treemuncher
Senior Member
I know that Menzis and other Spyder Excavators are rare. Brian Hay used to have a great site devoted to them years ago but that site disappeared along with so much great information and photos. I thought maybe I should post up a few action shots as I progress with my learning curve of operation with this machine. It's something you don't master in a day or a week but it is a machine that will keep you thinking at all times.
Hopefully, some other Spyder drivers will post their photos on here too. Might as well share what we know and pay it forward.
I'm on a job that is cutting my teeth in in more ways than one. Lots of heavy gravel and a layer of rip rap on this highway levee that has been allowed to grow up far too many years. I can't use sharp cutters in these conditions. The pucker factor is extreme but dropping with every extra hour that I put into this job as I gain more experience. Confidence with the machine and its placement is not taught, it is earned. Gravity is relentless.
First pic here is what I was able to do with my big tracked mulcher. I don't know how I managed to miss the brake drum so closely, but I did. The trees and brush are thick along this bank. I would have run the tracked machine further but I almost got it stuck twice in the silt below the levee toe. Time to bring in the Menzi so that I can stay on the firm ground.
This was at the end of the SW facing levee. Next, I jump across the bridge seen here and work my way back down to that other side of the bridge. I'm realizing I need to take more pics but getting about on these slopes is easier in the machine than on foot. Be sure to wear gloves at all times on slopes like these - good advice from someone who had to have hand surgery due to a slip on a creek bank years ago. Thankfully, even though they opened up about 4" of my left hand to remove splinters and debris, it still functions well. A $10 pair of gloves beats tens of thousands of medical bills and lost time any day.
Hopefully, some other Spyder drivers will post their photos on here too. Might as well share what we know and pay it forward.
I'm on a job that is cutting my teeth in in more ways than one. Lots of heavy gravel and a layer of rip rap on this highway levee that has been allowed to grow up far too many years. I can't use sharp cutters in these conditions. The pucker factor is extreme but dropping with every extra hour that I put into this job as I gain more experience. Confidence with the machine and its placement is not taught, it is earned. Gravity is relentless.
First pic here is what I was able to do with my big tracked mulcher. I don't know how I managed to miss the brake drum so closely, but I did. The trees and brush are thick along this bank. I would have run the tracked machine further but I almost got it stuck twice in the silt below the levee toe. Time to bring in the Menzi so that I can stay on the firm ground.
This was at the end of the SW facing levee. Next, I jump across the bridge seen here and work my way back down to that other side of the bridge. I'm realizing I need to take more pics but getting about on these slopes is easier in the machine than on foot. Be sure to wear gloves at all times on slopes like these - good advice from someone who had to have hand surgery due to a slip on a creek bank years ago. Thankfully, even though they opened up about 4" of my left hand to remove splinters and debris, it still functions well. A $10 pair of gloves beats tens of thousands of medical bills and lost time any day.