2018 Mecalac 6MCR

[lantraxco]

That's 880 pounds, I must have rounded up lol

 

[Columbo]

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A little seed and mulch:
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Nice job on the radius! Do you measure as you go or just set the steps by eye?

 

[materthegreater]

Yes, I measured as I went. The first and second steps have no angle but each after that has approximately 9 degrees of rotation.

 

[CM1995]

Great work!

That machine is perfect for jobs like that.

 

[Willie B]

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A little seed and mulch:
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Now the stupid questions begin:
If working alone, how do you guide a block as you lower it into place?
I once had an old backhoe would settle an inch a minute. Worked nice for swivelling a stone hung from a chain. These days I use a come along.

 

[materthegreater]

Now the stupid questions begin:
If working alone, how do you guide a block as you lower it into place?
I once had an old backhoe would settle an inch a minute. Worked nice for swivelling a stone hung from a chain. These days I use a come along.

I used the boom offset to rotate to the approximate angle needed, and I hung them a little off center from the lifting hook so that either the front or back of the block touched the ground first. Then with only part of the weight of it on the ground I could easily rotate and maneuver to the correct position by hand. I haven't worked with these before this job but they sure are quicker than natural stone that I'm used to working with.

 

[Willie B]

I used the boom offset to rotate to the approximate angle needed, and I hung them a little off center from the lifting hook so that either the front or back of the block touched the ground first. Then with only part of the weight of it on the ground I could easily rotate and maneuver to the correct position by hand. I haven't worked with these before this job but they sure are quicker than natural stone that I'm used to working with.

These are light enough, you probably could fine tune position using hand tools.

 

[materthegreater]

These are light enough, you probably could fine tune position using hand tools.

300 kg according to Redi-Rock

 

[CM1995]

What did those blocks cost? Cheaper than natural stone?

 

[materthegreater]

What did those blocks cost? Cheaper than natural stone?

$139.50 ea. I didn't price out natural stone. Even if it was less, the extra time spent placing them would use up any savings. The customer wanted to match the existing retaining wall also.

I've never purchased natural stone, always used what was available on site or could be scavenged.

 

[CM1995]

$140 each is very reasonable.

Natural ledge stone for building retainer walls is around $10-12 a face foot delivered here. The quality of stone for building walls and such varies here so most of it comes from small quarries.

 

[materthegreater]

No pics with the new CMP bucket on, but it's working out well so far, even though I'm just using tilt and not rotate yet. Still waiting on a Rexroth dealer to tell me if I can add a section to the valve block, or if I need to use a diverter for the second auxiliary circuit.

I never did hear back from the Rexroth dealer so I ended up buying a diverter kit from Mecalac. When I ordered it they said there is no support for this vintage machine anywhere so this kit is "buy at your own risk". They won't be able to help with installation or troubleshooting. It didn't come with installation instructions either.

I think it's just the tape that makes their parts so expensive:


It diverts the offset circuit so I certainly won't be getting high flow but shouldn't need it for attachment rotation anyway.

 

[materthegreater]

The wiring harness came with circuits for a lot of options that weren't included with the machine, so the kit just came with a short jumper harness to connect to the solenoid valve, and a switch for the left console to select between offset or auxiliary.


The problem is, nothing happens when I turn the switch to the clamshell (auxiliary) position. So I tested the voltage at the solenoid connector: 12 volts when disconnected, next to nothing when a load (the solenoid) is connected. Interesting. I noticed that the wires in the harness have numbers printed on them. The white wire in the connector at the solenoid is a different number than the white wire at the selector switch. According to information in the service manual, the white wire at the selector switch goes to the boom cylinder pressure switch (I verified that it does), which makes no sense to me. So then I tried to trace the white wire at the solenoid and the service manual information shows it at a multi pin connector under the cab, but doesn't seem to give any indication of where it goes after that. The other wire at the solenoid (orange) appears to be ground (or possibly power, if the switch circuit is ground) because it connects to multiple other orange wires at another point in the harness.

Needless to say, I'm thoroughly confused.

 

[laidback01]

***. how is that a 'vintage machine'. That thing is brand new and incredibly complex. wow, I'm glad they have parts for it, but that's a weird response I think.

 

[materthegreater]

I've been wanting a vibrating roller of some sort for a while, so that I don't need to rent one when doing driveways or pad prep. I decided to get a skid steer style and use it with the Mecalac. I got prices from several local equipment dealers and new name brand rollers are about $14k. I found a used one for $10k but even that is more than I wanted to spend for an attachment that I'll possibly only use a dozen times a year. So I ended up getting a new "Handy" 76" vibrating roller for $5k.

Strapped down for the ride home:


A little lighter than some, but heavy enough (1753 lbs)


I knew that it would need a few changes to work with the Mecalac because the hoses need to be longer to reach the hydraulic couplers on the arm. But I wasn't expecting to have issues picking it up with the skid steer adapter. The center pivot is held together with a flat plate and two M16 bolts. The problem is that they stick out past the mounting plate. That may not be a problem for some skid steers but the Mecalac skid steer adapter does not have an open space in the center.


So I bought some flat head bolts to keep them flush with the plate.

 

[materthegreater]

As with most cheap attachments, it required a bit of doing to get the roller useable. Most of the hydraulic fittings were loose, but I had to extend the hoses anyway so no big deal. But it still had a massive leak from the female hydraulic coupler. I took it apart and found the reason. Guess which pieces don't belong?



After removing the extra parts from the seal groove, it works fine.


I used it to compact bank run sand in an old barn foundation. I dug this down about 3 feet to remove old debris that was in there, and then filled and compacted in lifts.


I know it's not a ten wheeler, but my loaded truck didn't sink in much so it seems to have done a good job:

 

[Tags]

Hope you have good luck with it. Thought the same thing as you so I bought a paladin 78” model years ago. Be gentle with it. They tend to ruin the seals that hold the gear oil in the exciter tube, the problem is, when the seals go, the oil leaks on the inside of the roller drum so you have no idea it’s got a problem until the bearings burn out. I believe you want to run the unit in float so you don’t put too much weight on it.

 

[materthegreater]

Hope you have good luck with it. Thought the same thing as you so I bought a paladin 78” model years ago. Be gentle with it. They tend to ruin the seals that hold the gear oil in the exciter tube, the problem is, when the seals go, the oil leaks on the inside of the roller drum so you have no idea it’s got a problem until the bearings burn out. I believe you want to run the unit in float so you don’t put too much weight on it.

With this one, the drum gets filled with at least 20 gallons of oil for lubrication and to add extra weight. The manual says to use down pressure to slightly lift the front tires of the skid steer. Obviously this isn't a wheeled skid steer but that tells me it's designed to be used with some down pressure. We will see.

 

[HarleyHappy]

It’s not like you’re doing a compaction test, you should be able to tell if it’s working well or not.
Compacting sand is troublesome, to say the least.
Water, is the key.

 

[CM1995]

As with most cheap attachments, it required a bit of doing to get the roller useable. Most of the hydraulic fittings were loose, but I had to extend the hoses anyway so no big deal. But it still had a massive leak from the female hydraulic coupler. I took it apart and found the reason. Guess which pieces don't belong?

View attachment 343087

After removing the extra parts from the seal groove, it works fine.
View attachment 343088

I used it to compact bank run sand in an old barn foundation. I dug this down about 3 feet to remove old debris that was in there, and then filled and compacted in lifts.
View attachment 343089

I know it's not a ten wheeler, but my loaded truck didn't sink in much so it seems to have done a good job:
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Congrats. That's pretty neat configuring it to run on your Mecalac.

As far as a loaded single axle dump goes it'll find each and every soft spot on a job. Sometimes better than a tandem.

Hope you have good luck with it. Thought the same thing as you so I bought a paladin 78” model years ago. Be gentle with it. They tend to ruin the seals that hold the gear oil in the exciter tube, the problem is, when the seals go, the oil leaks on the inside of the roller drum so you have no idea it’s got a problem until the bearings burn out. I believe you want to run the unit in float so you don’t put too much weight on it.

Same here on the Bobcat version we had - couldn't keep bearings in it. Swapped to trench rollers which have their own issues. Need 2 trench rollers so at least one will run.