a way he does a few and then you have a sit down to negotiate the final price per net. The lesson for him in actually weighing up all the variables and how he values his time is priceless experience at that age. Nice to hear hear the lad is keen to work and earn. Eddie

Yes absolutely, but it’ll end up more of a prove your compliant or your not coming on type situation for many, once there’s more actual clarification of what Clients should be looking for. Eddie.

I just wanted to give a very simple example, I’ll use a Doosan Dx140LCR as these are very popular carrier machines. This is in the standard UK type 700mm track pads and 3mtr Dipper configuration, and the load chart is showing the capacity at maximum reach over the front and side. Basically we’re just looking for the lowest figure. Remember this is with absolutely nothing, not even the bucket pins, so you’d have to factor in having a quick hitch and pins subtracted already from these figures. So basically a quick look gives us the lowest figure of 1670kg at 7.45 metres of radius over the side. Take a quick hitch from that and let’s call it 1600kg for easy figures. A Westtech c350 without head Bracket in full spec is: Yes without head bracket it’s already outside the carrier machines capacity at 1620kg in full spec. If I give you an alternative to show how it simply needs a larger carrier, this is the chart for a Liebherr 920 Compact that would be the next class up so to speak. Basically depending on actual configuration as Liebherr list 4 options, the 920 Compact will give 2100kg at the very least, actually 2300 in the spec you’d have it at 7.4 metres radius over the side. A quick jiggle with subtracting a quick hitch, top bracket and the Westtech c350 in full spec, basically gives me 500kg of capacity in that Shear at the same reach assuming I spec the Liebherr in the 2300kg configuration. Fairly obviously come an incident, you’re totally shafted with the Doosan setup in standard form. Obviously you can all dust off your own brochures or download most online to see for yourself on different configurations. I hope this shows what’s being looked at and why. The figures are there, the options for a solution are many and varied, but mostly involves either simply fitting a smaller/lighter Shear, taking the machine in a different configuration with shorter arm, wider pads etc, or the addition of more counterweight. Eddie.

So pleased you asked as basically a grab used on an Excavator is a Lifting Operation, and yes I see no reason as to why should something happen under the present rules, not having a correctly specced/certified setup or some form of lift plan couldn’t be applied to a roofmount collecting timber. It’s more about how the setups are specced, so you put a Tiltrotator on an Excavator and convert a heavy old Selector Grab to use under it. You could end up with 50kg of capacity to go to work with! This is where the changes are required, and to make full use of that capacity you really need something like the Prolec to give you real time information of what’s being picked up. If you knowingly send a machine with only 250kg of capacity in its configuration to load lumps of 1000kg and it’s lying on its side, then it’s obviously not going to end well. With regard to Forestry I’d say they’ve by default got their own house in order? The purpose built kit is always well on top of the task, is rarely fitted with aftermarket accessories, and once that Tree is down and into product, everything down the chain is working nicely, well with it’s design limitations. Obviously legislation is already in place to ensure it was correctly specified at manufacture and is tested on a regular basis. The use of something like a Truck with Hiab and Grab to collect Arb material is increasingly common, we’ve all done it and yes I see no reason why such setups won’t escape. It’s a lifting operation, often some big old lumps and a lot could go wrong. Again it’s not going to stop anyone, just measures in place to ensure it’s a safe operation. In such instances you could probably simply use a load cell to check out anything that’s near limits, and it’s not a huge task to cut a piece off compared to putting a Truck back on its wheels. I keep going back to the Unimog, because this is exactly the situation we are in now with Shears and Grabs on Excavators. You can fill your boots until it actually goes wrong, the legislation is already in place, they’ve managed to stay under the radar because on the whole most at the front line have been doing a pretty good job. However they’ve spread to the masses and now flagged up big time on the radar. We haven’t a trade association that can pull guys together to formulate a best practice, so it’s inevitable that guys who sit outside the true new industry that has sprung up will be involved. Mention trees and everyone thinks ask someone in Forestry. Couldn’t be further removed from your average high compliance Tree Shear applications. I know it’s going on because a few different people have reached out and said, you do a bit of this, what’s your take on it. It would be nice to get some interested parties together to see if a straightforward best practice and guidance for setups and their operation could be formulated by those doing the job, rather than have it pushed on us by guys who’ve never done a shift at it. The Demolition Industry does exactly this, they almost legislate themselves and guide the HSE as to best practice for the operation of some setups that make the average Excavator and Tree Shear look pretty insignificant. Eddie.

I wasn't knocking the idea, like I say someone always has to go first and the solution is already there, tested/proven on the sliding axle fast tow forwarding trailers. Those were a few of the obvious pitfalls I could see, but who knows it may be a fantastic success? In the good old days you could build it yourself, but I'd assume this would involve some form of testing on the trailer, so could be costly going first. Eddie.

Probably a whole new thread, but most look on here with an interest in all things Excavator and Tree work related, and I just wanted to give a general heads up that the honeymoon is really going to be coming to an end very shortly on the whole explosion of their use in such work. Probably some welcome news for guys that have seen there use erode traditional methods, but whilst I predict it's going to be an awful lot more difficult to spec and use such setups, they're never going away, such is their safety and productivity when used correctly. How do I know? Basically things are hotting up behind the scenes on two fronts, with many interested but not quite fully joined up parties exploring these aspects, and it's only time now before it all gets rolled out. It's time a few in the industry had a pot of tea somewhere to formulate a sensible case to argue back when it all breaks cover, in the likely event it all gets over the top. The Operator card scheme is classic example, nobody was ready for it being rolled out, and look at the mess it's got us in now! Just a heads up for anyone currently running or speccing an Excavator and Shear at present. First is the whole cab guarding issue, it's not gone away, it'll be here soon enough, and expect once some guidance arriving, if you're onto any of the more compliance orientated applications, expect them to go straight to wanting to see something tested on the front and top of the Cab. Not a lot of solutions out there, Cabcare cover some not all, they're not 100% focused on this application, but I expect they'll gear up a lot more if anything comes forward to insist on it. The second is the whole Tree Shear and is it a Lifting Operation debate? No point anyone arguing, the going has been good a long time now, and it was only a matter of time before someone said hold on what's this all about? It can always be argued that how do you know how much you're lifting until you've cut it? The reply would be leave that Shear firmly on the floor if you can't prove it can safely handle the task. Some argue it's not a lifting operation, but the HSE take the view that a Grab or even Magnet suspended from an Excavator is a lifting device, and will require a lift plan for it's operation. Basically it's all being looked at, no prizes for predicting the outcome, it's going to be a Lifting Operation, you're still obviously going to be able to use Shears on an Excavator, but there's going to be a fair bit more paperwork and costs involved. It'll require a lift plan by someone competent, and I'd reasonably expect that to include some calculations as to the maximum size of tree/limb section you can cut with the specified setup etc. Basically a proper survey of the site etc, and possibly even a someone working with the machine to ensure it's not going outside what has been identified as safe. As for the actual Excavator and Shear, things are going to change, as you'll need a Prolec or similar on almost all to get your full capacity throughout the whole working envelope, and base carriers are obviously going to get a lot bigger in relation to the Shear. The current crop of 14 tonne class machines running 350 Westtech or copy of them Shears that take them outside the load chart with just the Shear and quick hitch alone, are going to be looking for much lighter alternatives. The Shear will have to state it's SWL and be tested on a regular basis under Loler, obviously the Excavator can carry a Shear with an SWL more than it's capacity, but this will have to weigh in under the lowest rating on the duty chart, plus leave enough capacity to lift what the load plan has identified. The current situation of Shears on machines that are outside what the Excavator can lift on it's duty chart before anything is even lifted has obviously been the catalyst for all this, and some inexperienced guys simply refusing to take a top out, before going in at the bottom to minimise the risk hasn't helped. Big lumps in Shears look great, but not when the back track is 2ft off the ground! You could go down the route of using Prolec etc to restrict radius to gain more capacity, but the reality is you're just going to be putting bigger carriers under Shears going forward. Don't shoot the messenger, it's exactly the same as the bit I wrote about Unimogs the other day, some will comply, some won't whilst there's good money to be made, the difference here is that it may not just be the cab bars you're having your tea behind if you want to have a bad day out with the HSE and a big book! Eddie.

It could be done pretty straightforward with an adjustable sliding axles setup similar to the fast tow forwarding trailers that have exactly the same issues of nose weight whilst empty. The additional benefit is you can bring the axles right forward to make it easier to manoeuvre for access. Standard 750kg class Chipper on the drawbar and bin on the back. Self contained 3.5 tonne unit, I’d estimate around 2 tonne of chip capacity? Custom build, unknown resale, could be a clumsy lump? Who knows, someone has to go first sometimes. My thoughts would be it can’t be that hard to simply move up a weight class on the towing vehicle to stay traditional setup and carry the extra chip required. Eddie.

I tried them up at Wilsons and thought them brilliant. Much easier if you’ve multiple operators, as anyone coming from an Excavator will get on with them straight away. They would make a massive difference to a decent length shift. Eddie.