New machine, new ways to work

Wed 01 Mar 2017

New machine, new ways to work

It’s been over two years since Earthmovers caught up with Liam Kavanagh, who works for the family run civil engineering and surfacing business, JPS Contractors who are based in Godstone, Surrey. At the time the company had just invested in a brand new Kubota KX057-4 mini excavator, now as part of the company’s fleet renewal programme, a larger Doosan DX140LC hydraulic excavator has been traded in for a brand new Komatsu PC170LC-10, which has also been fitted with an Engcon EC219 tilt-rotator.

The company had run the outgoing Doosan excavator for three and a half years during, which time the machine had amassed in excess of 3,500 hours, most of which were trouble free. However, Liam was keen to explore other manufacturers machines and wanted to get a machine that was slightly bigger and which would offer them greater lifting power but without the bulk of a standard 21 tonne class machine, so in consultation with Liam’s father Phil Kavanagh, who had set a budget for the replacement, they started looking at a number of machines in the 16 to 18 tonne class. Liam said, “We initially looked at the Case CX160D through our local dealer BPMS, who are great guys. It was a beautiful piece of kit but we felt we couldn’t get a fair trade in price for the outgoing Doosan. We also looked at the Volvo EC160E, which was also a lovely machine, but which we felt was a bit too bulky for our work and too expensive for our budget in the end”.

“We then approached Marubeni-Komatsu through our local sales representative Graham Mortimore, whom I must say has been an absolute pleasure to deal with. We looked at the PC170LC-10 and figured it would meet all our requirements. We also felt that an 18 tonner would also handle a tilt-rotator really well if we decided to go down that route, which we eventually did anyway” Liam continued, “Marubeni-Komatsu put together a great package for us with the machine being very well priced, offered us a very fair trade in on our old machine and the Komatsu Service plan all thrown in. They were also very proactive in working with us to ensure we got all the added extras we wanted on the machine”.

The PC170LC-10, which tips the scales at 17,900kgs was actually built in Komatsu’s Italian facility in Noventa Vicentina. The machine was specified with a 2.6 metre dipper arm, 700mm track shoes, factory fit Q-hitch pipework, case drain, additional side view camera, rain visor, LED lighting all round and green seatbelt beacon. After much deliberating with his father Phil, Liam had decided he wanted to go down the tilt-rotator route and let’s be honest, who wouldn’t! With that in mind they ordered an Engcon EC219 with Q-Safe, S60 top and bottom, gripper, Engcon grader, 1200mm and 600mm digging buckets, pallet forks, selector grab and new top brackets for their existing hammer and crusher bucket, in addition the whole set up has been made EC-Oil ready so they can upgrade to Engcon’s pipeless easy hydraulic attachment changing system in the future.

Anyone who is familiar with social media channels like Twitter will be aware that Liam is a very active participant. It was through this form of media and a few other forums that Liam’s passion for tilt-rotators was ignited. Commenting on this Liam said, “Over the years I have followed the progress of well-known “tilty” trailblazers like Eddie Warrener, Ollie Kitchin, Rob Taylor and Shaun Gratton via social media, these guys stories have been inspirational and they have all helped in some way by offering advice on what route to take, it really helps you see the wood from the trees so to speak!” Liam continued, “It was the tilt-rotator guys online who convinced me to choose John Craig of JCC Engcon to be my preferred tilt-rotator installer. What can I say about John, well the guy is known as the “Tilty God” for a good reason, his knowledge of tilt-rotators and machines is second to none, from the first phone call he was helpful and steered me down the right path to get the best set up for our budget, I really can’t thank him enough for that and although we are located at opposite ends of the country, I know he’ll back me up if I need it, as for the Engcon kit itself, their products are just pure quality with some really smart features”.

Liam also used the great networking side of social media to contact end users of the Komatsu PC170LC-10 to find out more about the machine, its features and its overall reliability and cost of ownership, which was also a big help in making the decision. Liam talked to us about his early experiences using the tilt-rotator, “My first day using the “tilty” was definitely an interesting one, with lots of head scratching going on, but as each day passes it gets easier and you find more and more ways to utilise it. One thing is for sure, you definitely start to look at jobs in a different way as the only restriction is your mind and ability a prime example right now are the pallet forks as no pallet is safe at the moment!”

As I have commented many times before anyone who thinks a tilt-rotator is for operators who don’t have skills, or that they in some way dumb down the skills, are very mistaken! They actually take the skills of a great operator to the next level again. Liam further endorsed the product saying, “A tilt-rotator gives you the ability to work in 3D, to be able to work around obstacles without moving the base machine, in fact the position of the machine becomes irrelevant as with the “tilty” you are almost always in the right place. With the forks attached you become a very handy materials handler and everything becomes faster and most importantly, safer, it’s been a real eye opener as to just what you can achieve with them”.

With all the talk about the star attraction on the end of the dipper, the new machine was getting a bit overlooked, so Liam suggested we take a look around his new mount. As is standard these days, the rear offside panel door opens to reveal the hydraulic pump and all major fluid filters, which are easily accessible from ground level. On this machine the electric refuelling pump is also located in this area complete with remote switch which cuts off the power when the tank is full of fuel.

With the refuelling pump being situated at the rear of the machine, the front tool box holds nothing more than a very small windscreen washer bottle, leaving plenty of room for actual tools, chains and lifting strops.

Climbing up on the upper-structure of the machine and raising the bonnet we discover a nicely packaged 4 cylinder Komatsu SAA4D107E-2A turbocharged common rail direct injection diesel engine, with what looked like a very conservative exhaust system by today’s standards. This unit has a power output rating of 90kw (121hp) @2,100rpm and is Stage 3B/Tier 4 Final emissions compliant.

The left hand rear panel is home to the usual suspects, cooling packs, battery, expansion bottle and air filter. Liam pointed out the bank of four Scandinavian inspired LED lights across the roof, which they had ordered as an option, but Marubeni-Komatsu had actually fitted LED’s throughout the machine, an option which is rapidly becoming a standard fitment with manufacturers these days.

As we have come to expect from Komatsu over the years, the cab interior is of good quality and it’s a nice place to spend your days. The machine had been put to work on an ongoing project that JPS Contractors have been working on where they have been tasked to complete all the groundworks for a new sports hall and a 5 a side football pitch, the scope of the works also included the construction of retaining walls and drainage with two soak away tanks with 25,000 litres of storage capacity. With much of the building work completed Liam had returned primarily to do the reinstatement works.

Liam kindly invited me to take to the controls for a quick spin on what was a rather hideous day weather wise, so I was delighted to get ensconced in a nice warm cab for a while.

The machine has 6 working modes Power, Economy, Lifting, Breaker, Attachment Power and Attachment Economy, all of which are designed to deliver the required power with minimised fuel usage. I generally opt for power in any machine I operate, but on this occasion I decided to use the machine in its default setting of economy. The machine sprang to life as I pulled on the levers and I was instantly impressed at how quiet it was, I started “haymaking” a pile of topsoil and was surprised at how stable the machine was, even with a full bucket of soil and the additional weight of the tilt-rotator, the machine remained well balanced throughout the cycle, I think a lot of that is due to the decision to opt for the 2.6m dipper, which makes a lot of sense.

Overall the machine was fast, lively, extremely capable and with the addition of the tilt-rotator with integrated gripper it’s going to be a very valuable asset to JPS Contractors.

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