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THE TEAMS THE PLAYERS - TDLs - WHAT'S YOURS CALLED?
00:00 02 Mar 1995
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JCB may have lost market share, but annual sales have still
increased from around 2,100 to 2,600 and the company retains the
number one slot by a huge margin. Cat, as expected, is moving up
the tables and will continue to do so in 1995 having produced its
50,000th unit in the Leicester factory in December 1994. Case
retains the number three slot in the UK, whereas in global terms it
is fighting for the gold medal with Cat.
MF, under its two-year-old Fermec banner, should not be written off. It may have dropped two places in the UK, but in global terms the new range of TDLs has revived the name and there is little doubt the same will happen in the UK. Not too many years ago JCB and the old MF, with an inferior product, each held similar shares of the UK market. The new range, and management, have revitalised the company and its distributors and we will be very surprised if it does not claw back market share.
If our figures are accurate, the damage caused by the four years 1990-93 are evident. Some industry experts insist that the 1988 figures are an aberration, a one off buying spree created by freely available cheap money. There could be some truth in the argument since huge numbers of machines purchased that year never turned a wheel, or track, in anger and led to the eventual collapse of many hire companies.
Many are amazed not only at the speed with which changes have been made to tractor-digger-loaders, (TDLs) but also at the high levels of sophistication that are now being achieved in what is, in essence, a fairly basic machine. From a basic agricultural or industrial tractor, strengthened with little more than a perimeter frame to carry the loader and backhoe, the machines have developed into purpose-built units.
The almost universal introduction of four-wheel-drive was a turning point that allowed the TDL to effectively compete with the small four-wheel-drive loader. Load sensing, or simply higher efficiency hydraulics, meant that the digger was a fair match, productivity wise, to the mid-range minis. The only restriction to versatility was the fact that it could only slew 180¼.
To bring the story up to date, Hydrema set the trend with its four equal-sized, four-wheel-drive and articulated steering 800 series which could also slew the digger through 280¼.
JCB answered the challenge with the 4CX, but mounted everything within a rigid chassis and added a three-mode system to give front, all-wheel and crab steering. MF then entered the lists with its 965 equal-sized wheels, rigid chassis machine, also with three steering modes.
Not to be outdone, Cat invited plant journalists to Leicester to see its response in the form of the 438B Turbo 4WS. This unit does not follow the standard pattern, but retains the small front, large rear wheel layout. Another difference is the steering system; a dash mounted rocker switch is used to select front or all-wheel and a second switch mounted on the loader control provides independent rear wheel steer.
Thus the machine can be operated in the conventional front- wheel-steer mode and, when necessary, the operator can tighten the turn radius by steering the rear wheels independently of the front. The real application advantage is when backfilling or grading, since the unit can be crabbed- and steered around varying radii - an impossibility with conventional all-wheel-steer systems.
The disadvantages are that on loader work in soft ground, the small diameter front wheels swallow huge amounts of horsepower and secondly, although the company makes great play of its reduced turning circle, the MF 965, even with its big front wheels, turns considerably sharper.
National preferences play a large part in the reasons for buying a particular type of machine. The Americans, for instance, and a number of other countries simply cannot understand why we insist on sideshifts when, for them, centre mounts are more than adequate for their needs. The Scandinavians appear to be equally split over whether their diggers are centrally or side shift mounted and have no qualms at all over the British obsession of stability with artic steer machines. They demand the biggest, 1.0m3 and more, front bucket and most sophisticated units with in cab quick change attachments, and full servo or electric controls at both loader and digger positions, including in cab quick change attachment hitches. They also insist of being able to drive with equal facility from either position. I have yet to find a machine there without air conditioning or central heating as standard.
Last year in Sweden, I watched as an operator with a big Volvo TDL transported 1.25m3 of pea gravel in the front bucket, unhitched it next to a domestic sewage outfall, spun the TDL around, reversed the digger bucket to face shovel, picked up gravel from the loader bucket and very gently, using the oscillating bucket, dribbled the material around the pipe.
The man never left the cab during the whole series of operations which took less than eight minutes. 'Unnecessary sophistication,' I thought. But when you are told that manual labour is (a) simply not available and (b) if it is, horrendously expensive, you understand why manufacturers have gone to such lengths. They are only satisfying a customer need.
One version of TDL that has gained universal acceptance in all four corners of the world is the telescopic dipper. Like the 4 in 1 loader bucket that became de rigueur in the early 1960s, the tele-dipper became and continues to be the preferred option today. Whereas the 4 in 1 was a fashion accessory on most machines, plant hirers refused to buy machines with standard buckets because customers insisted on the multi-purpose version, even though it was never used.
You do not need to dig a 4.5m deep trench to appreciate the value of the tele-dipper. Even on jobs like house footings of around 1.0m deep, the extending dipper can eliminate around one move in three, and on a 10-hour cabling run, that means a real time saving.
Make no mistake, the time is not too distant when all customers will demand the same high levels of sophistication. Look at any machine sector; remember the time when the experts said there would never be 100t dumptrucks, big excavators, RTFLs with 13m reaches or wheeled loaders with 12m3 buckets. Dumptruck fleets of 200t are impressive but not uncommon, O&K and Hitachi say the UK is one of the biggest markets for their big mining shovels and Merlo, Manitou and JCB are now talking third generation telehandlers which visitors to Bauma may see with 15m booms.
There is still plenty of development life to come in TDLs. Computer engine-pump management systems, which are now pass' in excavators and becoming standard in four-wheel-drive loaders, will soon work their way down to TDLs. MF already has an electronic plug-in fault finding/recording system capable of storing huge amounts of information and with minor tweaking, could easily add the whole history of the machine including current and previous owner details, outputs, distance travelled, number of cycles, major faults, service schedules and any-language fault finding procedures.
One of the most interesting aspects of the TDL sector is that machines are, as expected, forever getting bigger, but also getting smaller.
Lewis with the Badger and Thwaites with the Alldig virtually had the compact market to themselves at one stage and while both are in engineering terms well built, neither has the marketing presence of JCB.
The 2CX changed the ground rules and although the first model was short on both engine and hydraulic power, it had all the sophistication of its bigger brothers. The company soon added a fourth cylinder to the Perkins diesel, tweaked the hydraulics, changed both loader and backhoe geometry to give more power all round, and the sales figures now speak for themselves.
How small can you go with TDLs has probably been definitively answered by JCB and the 1CX. Using the power pack and drive line componentry from the Robot skidsteer, the unit carries a proper twin boom loader and purpose-built sideshift backhoe.
Going back to the top end of the sector, Hydrema has solved the 180¼ slew problem twice over. The first time was to build the backhoe and slew system to allow 280¼, then later, mounting the backhoe and cab on a slew ring which gives 280 plus a further independent 180¼ on the backhoe itself. The result is a digger that can effectively slew 360¼.
There is a dark horse lurking on the horizon in the shape of Benati of Italy, now owned by Ford New Holland Fiat. The Ford backhoe has been languishing in fifth place in the UK and the company needs new models to raise market awareness. Benati has models that may be able to do just that.
The 2000 model is, we understand, currently being put through its paces in America. The unit follows the latest thinking in big TDLs with four equal-sized-wheels on a rigid chassis. Power is supplied by a 70kW Fiat turbocharged diesel driving through a four-speed powershift and shuttle. The loader comes as standard with a 1.2m3 bucket and digging depth is a massive 6.5m with the dipper extended, and 5.4m retracted.
Case has already launched four new models in the US and the story is that they may appear here in late 1995 or early 1996. The model range starts with the 570LXT and on through the 580L, 580 Super L and topping out with the 590 Super L. Case management believes that the new Super L series backhoe is up to 20% more productive than the outgoing Super K models.
Changes include a dry frame, the fuel and hydraulic tanks are no longer an integral part of the frame, and there is a completely new cab with noise levels below 79dB(A). The boom and dipper have also been redesigned to give a narrower cross section without loss of strength, and there is also a new in-line loader linkage. Case has applied for a patent on its new hydraulic system which has a priority slew circuit, and, combined with the computer-designed control valve, is said to give smoother, faster response to operator inputs.
Virtually all TDLs are now equipped with torque converters, shuttles and four/five-speed gearboxes or hydrostatic transmissions. I wonder how long it will be before the first fully automatic four-speed transmission makes its appearance. They have now become near-standard equipment on four-wheel-drive loaders, but the TDL has a wider range of applications where an auto box would be of greater benefit.
Fermec md Richard Robson led the management buyout of MF two years ago and has revitalised both company and product. It now builds backhoes for Kobelco in America and more recently has concluded a collaborative agreement with Calcutta based Hindustan Motors. The Indian company already builds certain models of Terex dumptrucks and Cat loaders and this latest MF agreement gives them access to the series T backhoe loader.
MF, under its two-year-old Fermec banner, should not be written off. It may have dropped two places in the UK, but in global terms the new range of TDLs has revived the name and there is little doubt the same will happen in the UK. Not too many years ago JCB and the old MF, with an inferior product, each held similar shares of the UK market. The new range, and management, have revitalised the company and its distributors and we will be very surprised if it does not claw back market share.
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If our figures are accurate, the damage caused by the four years 1990-93 are evident. Some industry experts insist that the 1988 figures are an aberration, a one off buying spree created by freely available cheap money. There could be some truth in the argument since huge numbers of machines purchased that year never turned a wheel, or track, in anger and led to the eventual collapse of many hire companies.
Many are amazed not only at the speed with which changes have been made to tractor-digger-loaders, (TDLs) but also at the high levels of sophistication that are now being achieved in what is, in essence, a fairly basic machine. From a basic agricultural or industrial tractor, strengthened with little more than a perimeter frame to carry the loader and backhoe, the machines have developed into purpose-built units.
The almost universal introduction of four-wheel-drive was a turning point that allowed the TDL to effectively compete with the small four-wheel-drive loader. Load sensing, or simply higher efficiency hydraulics, meant that the digger was a fair match, productivity wise, to the mid-range minis. The only restriction to versatility was the fact that it could only slew 180¼.
To bring the story up to date, Hydrema set the trend with its four equal-sized, four-wheel-drive and articulated steering 800 series which could also slew the digger through 280¼.
JCB answered the challenge with the 4CX, but mounted everything within a rigid chassis and added a three-mode system to give front, all-wheel and crab steering. MF then entered the lists with its 965 equal-sized wheels, rigid chassis machine, also with three steering modes.
Not to be outdone, Cat invited plant journalists to Leicester to see its response in the form of the 438B Turbo 4WS. This unit does not follow the standard pattern, but retains the small front, large rear wheel layout. Another difference is the steering system; a dash mounted rocker switch is used to select front or all-wheel and a second switch mounted on the loader control provides independent rear wheel steer.
Thus the machine can be operated in the conventional front- wheel-steer mode and, when necessary, the operator can tighten the turn radius by steering the rear wheels independently of the front. The real application advantage is when backfilling or grading, since the unit can be crabbed- and steered around varying radii - an impossibility with conventional all-wheel-steer systems.
The disadvantages are that on loader work in soft ground, the small diameter front wheels swallow huge amounts of horsepower and secondly, although the company makes great play of its reduced turning circle, the MF 965, even with its big front wheels, turns considerably sharper.
National preferences play a large part in the reasons for buying a particular type of machine. The Americans, for instance, and a number of other countries simply cannot understand why we insist on sideshifts when, for them, centre mounts are more than adequate for their needs. The Scandinavians appear to be equally split over whether their diggers are centrally or side shift mounted and have no qualms at all over the British obsession of stability with artic steer machines. They demand the biggest, 1.0m3 and more, front bucket and most sophisticated units with in cab quick change attachments, and full servo or electric controls at both loader and digger positions, including in cab quick change attachment hitches. They also insist of being able to drive with equal facility from either position. I have yet to find a machine there without air conditioning or central heating as standard.
Last year in Sweden, I watched as an operator with a big Volvo TDL transported 1.25m3 of pea gravel in the front bucket, unhitched it next to a domestic sewage outfall, spun the TDL around, reversed the digger bucket to face shovel, picked up gravel from the loader bucket and very gently, using the oscillating bucket, dribbled the material around the pipe.
The man never left the cab during the whole series of operations which took less than eight minutes. 'Unnecessary sophistication,' I thought. But when you are told that manual labour is (a) simply not available and (b) if it is, horrendously expensive, you understand why manufacturers have gone to such lengths. They are only satisfying a customer need.
One version of TDL that has gained universal acceptance in all four corners of the world is the telescopic dipper. Like the 4 in 1 loader bucket that became de rigueur in the early 1960s, the tele-dipper became and continues to be the preferred option today. Whereas the 4 in 1 was a fashion accessory on most machines, plant hirers refused to buy machines with standard buckets because customers insisted on the multi-purpose version, even though it was never used.
You do not need to dig a 4.5m deep trench to appreciate the value of the tele-dipper. Even on jobs like house footings of around 1.0m deep, the extending dipper can eliminate around one move in three, and on a 10-hour cabling run, that means a real time saving.
Make no mistake, the time is not too distant when all customers will demand the same high levels of sophistication. Look at any machine sector; remember the time when the experts said there would never be 100t dumptrucks, big excavators, RTFLs with 13m reaches or wheeled loaders with 12m3 buckets. Dumptruck fleets of 200t are impressive but not uncommon, O&K and Hitachi say the UK is one of the biggest markets for their big mining shovels and Merlo, Manitou and JCB are now talking third generation telehandlers which visitors to Bauma may see with 15m booms.
There is still plenty of development life to come in TDLs. Computer engine-pump management systems, which are now pass' in excavators and becoming standard in four-wheel-drive loaders, will soon work their way down to TDLs. MF already has an electronic plug-in fault finding/recording system capable of storing huge amounts of information and with minor tweaking, could easily add the whole history of the machine including current and previous owner details, outputs, distance travelled, number of cycles, major faults, service schedules and any-language fault finding procedures.
One of the most interesting aspects of the TDL sector is that machines are, as expected, forever getting bigger, but also getting smaller.
Lewis with the Badger and Thwaites with the Alldig virtually had the compact market to themselves at one stage and while both are in engineering terms well built, neither has the marketing presence of JCB.
The 2CX changed the ground rules and although the first model was short on both engine and hydraulic power, it had all the sophistication of its bigger brothers. The company soon added a fourth cylinder to the Perkins diesel, tweaked the hydraulics, changed both loader and backhoe geometry to give more power all round, and the sales figures now speak for themselves.
How small can you go with TDLs has probably been definitively answered by JCB and the 1CX. Using the power pack and drive line componentry from the Robot skidsteer, the unit carries a proper twin boom loader and purpose-built sideshift backhoe.
Going back to the top end of the sector, Hydrema has solved the 180¼ slew problem twice over. The first time was to build the backhoe and slew system to allow 280¼, then later, mounting the backhoe and cab on a slew ring which gives 280 plus a further independent 180¼ on the backhoe itself. The result is a digger that can effectively slew 360¼.
There is a dark horse lurking on the horizon in the shape of Benati of Italy, now owned by Ford New Holland Fiat. The Ford backhoe has been languishing in fifth place in the UK and the company needs new models to raise market awareness. Benati has models that may be able to do just that.
The 2000 model is, we understand, currently being put through its paces in America. The unit follows the latest thinking in big TDLs with four equal-sized-wheels on a rigid chassis. Power is supplied by a 70kW Fiat turbocharged diesel driving through a four-speed powershift and shuttle. The loader comes as standard with a 1.2m3 bucket and digging depth is a massive 6.5m with the dipper extended, and 5.4m retracted.
Case has already launched four new models in the US and the story is that they may appear here in late 1995 or early 1996. The model range starts with the 570LXT and on through the 580L, 580 Super L and topping out with the 590 Super L. Case management believes that the new Super L series backhoe is up to 20% more productive than the outgoing Super K models.
Changes include a dry frame, the fuel and hydraulic tanks are no longer an integral part of the frame, and there is a completely new cab with noise levels below 79dB(A). The boom and dipper have also been redesigned to give a narrower cross section without loss of strength, and there is also a new in-line loader linkage. Case has applied for a patent on its new hydraulic system which has a priority slew circuit, and, combined with the computer-designed control valve, is said to give smoother, faster response to operator inputs.
Virtually all TDLs are now equipped with torque converters, shuttles and four/five-speed gearboxes or hydrostatic transmissions. I wonder how long it will be before the first fully automatic four-speed transmission makes its appearance. They have now become near-standard equipment on four-wheel-drive loaders, but the TDL has a wider range of applications where an auto box would be of greater benefit.
Fermec md Richard Robson led the management buyout of MF two years ago and has revitalised both company and product. It now builds backhoes for Kobelco in America and more recently has concluded a collaborative agreement with Calcutta based Hindustan Motors. The Indian company already builds certain models of Terex dumptrucks and Cat loaders and this latest MF agreement gives them access to the series T backhoe loader.
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