German Quality & Economic Choice

Taking a look back at one of my articles previously published in Earthmovers, unedited and with video footage.

Like many a machine operator over the years, John Wicks (63) came from an agricultural background, having worked on a farm after leaving school. At the age of 18 John took the opportunity to jump in a wheeled digger and “have a go on the levers” in the time-honoured fashion, and quickly discovered he had a passion for digger driving.

Full of youthful enthusiasm he then got a job locally with a groundworks firm and worked his way up through the ranks, before eventually working for another chap operating a Cat 428C backhoe loader. This particular individual eventually decided to retire and in the year 2000 John saw the window of opportunity open for him, this saw him purchase the machine and go out on his own working for Cormac, Cornwall County Council’s own civil engineering division.

John spent the next 15 years on hire to Cormac, which he described as a steady old job with regular good work, but like anything in life, eventually he had just had enough of it and decided to throw the towel in and go back working for somebody else.

For anyone who has had their own business, it is very hard to go back to being employed, something I can definitely relate too. This was the case with John, he quickly realised that working as an employee, wasn’t really for him, so he purchased a second-hand Takeuchi TB175W “rubber duck” and he was off working for himself once again, trading as John Wicks Plant Hire & Groundworks.

A knee injury put John out of action for a short while, but he thought it would be a good time to get an order in for a brand-new Takeuchi TB295W which he promptly did, however after some careful consideration he decided to change the order to a TB290 tracked machine and in his own words, he hasn’t looked back since.

That machine was a cancelled order when it became available and featured a TAB boom, which was going to cost John an extra £2k on the price, having weighed up the pros and cons John decided to go for it, and since then has become a dedicated fan of the TAB boom configuration. This machine was eventually upgraded to a new TB290-2 model, once again specified with the TAB boom, which was most recently traded in for the new Wacker Neuson ET90 Edition B model.

Earthmovers caught up with John and his new mount on a private farm job in Cornwall. The owners show Clydesdale heavy horses so there is always something to be done around the property. John returns as and when work needs to be done, on this occasion he was putting in a track across the fields for the horses, stoning up the main entrance track either side of some concrete slabs, and reshaping the stone drive into the house, a nice first job for John and the new machine.

Having run Takeuchi’s previously one would have thought it would have been a no brainer decision when it came to ordering  another new machine, however, John said it all came down to basic economics at the end of the day, commenting John said, “I priced up for another Takeuchi but I also got a price quotation on the equivalent specced Wacker Neuson from our local dealer M&M Plant Sales, to my surprise the quote for the ET90 provided by Chris Hughes the sales rep at M&M, was £6k cheaper than the Takeuchi, so although I loved my Takeuchi’s I could not ignore the price savings”.

John continued, “I also specified a Geith tilting coupler which I feel offers great benefits for the type of work I do, the last one I had served our last two machines, but this time I decided to invest in a brand-new unit.

The TAB boom is also a fantastic set up, and offers so much more flexibility when working, not only in terms of extra reach, but of course the ability to work close into the machine. When tucked right in the geometry also allows you to work in close quarters on tight job sites, which is always a bonus”.

John said he likes the tilting coupler as opposed to the cost of a tiltrotator, “My way of thinking is that you can’t get any extra money for a tiltrotator to justify the outlay, especially down here where its so competitive, so I think the tilting coupler is a good compromise for me personally”.  

It was early days for John and his new machine when we visited the job site, but he seemed very pleased with his purchase, commenting, “I’m delighted with it so far, its very responsive, smooth and steady in operation, well-engineered and extremely stable during operation, so no complaints or dislikes from me at all at the moment I’m very happy with it”.

John is no stranger to Wacker Neuson products however, as he already runs a 6-tonne class DW60 swivel skip site dumper, which features a fully enclosed and heated cabin, something that is very much appreciated during the all too often wet and cold winter months in Cornwall.

Despite its incredibly modern and stylish look, the ET90 compact mid-excavator has actually been in the Wacker Neuson range since as far back as 2015, and has built up a proven performance track record over the years with large fleet plant hirers and especially owner/operators like John.

Designated the Edition B, this machine is powered by a Stage V emission compliant 4-cylinder Perkins 904J-E28T diesel engine which offers a power output rating of 55.4kw @2400 RPM. Popping the engine bay compartment bonnet reveals a cavernous space, allowing for great access for routine servicing and major repair work when needed.

Perkins engines are now widely adopted across the Wacker Neuson range of machines, and the team in the WN factory in Linz, Austria, are increasingly collaborating with Perkins, most recently on the engine fitted in the new EW100 compact rubber duck.

The Perkins engines are proving to be the perfect match for working with the machines load sensing hydraulic system, providing a great combination of power with smooth and precise operation hydraulics.

A large bonnet on the offside of the ET90 raises up to reveal access to what appears to be a gigantic plastic fuel tank, which has a really neat and quirky moulding built into it to facilitate storage for the electric refuelling pipework, behind that we find the main hydraulic valve block.

At the business end, you cannot fail to be impressed by the beefy looking off-set boom arrangement, utilising strong and almost over sized pins for increased strength and durability. Wacker Neuson’s 3-point kinematic bucket linkage design is another unique feature. The 3-bolt design enables a bucket rotation angle of 200 degrees, which WN suggest is 10% more than a conventional style bucket linkage. This offers more scope for when digging square holes, and enables much more loose material retention in the bucket when for instance, loading high side tippers from ground level at full height. The 3-point design also delivers up to 25% more breakout force in the dig.

The machine came as standard with double acting auxiliary hydraulic lines for running hydraulic attachments, and John had special praise for the factory installed quick coupler lines saying, “I really like the job they have done with this machine, on my previous Takeuchi the quick hitch pipes were prone to sticking out the side of the bucket linkage, obviously that was a third-party installation, but the way its all been routed on this machine is so much better”.

The machine features a high flow hydraulic system, offering an operating pressure of 300 bar, with a maximum flow rate of 180 l/min, ideal for those oil hungry attachments like flail mowers and planners to name a couple.

The cab, which coincidentally can be tilted to allow access to components like the slew motor and additional pipework housed below it, also comes in for praise from John. “I like the cab interior a lot, I like its clean-cut look and the simplicity of the controls, buttons and dials, comfort wise it has everything I could possibly need inside, nice air suspended seat, air-conditioning, not that I’ve needed that so far this winter! And a good radio, not much else I need really”. 

I have mentioned this before when reporting on Wacker Neuson machines, the cab interiors do have a very Germanic automotive quality feel to them, always well designed and workman like.

The ET90 is also equipped with Wacker Neuson’s own telemetry system EquipCare which allows end users to collect data on emissions, if they are that way inclined and the general overall health of the machine that could highlight any potential problems.

My overall impression was of an owner/operator who was very happy with his matching Wacker Neuson products, and I don’t think this will be the last additions of the yellow & grey machines for John Wicks Groundworks & Plant Hire.