Chinese amphibian spotted on UK water

Mon 26 May 2014

Chinese amphibian spotted on UK water

Clive Gray is a specialist contractor based in Mayfield, East Sussex, who undertakes plant hire, earthworks and landscaping work. The company also specialises in sports field construction, equestrian sand school construction and lake construction & de-silting works. For many years Clive has used his traditional Hitachi excavators to perform his lake de-silting work, but has clearly had his mind on purchasing one of the specialist amphibious machines that we have all seen at shows.

Clive had been in touch with a Chinese manufacturer, who to be perfectly honest, I had never heard of before called Heking, who are based in Hefei inland from Shanghai. The HK150SD which weighs in at 15 tonnes has been built to Clive’s specifications and looks likely to ruffle a few feathers in the amphibious excavator market.

Clive admits he was very sceptical about buying from China initially, after putting down a deposit for a machine he had never seen Clive’s mind was put to rest as the Chinese proved to be very helpful all the way through the design and manufacturing process. Clive had researched these machines extensively and spoke to some guys in Canada who already run five of them. They put forward some advice on how to improve them, which Clive passed onto the Chinese. According to Clive the Chinese were very receptive to feedback as they want to make the best product they can for their customers. This is something I have been hearing about the more high profile Chinese entrant into the UK market recently LiuGong, as according to UK dealership CPMS’s Grant Mc Gregor, you only have to mention or suggest an improvement to them once and the next batch of machines has been redesigned to accommodate the improvement.

Clive also noticed that Heking make OEM machines which none of the amphibious manufacturers seem to do. Clive said “This machine is unlike anything else I found during my research. The machine is based on an 8 tonne design, it has a 300 litre hydraulic oil tank, 250 litre fuel tank and is powered by a 3.3 litre Cummins engine, now that’s no 8 tonne mini I know!”

The CE marked and bio-oil equipped machine features a hydraulic quick hitch, hydraulic thumb, check valves, curved pontoon, and all the cab refinements you could need including air-con and radio. The machine also has the benefit of a hydraulically expanding undercarriage which has a transport width of 3.5m and operating width of 4.5m enabling it to be transported easily on a low loader with minimum fuss and offers immediate set up with very low mobilisation costs. The added advantage is that it will fit through a 12 foot gate opening.

The top section has been re-located further back on the slew ring to aid balance and the Cummins engine boasts about 50% more power than a similar 8 tonne excavator in order to propel the machine. Clive said, “I like the undercarriage because it was built with a shallower pitch at either end plus the base has a slight curve in it to aid manoeuvring the 6.5 metre long pontoons. This is very successful. The machine also has travel motors at either end to assist when tracking” Check out this video footage of the machines maiden voyage on a lake! [youtube width="725" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD0_WwKp118[/youtube] Summarising on his new acquisition Clive said “Overall it is a well thought out piece of equipment and simple to run and maintain. The major components are all well proven mainstream units, Cummins engine, Doosan travel Motors and Toshiba pumps. The undercarriage is simple and seems durable. In an emergency I can’t see why a good welder/fabricator cannot make most of the track components to get you out of trouble if need be as a temporary fix, so far I’m delighted with it”.

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