Latest:
THE RISE AND RISE OF THE RUBBER DUCK
00:00 09 Jun 1994
|
To paraphrase the title of a well-known WF Yeames' painting, 'And
when did you last see a scraper?', is probably the most visible
evidence of a change which has been sweeping through the way we use
plant to help make roads over the last few years.
As the hydraulic excavator/ adt combination sounded the death-knell of the once-mighty scraper, so the wheeled excavator (the ubiquitous 'rubber duck') has begun to oust its crawler tracked counterpart on the motorways of the UK. Could we be at last following the lead set for decades by our Continental counterparts by realising that, on what is essentially a long, thin site, a machine capable of fast travel under its own power is king? Manufacturers have not been slow to take advantage.
First in the field is almost certainly Case which has been able to draw on the huge areas of expertise built up by Poclain since way back when. The French have always favoured wheels over tracks, even if some of the kit looked a bit odd to UK eyes (remember the TY45!). Now Case wheeled excavators look more mainstream but there's still a wide choice of kit offered from 688, 888 and 1188 models, of which each has several variants, mainly centring around stabiliser/dipper/boom choices.
The Case lead may be disputed by another Continental manufacturer with a long tradition of building predominantly wheeled kit, Atlas Weyhausen. Again the Germans like wheeled diggers and Atlas has always built to suit its home market. Now it's reaping extra benefit from the new-found UK popularity for wheelies. The Atlas range has no less than nine models with weights from 4.5t (the new wheeled mini 804) up to the 1804 at 30t.
JCB-SCM has entered the lists late but there is little doubt that its two new offerings at 13t and 15t will take a goodly slice of the market at their respective weight categories.
Multinational Caterpillar has had wheeled excavators for years, but they've mostly been overshadowed by its tracked models. Now, however, the five wheelies in the 200 series are earning extra popularity. Cat even has a model especially suited to road work - the 214B-FT is a high speed machine (FT equals fast travel), ideal for racing between jobsites.
On the Komatsu front the Birtley factory produces the 17t PW170-5 specifically for the Euro-market where it has been well received. In the UK we've yet to observe one 'in the wild' as it were. One novel accessory available is the newly-developed rotating dipper option which is only offered on this machine. There's also the smaller PW95 which has a high travel speed capability, around 30kph in fact.
Euro-Daewoo also has just two wheeled models - the DH130W and the DH200W - but there's rumoured to be new offerings soon from the Korean manufacturer.
Akerman is another manufacturer which has always had wheeled offerings but had them overshadowed by tracked counterparts. The current range spans four models from 12.7t up to 19t and there is no doubting the pedigree. Expect to see more of them in future if VME's marketing plans bear fruit.
Liebherr has a strong range too, just like its fellow German, Atlas. Liebherr offers six models with weights ranging from 10t up to around 27t and a couple of them, the A902 and A912, have high - 32kph - road travel speed.
Germany scores again with O&K boasting nine models from 8.5t up to around 23t. Because they spend a lot of time working in urban environments there is a tendency for them to be very quiet when working. Although popular in their native country they are relatively rare here.
Samsung proffers just one model the SE130W, which weighs 12t and has two-speed travel with a high of 33kph -impressive in any company.
From Saville Tractors come three models by Furukawa with weights ranging from 13.5t up to 17t. Bucket capacities range up to 1.25m3 but at 17t you would need to be handling light materials at that highest capacity.
There's just one offering from Fiat-Hitachi - the FH150W2, which can weigh anything between 14.4t and 17t, depending on configuration.
Schaeff, yet another German brand, offers eight models with weights from 5t up to 17t, but as yet they are a rare sight in this country.
We couldn't leave without mentioning Pel-Job's offerings - the Mecalacs - which come in four guises at between 6.5t and 8.2t. Trouble is, it seems difficult to decide whether they are excavators or wheeled loaders, or both!
As the hydraulic excavator/ adt combination sounded the death-knell of the once-mighty scraper, so the wheeled excavator (the ubiquitous 'rubber duck') has begun to oust its crawler tracked counterpart on the motorways of the UK. Could we be at last following the lead set for decades by our Continental counterparts by realising that, on what is essentially a long, thin site, a machine capable of fast travel under its own power is king? Manufacturers have not been slow to take advantage.
ADVERTISEMENT
First in the field is almost certainly Case which has been able to draw on the huge areas of expertise built up by Poclain since way back when. The French have always favoured wheels over tracks, even if some of the kit looked a bit odd to UK eyes (remember the TY45!). Now Case wheeled excavators look more mainstream but there's still a wide choice of kit offered from 688, 888 and 1188 models, of which each has several variants, mainly centring around stabiliser/dipper/boom choices.
The Case lead may be disputed by another Continental manufacturer with a long tradition of building predominantly wheeled kit, Atlas Weyhausen. Again the Germans like wheeled diggers and Atlas has always built to suit its home market. Now it's reaping extra benefit from the new-found UK popularity for wheelies. The Atlas range has no less than nine models with weights from 4.5t (the new wheeled mini 804) up to the 1804 at 30t.
JCB-SCM has entered the lists late but there is little doubt that its two new offerings at 13t and 15t will take a goodly slice of the market at their respective weight categories.
Multinational Caterpillar has had wheeled excavators for years, but they've mostly been overshadowed by its tracked models. Now, however, the five wheelies in the 200 series are earning extra popularity. Cat even has a model especially suited to road work - the 214B-FT is a high speed machine (FT equals fast travel), ideal for racing between jobsites.
On the Komatsu front the Birtley factory produces the 17t PW170-5 specifically for the Euro-market where it has been well received. In the UK we've yet to observe one 'in the wild' as it were. One novel accessory available is the newly-developed rotating dipper option which is only offered on this machine. There's also the smaller PW95 which has a high travel speed capability, around 30kph in fact.
Euro-Daewoo also has just two wheeled models - the DH130W and the DH200W - but there's rumoured to be new offerings soon from the Korean manufacturer.
Akerman is another manufacturer which has always had wheeled offerings but had them overshadowed by tracked counterparts. The current range spans four models from 12.7t up to 19t and there is no doubting the pedigree. Expect to see more of them in future if VME's marketing plans bear fruit.
Liebherr has a strong range too, just like its fellow German, Atlas. Liebherr offers six models with weights ranging from 10t up to around 27t and a couple of them, the A902 and A912, have high - 32kph - road travel speed.
Germany scores again with O&K boasting nine models from 8.5t up to around 23t. Because they spend a lot of time working in urban environments there is a tendency for them to be very quiet when working. Although popular in their native country they are relatively rare here.
Samsung proffers just one model the SE130W, which weighs 12t and has two-speed travel with a high of 33kph -impressive in any company.
From Saville Tractors come three models by Furukawa with weights ranging from 13.5t up to 17t. Bucket capacities range up to 1.25m3 but at 17t you would need to be handling light materials at that highest capacity.
There's just one offering from Fiat-Hitachi - the FH150W2, which can weigh anything between 14.4t and 17t, depending on configuration.
Schaeff, yet another German brand, offers eight models with weights from 5t up to 17t, but as yet they are a rare sight in this country.
We couldn't leave without mentioning Pel-Job's offerings - the Mecalacs - which come in four guises at between 6.5t and 8.2t. Trouble is, it seems difficult to decide whether they are excavators or wheeled loaders, or both!
ADVERTISEMENT
Most Viewed Articles
ADVERTISEMENT