Burning Up Teeth--GET is getting expensive!

[rshackleford]

my guys go through teeth like crazy. we are installing pipeline through the prairie and we can use a set of teeth up in a week.

i have one pc 300 with a komatsu vx something or another that look like big walrus teeth and they don't wear out.

i have volvo ec 330 that is using an esco v39. any recommendations on which tooth would last the longest but still cut through very hard clay well? esco has about six options and i am not sure which one is best.

i think the other machine is a pc 300 using V43, so i guess i would have same questions for that machine as i would for the v39?

also, anyone have any good sources for cheap super v's?

thanks for any help in advance.

[ddigger]

Not sure where you are located but here is the best source I have found.
http://www.cuttingedgesupply.com/LocationsMap.htm

[Cmark]

I was up against a simillar situation a few years ago. The company I worked for had Komatsu PC400s on general hire to a road construction job. Of course the contractors put our machines to digging out the rock and kept their own machines on the easy stuff. We were going through a set of Esco teeth in under a week. Good teeth, but very expensive.

In the end, I cut off the Esco adaptor noses and replaced them with weld on Cat noses made by Hensley. We could buy Hensleys Cat-style teeth for around a third of the price of Esco, and the quality was great.

Do you have a photo of the "walrus" teeth? They sound like Kverneland. Excellent teeth but not very common.

[rshackleford]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiTxTS4ghX0

check out the link here on youtube.

[ddigger]

Those do look good. Although for my self I would`nt want to commit my machine to something I could`nt buy nearly anywhere I was working. Where is out west?

[rshackleford]

i am 200+ miles away from anything anyway, so the longer i can get a set of teeth to last the better.

i like the Komatsu K series teeth a lot too, they have a 1/4 pin that lets you change your teeth pretty easy. this makes a lot sense on Davis Bacon jobs when i have guys out there getting paid $40+ per hour, but i would really consider the Cat teeth if i was on a normal wage job.

The buckets i am using now though happen to have the esco teeth, so that is what i am going to live with.

i am really wondering if anyone has gone out of the box and used anything other than syl's or tiger teeth. esco shows a bunch of other options.

also, could a person hard surface a tooth and get more life out of it?

[Iron Horse]

Are the guys over reaching with the bucket do you think ? Maybe the teeth are being dragged over the surface at too steep an angle instead of penetrating the soil at a shallow angle causing undue wear .

[Cmark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiTxTS4ghX0

check out the link here on youtube.

Yep. Those are Kverneland. Looks like they've been bought by Komatsu and changed the name to KVX.

[rshackleford]

Are the guys over reaching with the bucket do you think ? Maybe the teeth are being dragged over the surface at too steep an angle instead of penetrating the soil at a shallow angle causing undue wear .

i am not an operator myself and am learning the trade. i am always interested in new perspectives. i understand what you are saying, but is there a place where i can see diagrams, animations, or videos of the "proper" techniques?

thanks.

[MrKomatsu]

Head/Guild in houston......cheap supplier for all of the esco and hensley line....even the v-tec teeth......

[Iron Horse]

i am not an operator myself and am learning the trade. i am always interested in new perspectives. i understand what you are saying, but is there a place where i can see diagrams, animations, or videos of the "proper" techniques?

thanks.

Youtube is a great source of information . This video will help you in the right direction although the machine is loading loose material . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hWPe...eature=related

[rshackleford]

i am learning that V series is still protected by patents. I am told that the patent expire this month so reasonable priced teeth should be around the corner.

[John C.]

Teeth cost what they cost. Do you know know exactly how long they last in hours? Are there other ways of breaking the material that are less expensive than teeth? Did you make provision for extra costs of working in hard material before the job was bid?

In my coal mine days we put together studies of how long our ground engaging tools lasted and used that information to get better prices from the manufacturers. We figured out our cost per hour of operation on the ground engaging tools on each machine. That information will get the attention of the manufacturer's reps who will do whatever it takes to keep you using their products. We were using the machine manufacturer's teeth for awhile. We didn't feel we were getting the best value so we asked about proper operation. The rep was out right away to make suggestions. When that didn't work out, we put together a bid competition. We guaranteed purchasing a specific number of teeth if the manufacturer would guaranty a cost per hour.

I will not endorse a product here but will say it was not the manufacturer's product that we settled on. The key is "cost per hour of operation". Some teeth are more expensive to purchase but last longer. Some are cheap to purchase and burn right up. The cost of purchasing shanks and installing them means you have to be right the first time. Make friends with the reps and they might just throw in the new shanks for free to close the sale.

Good Luck!

[gasfield315c]

in my opinion, cat teeth outlast esco teeth 3 to 1...i ran a 225c deere for a long time, with a WB bucket and 6 v29's, and if you were in hard material (rock or shale) you might get a month or 2 on a round of teeth, on the other had all the cat machines we have at work now use twist on cat teeth...and i can get 6 months out of a set of teeth in the same material...and i dunno about esco but i know cat has teeth that are pointed, they are called extreme penetration teeth or something like that and they look like they would be the trick in hard ground just

[rshackleford]

i am lucky to get two weeks!!