A 36-tonne Sunward excavator has found its way into a contractor’s fleet and Deals on Wheel's Ed went along to see how it is helping their Auckland clean fill operation.
Working clean fill sites is hard, dirty work; if it isn’t hot and dusty, then it’s sure to be windy and dusty or wet and muddy. The work is not for the faint-hearted and from what I’ve seen, good operations are few and far between. Located some 30km from Central Auckland, one such good operation is the Pro-Floors Limited clean fill in Brookby, South Auckland. Used primarily for the progressive civil construction company’s own contracts, the site is also used by external businesses to dispose of their earthworks spoil. Keeping on top of the continually arriving loads is a crew of four, who are spread out over three machines and the site office. One machine works the lower area and higher up, two machines team up to shape the land and handles the smaller trucks. With the distance of transportation required these days, a lot of fill arrives on truck and trailers or articulated dumpers, so a safe and quick disposal means a separate area is used to accommodate trailered vehicles.
Further up, the hill is where the rest of the trucks are sent and it is where we head to see the Sunward SWE365E excavator working. The ideal machine, supplied by Endraulic Equipment, the 36-tonne excavator makes quick work of clearing out tipped spoil, passing it up to a Caterpillar D6R bulldozer as it blades the material into a continual quick-forming hill. It goes without saying that the end of winter must be a welcome relief to the operators on this and other cleanfill sites around the country, and even though the temperature is rising, moisture-laden fill will continue to be an issue for some time yet. Too big of a machine and the operators will have to contend with getting bogged, while equipment that is too small can slow down operations. Many people underestimate the mathematics required to get the ideal machine mix. In this case, the Pro-Floor team reckons they’ve got the calculation correct and the 36-tonne Sunward is kept in near continual use, moving dirt as fast as it is dumped, ensuring the whole operation and the trucks bringing in fill does not stop or slow down.
“One of my mates who has a couple of Sunwards spoke highly of their capabilities, so we thought we’d also see how they could be fitted into our operation,” Wayne Valder says. “We did our homework and for us, all the things seemed to add up. ”What the Pro-Floor director is saying is that they previously had a smaller other brand machine and compared specifications and pricing. “The decision to go with the Sunward brand came down to us getting a larger, more powerful machine for the price and the back-up service we receive from Endraulic,” Wayne says. Powered by an 184kW Isuzu AA-6HK1XQP engine, the Sunward SWE365E exerts a maximum 249kN bucket digging force when working at full power. Placed alongside its maximum digging reach of 11,370mm, there is probably not a lot of material a machine of this size cannot adequately deal with. Although, on cleanfill sites, it’s not always about breakout force but sheer speed in removing dumped fill to ensure minimal downtime for the next truck waiting to dump off. This is where size can count, as the less buckets to remove a tipped load of spoil means the quicker the truck can return with a load. It’s maths 101 at its most simple.
Of course, listening to the company owner’s purchase reasoning is one aspect about buying a particular brand of excavator. It’s also good to have a listen to the person on the controls for many hours a day, as a happy employee is what all company owners strive for. “I haven’t had any issues with the machine that I can think of. As long as you check them and keep everything greased, there shouldn’t be any problems,” Wayne says. The new SWE365E sits alongside two other 23-tonne Sunward excavators in the Pro-Floors’ fleet of 28-plus excavators and a similar amount of trucks. Both of the two 20-tonne class machines are used for the numerous civil construction jobs the well-recognised company carries out across the Auckland region. “We now own five Sunward excavators right from 1.8 tonnes, right through now to the 36-tonne. We’re very happy with the performance of the machines and think they’re value for the type of work we’re using them for,” Wayne says.
Courtesy of Deals on Wheels
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