Why dont you use a Rototilt?

[Snowcraft97]

Hi! Im intrested in finding out why you americans dont use a rototilt on your exavators? i have never seen one in the US but its rare to see an exavator without a Rototilt here in northen europe. For you that does not know what a "rototilt" is, its a Tool between the bucket and the crane that allows you to spin the bucket 360 degrees and can tilt the bucket. Its very useful when building roads, digging pipes and everything else you use the exavator for... So why dont you use it?

 

[JGibson]

I personally would love to have one. There just aren't enough dealers around that support them. Look incredibly useful

 

[Delmer]

America is a big place and we have lower standards in a lot of ways than Northern Europe does. Many excavators do rough work where a rototilt would get in the way. The place I tend to see them is on county highway department machines, that do the kind of work that can really use one (and where the budget is less of a priority).

 

[Jmac03]

I have asked this same question many times. I think these are the best attachments out there for an excavator. I believe one of the biggest draw backs for them is the price. I don't know what you would pay for one in Europe, but I priced one out for a Kubota KX121-3 and it came out to over $17000!!! That is a little too steep for me! Also, like JBibson said another drawback it the lack of a dealer support structure in the United States.

 

[ddigger]

I would love one, but on a machine my size and with the work I do it would never stand up to the abuse.

 

[movindirt]

Here is a question for you, why don't many machines in Europe get thumbs put on them? I think a rototilt would be useful for a lot of utility applications, but not only is there not many dealers for them, they are really high priced imo

 

[Dualie]

because they make you hand dig around any utility's anyway. Doesn't really pay to own one.

 

[lantraxco]

The Helac tilt units are popular here, but even those tend to be used only in landscaping and grading applications. It's just a different world, with different people and different work. I know in Europe rubber tired excavators are very popular, here you almost never see one, they just don't work for us.

 

[cdm123]

I looked into one a year or two ago, retardedly expensive, poor attitude from salesman, wouldn't match up to my buckets. But if I ever win the lottery will defiantly look at one again.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Talking to a bloke with a few excavators and asked him about the applications here in Australia ( I know little about excavators) he reckoned that at one stage you could get a premium on the hourly rate but not so much these days. In his market you were just expected to have one.

In other words if you don't have one there is no job . . . he did point out that if you were bidding work and did not have tilt and twist you were pizzing in the wind and would be completely uncompetitive.

Cheers.

 

[Garrie Denny]

True comment Scrub: The larger excavators-20-25-30-35 tonne that you see on all the roadworks(Bruce Highway North of Gin-Gin & South Sth-Gympie road works, this is a piece of gear that is as much a must have as a batter bucket. The price for a smaller machine ,say2-3-4-5-8- tonne to have one is probably not warranted,but a LOVE to have piece of gear. Have you got Saturdays lotto numbers by any chance ?

 

[Garrie Denny]

Snowcraft97: Take off your $400 sunglasses and you might see the world we live in. They are 22222222222222222 EXPENSIVE 2 Buy,sort that out and you might be right for a $900 pair. Good luck with that.

 

[BSAA65LB]

You have seen answers from Americans.......seriously, rather than make a machine more versatile by spending money on a specialized attachment, we will try to figure out how to do the work with 5 pieces of equipment and brag we saved money!

I travel to Europe and am amazed by the specialized attachments that are considered normal in Europe. People here see pics and videos, say how great that would be, and absolutely blow a gasket over paying for it.

Different market, different ways of doing things.

 

[movindirt]

You have seen answers from Americans.......seriously, rather than make a machine more versatile by spending money on a specialized attachment, we will try to figure out how to do the work with 5 pieces of equipment and brag we saved money!

I travel to Europe and am amazed by the specialized attachments that are considered normal in Europe. People here see pics and videos, say how great that would be, and absolutely blow a gasket over paying for it.

Different market, different ways of doing things.

Speaking of different ways of doing things, how many youtube videos have I watched where they use 2 mini excavators and a dumper to move a pile of whatever just a short distance? It could easily be done with a skid loader or a compact track loader just as fast if not faster. Doesn't sound like we Americans are using more pieces of equipment here to me?

I can't say as though I have ever heard of someone not getting a excavating job because they don't have a special twisty bucket to do it with, I think most times as long as whoever is low bid they don't care what its done with.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . movindirt

I think most times as long as whoever is low bid they don't care what its done with.

I think you exactly nailed it.

On many jobs twist and tilt will out produce a standard bucket by a large margin, in some markets it is getting to the stage where a machine is uncompetitive with a standard stick.

Garrie Denny Can't help you with those numbers mate. (big grin)

Cheers.

 

[d4c24a]

we don't have thumbs as we don't really need them and they would get in the way

 

[Buckethead]

Snowcraft, I think they just never caught on. A lot of the old men who started on the old cable machines were tickled pink just to have a hydraulic machine for working around utilities.

 

[Hitachi225]

It is really funny to see the answers a lot of guys give on here . And judging by the answers I can pretty safely say that they haven't run them and are just making assumptions . I bought a new 29 tonne zero swing excavator about 8 months ago with one here in Canada and cannot say enough good things about it . Such a time saver ! Incredible for grading , demolition , clearing etc . I wouldn't equip every single one of my excavators with one but I will always have a few from 5-30 tonnes equipped with rototilts .

Sure they are pricey , but looking back now and knowing what I know now , I would pay twice as much no doubt for mine . As for the guy who said they can't take the abuse , that's what I thought until every excavator I saw in Sweden had one . Sweden is all rock . Talked to the operators and some of the units where on there 2nd and 3rd machines ( 15,000 hours ) with out a rebuild or any major repairs .

 

[movindirt]

It is really funny to see the answers a lot of guys give on here . And judging by the answers I can pretty safely say that they haven't run them and are just making assumptions . I bought a new 29 tonne zero swing excavator about 8 months ago with one here in Canada and cannot say enough good things about it . Such a time saver ! Incredible for grading , demolition , clearing etc . I wouldn't equip every single one of my excavators with one but I will always have a few from 5-30 tonnes equipped with rototilts .

Sure they are pricey , but looking back now and knowing what I know now , I would pay twice as much no doubt for mine . As for the guy who said they can't take the abuse , that's what I thought until every excavator I saw in Sweden had one . Sweden is all rock . Talked to the operators and some of the units where on there 2nd and 3rd machines ( 15,000 hours ) with out a rebuild or any major repairs .

Whats the ballpark figure for how much one cost for a 30 ton machine?

 

[ddigger]

As for the guy who said they can't take the abuse.

That would be me, and I stand by my original statement. I have been around them and even ran a few. I don't discount there usefulness. 90% of my work requires bucket & thumb.