Wacker Neuson ET65 Engcon

[JerryRtilt]

I’ve just had a quick watch of the first vid - I’m in no way an expert when it comes to digging/groundworks but I can’t help but think they don’t seem to get a great deal done particularly quickly with 3 blokes and a world of kit on site…

I don't think this video is typical of the way they work tbh regarding the amount of labour involved, but one thing that strikes me in all the videos I've watched is the amount of crushed stone they use, obviously there is a almost infinite supply of rock but somewhere there must be a huge amount of crushing and screening going on.

 

[Monkeybusiness]

I bet their backs all feel a lot better than ours by the end of it though.

I’m not suggesting it would be faster without the machinery, it just doesn’t look massively productive.

 

[Smiffy]

I’m not suggesting it would be faster without the machinery, it just doesn’t look massively productive.

I didn't mean it would be faster without, just that we would most likely use a 2t machine the same amount of time and a boat load of manual labour to achieve the same thing over here.

Whenever I watch their videos of highway work I rarely see them doing anything quicker than we do. Despite have a 13t duck instead of a 1.5t mini. And still the same amount of labour on site. But without a doubt their is less physical labor, which can't be a bad thing.

 

[Furniss]

I agree with whats said above, not necessarily more productive than a lot of heaving and big effort - at the start we used to shovel muck away off the trailer at the other end, you do what you have to, but if you can go home with enough energy to do something other than spend Sunday on the sofa that's got to be the way forward

 

[Furniss]

Few extras required on an upcoming job looks like I may need the TMK onto s40 sooner than planned, @Monkeybusiness did you say you adapted your yours onto s40 ? If so did you change full bracket or chop n weld adapter plate onto adapter bracket ?

 

[Monkeybusiness]

Just had a panic as couldn’t find the shear(!)… Anyway, it is here thankfully
Mine is all welded on, the bolts aren’t really necessary now. I had a couple come loose (not sure if they weren’t dogged up enough to begin with or I’m just a bit too rough…).
My mate sorted the S40 hitch and built it as low-profile as possible at my request. One of my quickhitches subsequently wouldn’t pick it up because of the (now removed) bolt heads between the pins, so that might be something to bear in mind when getting yours done.

 

[Furniss]

View attachment 49389View attachment 49390
Just had a panic as couldn’t find the shear(!)… Anyway, it is here thankfully
Mine is all welded on, the bolts aren’t really necessary now. I had a couple come loose (not sure if they weren’t dogged up enough to begin with or I’m just a bit too rough…).
My mate sorted the S40 hitch and built it as low-profile as possible at my request. One of my quickhitches subsequently wouldn’t pick it up because of the (now removed) bolt heads between the pins, so that might be something to bear in mind when getting yours done.

Ha I know that feeling !
I've had to think long and hard about where a digger is more than once !
Looks very snug ...cheers for the photos

 

[DaveDCB]

I’m not suggesting it would be faster without the machinery, it just doesn’t look massively productive.

about 90% of the tiltrotator YouTube videos I’ve seen are just messing around, making it look good for the camera etc..

 

[V8Druid]

Well I think Rory gets around it by having multiples of the same machine so one can be under modification at any one time without stopping the workflow. Plus his onlyfans linked in account is doing really well at the moment - I think he's picked up a sponsor or two from there

Hedblom wise, the videos are titled "a new cellar entrance". I think there's 4 of them.

glad I wasn't picking up the bill for that lot

 

[V8Druid]

View attachment 49389View attachment 49390
Just had a panic as couldn’t find the shear(!)… Anyway, it is here thankfully
Mine is all welded on, the bolts aren’t really necessary now. I had a couple come loose (not sure if they weren’t dogged up enough to begin with or I’m just a bit too rough…).
My mate sorted the S40 hitch and built it as low-profile as possible at my request. One of my quickhitches subsequently wouldn’t pick it up because of the (now removed) bolt heads between the pins, so that might be something to bear in mind when getting yours done.

yep ..... add 20mm to the cheek clearance/under pin height for M16s

 

[Furniss]

about 90% of the tiltrotator YouTube videos I’ve seen are just messing around, making it look good for the camera etc..

Yeah well I won't be adding to the plethora of tilty videos so don't worry ....just hoping to save this mythical % of time so I can go do something more enjoyable

 

[Mogman]

Yeah well I won't be adding to the plethora of tilty videos so don't worry ....just hoping to save this mythical % of time so I can go do something more enjoyable

What like find more work

 

[Furniss]

What like find more work

Hmm your right - that will be the trick, I wa just thinking that this time saving kit we've invested in has maybe added to the bottom line and deff made life easier but hasn't resulted in a bit of xtra time off or shorter days, in fact we seem to be working longer than ever.
Got to be some kind of disciplined to say well this would of taken all week but with all this fancy kit we've finished Thursday so let's call it a week, anyhow that's the goal, if we ever get back on schedule

 

[Giles]

I still cannot see apart from say no1 duck on motorway central reservation/single lane work how they are worth £25k investment

Let’s say 25k/£50ph that’s 500 hours let’s say 5 year timeframe are they going to save 63 days in that 5 years?

So apart from golf courses and fishing ponds lol

I’d like to go head to head on foundation dig or big shed base me in a trusty manual with rotating laser vs an idig/gps tilty etc see how much time I beat them by lol

 

[Furniss]

I still cannot see apart from say no1 duck on motorway central reservation/single lane work how they are worth £25k investment

Let’s say 25k/£50ph that’s 500 hours let’s say 5 year timeframe are they going to save 63 days in that 5 years?

So apart from golf courses and fishing ponds lol

I’d like to go head to head on foundation dig or big shed base me in a trusty manual with rotating laser vs an idig/gps tilty etc see how much time I beat them by lol

Horses for courses.....if I dug big shed bases for a living I would pin on 6ft bucket and use rack of the eye with a few laser checks, but it's not our work ...we are 95% price and our targets bear no relation to £50 p/h

EDIT : Firm up the road got one about 6 years ago, kept my eye on their fleet over the years and after a steady start he has prob has 80% of his 5-8t machines with an engcon on , this told me all I needed to know.

 

[Giles]

Horses for courses.....if I dug big shed bases for a living I would pin on 6ft bucket and use rack of the eye with a few laser checks, but it's not our work ...we are 95% price and our targets bear no relation to £50 p/h

So what’s your metric for the value of it? How do you equate the return on investment?

We are 100% price work but I’d still rather buy a camper van than a tilty and I’m a progressive geek who loves a gadget or technology I just can’t make the sums work though to justify one as an investment.

The time saved by not moving etc I get but that implies your ruthless with the other 7 hours of the day if you text or chat to client does that wipe that out?

 

[Furniss]

So what’s your metric for the value of it? How do you equate the return on investment?

We are 100% price work but I’d still rather buy a camper van than a tilty and I’m a progressive geek who loves a gadget or technology I just can’t make the sums work though to justify one as an investment.

The time saved by not moving etc I get but that implies your ruthless with the other 7 hours of the day if you text or chat to client does that wipe that out?

I think they speak for themselves tbh but I do understand where your coming from, easy to get carried away with idig / gps etc ....listen I will report back with honest opinions of return on investment after the summer

 

[DaveDCB]

My calculations are simple…

Engcon = no or 1 less labourer = paid for in under 12 months.
The idig/gps thing doesn’t add up for me as I don’t do enough hours on the machine to warrant it.

 

[Giles]

My calculations are simple…

Engcon = no or 1 less labourer = paid for in under 12 months.
The idig/gps thing doesn’t add up for me as I don’t do enough hours on the machine to warrant it.

Does it drive the dumper? Do the drain connections while you’re back filling etc?

 

[V8Druid]

think the difference here is that Giles does a lot more than just 'dig'