LiuGong Reaching Higher

Fri 15 Sep 2017

LiuGong Reaching Higher

It’s fair to say that Suffolk based family business Kocurek Excavators know a thing or two about excavator modifications both of the front end equipment and the base machine itself. Since being founded in 1983 their machine creations have been supplied to many leading blue chip demolition and long reach specialists not only in the UK and Europe, but in addition many other Kocurek modifications are at work on a worldwide scale. It will come as no surprise then to find out that when multi-faceted London firm the Keltbray Group ordered the first LiuGong 925E in the UK to be converted to High Reach demolition specification from LiuGong dealers Construction Plant & Machinery Sales, it was Kocurek Excavators who were the first port of call for the modification works. The base machine fitted with standard boom and dipper was delivered to Kocurek’s facility in Ipswich which is where the bespoke 16 metre 3 piece demolition front end equipment would be designed, manufactured and fitted.

It really is incredible to see just how much work goes into these adaptations, as in addition to designing and fabricating the new boom, intermediate dipper and end dipper assemblies, including 2 additional dipper cylinders complete with check valves, the work also involves the routing of all necessary steel and flexible hydraulic pipes for the front end equipment including the quick hitch and return to tank drain line. Kocurek also fitted a directional control valve to enable operation of the intermediate dipper arm via a foot pedal control, reinforced the attachment cylinder and linkage, added water supply pipework to the dipper tip with fully adjustable spray nozzles for dust suppression and added an additional 2,450kg counterweight underslung beneath the standard machines fitment.

But the modifications did not stop there, in addition to an all-round safety camera system visible to the operator via an additional full colour monitor, Kocurek also fitted its “Rangemaster” (Prolec) system which offers a continuous visual display of the height and outreach of the attachment and incorporates an intermittent audible and visual warning alarm as the front end equipment approaches its safe working outreach, the alarm tone becomes continuous when the equipment exceeds its safe limit. Other mods included modification to the roof window to improve visibility and a roof mounted wiper.

0 Talking about the machine and its modifications Kocurek Sales Manager Ron Callan said, “This machine offers a maximum pin height of 15.5m, a maximum forward reach of 9.5m and can carry a maximum attachment weight of 2,500kgs. Normally this rig would be rated with a 2000kgs attachment but because of the extra base machine weight offered by the LuiGong 925E we were able to meet the customers need for a 2500kgs attachment”.

Once all the modifications and paintwork was completed the machine headed back to CPMS’s yard in Portsmouth where it was sign written in Keltbray’s distinctive signage prior to being picked up by the company’s own transport. The 25 tonne class LiuGong 925E takes its power from a Tier 4 Final/Stage IV emissions compliant 6 cylinder Cummins QSB6.7 engine which offers a net power output of 119kw (162hp) @2,100rpm and like all LiuGong machines supplied to the UK demolition sector by CPMS, arrived direct from the factory in full demolition specification featuring check valves on boom hoist and dipper cylinders, fully piped for hammer and shear units including rotation, full ROPS/FOPS cab guard, heavy duty belly plates, side impact skirts including foam cushioning inserts, fall from height (boxing ring) protection and bucket/attachment cylinder protection guard. Essentially these machines are ready to go to work in the tough world of demolition without the need for any extras to be retro fitted at the dealers.

The machine headed off to its first job in an upmarket area of Hampstead in the Borough of Camden which is where Earthmovers caught up with the machine. This site was in a typically tricky location down a one way street with a number of historical properties in close proximity so unloading had to be carefully planned. Once on site the job involved the demolition of what was once an old nurse’s home that was once part of a long gone hospital complex. The site had become a bit of an eyesore locally having stood unused for over 10 years. Once the building is taken down and the debris is removed the site will eventually become home to a luxurious new apartment complex.

Andy Darvell is the young operator who has been rewarded with the seat on the new LiuGong and he was certainly enjoying the experience when we caught up with him. Andy has been operating machines for some 15 years with the last two years being spent solely on high reach machines and has been with Keltbray Demolition for around 7 months having previously worked for the Kane Group, talking about his new mount Andy said, “If I’m honest I was a bit dubious when I first saw it, but within hours of starting out on it I loved it! It’s really smooth and precise in operation and extremely stable throughout the entire range of movement of the machine, I really cannot fault it. I’ve got a 2 tonne pulveriser on the end of the dipper and it handles that with no problems at all, I think it’s safe to say I’m impressed".

Keltbray’s Site Manager Sean Gorham had nothing but praise for both operator and machine saying, “The high reach conversion, which has been done by Kocurek, is fantastic, the machine is exceptionally well balanced and it’s as steady as a rock in operation even when working over the side carriage. Andy who we have here operating the machine is very steady and quite particular with his tidiness around the jobsite, there is no rush and tear with him, he’s a proper operator, which is nice to see for a young lad”. The machine is proving to be very environmentally friendly on this sensitive site and considering there is a 6 cylinder lump under the bonnet the machine just purrs away with an external decibel rating of 102 dB (A) and a pleasing in cab level of just 76 dB (A) at these levels its easily possible to hold a conversation with others while stood in close proximity of the machine without the need to raise your voice. The machine is also proving to be extremely frugal on both fuel and AdBlue.

Keltbray have been running a number of conventional LiuGong excavators in their fleet for some time now in addition to some skid steer loaders from the same manufacturer but this is the first high reach to join the fleet. Site Manager Sean Gorham said, “I can’t find any fault with them whatsoever, we run a few other standard LiuGong excavators on the Keltbray fleet and they have all been very good, at the end of the day they are using the same running gear as most of the other brands, same well proven Kawasaki hydraulic pumps and with power coming from the Cummins engines, we know what we are getting. Demolition is a tough game on machines so run them hard for a good 3 years and change them out for new, especially when they are so competitively priced”. Our friends over at Demolition News produced this video featuring this machine in action on the jobsite.

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