X for small marina

[ezfriday]

I'm a retired contractor and my wife and I have purchased a small marina as a semi retirement plan and am looking for a medium duty excavator that can perform light dredging, levy work and some upgrades for the marina.

Also, I will be configuring the machine for a long reach boom when needed. I expect to need the use of both a standard and a long reach but don't need a huge machine. What size range to stay with for CAT, Komatsu, Linkbelt or Hyundai that will accommodate the use of a 50’ to 60’ reach. I will be running a pile hammer as well.

I have been leaning toward a Linkbelt or Hyundai because of price. I've seen some decent reviews about Hyundai but not much about Linkbelt. Any opinions on Linkbelt?

The soil content in our area is mainly light silt with little soft clay so digging is pretty easy minus an occasional stump removal.

Thx,

ezfriday :usa

 

[Colorado Digger]

i've got 3 link belts a 135, 210 and 225 and they all run like tops. the cab is not quite as nice as a cat or komatsu but they have very fast hydraulics. another problem is the undercarriage is not quite as beefy as a cat. but with that said i deeply believe they are productive and effective machines. i know nothing about the hyundai.- if you need to dig 50' a 210 size machine is probably plenty. keep in mind now is the time to buy. at the last rb auction a hitachi 210 witha thumb and 1000 hrs brought $34000. iron is cheap. good luck

 

[stock]

According to the operator she has a reach of 16mts and will lift cross tracked at full reach with an empty bucket.

 

[AtlasRob]

View attachment 31843


According to the operator she has a reach of 16mts and will lift cross tracked at full reach with an empty bucket.

God that must have been cold last night, -8C here but must have been much colder there, it turned that orange Doosan BLUE

 

[ezfriday]

i've got 3 link belts a 135, 210 and 225 and they all run like tops. the cab is not quite as nice as a cat or komatsu but they have very fast hydraulics. another problem is the undercarriage is not quite as beefy as a cat. but with that said i deeply believe they are productive and effective machines. i know nothing about the hyundai.- if you need to dig 50' a 210 size machine is probably plenty. keep in mind now is the time to buy. at the last rb auction a hitachi 210 witha thumb and 1000 hrs brought $34000. iron is cheap. good luck

Thanks, that is reassuring. I am leaning toward a nice looking Linkbelt 210 right now but was unsure of their performance capabilities. The lighter undercarriage may prove an advantage while working from a small barge.

 

[Colorado Digger]

if you can afford a series x2 i would highly recommend the machine, you can turn your hydraulics up or to fit your needs and the engine is extremely fuel efficient. we can get 20 hrs hogging on a full tank at 8000 ft. you should be able to pick one for less than 100k. good luck if you need a link our dealer here is the #1 link belt dealer in the us. bob

 

[John C.]

You are talking a swiss army knife for a machine that isn't possible. You get the long reach with the tea cup bucket or you get the standard machine with all the goodies.

Trust me, it's not practical to swap back and forth from a long reach boom to the standard. The long reach boom will not take any breaker or pile hammer work.

It's best to pick the greatest number of jobs you will do with each machine and buy that way. Hire a contractor to do the other jobs you only do once in awhile.

 

[ezfriday]

You are talking a swiss army knife for a machine that isn't possible. You get the long reach with the tea cup bucket or you get the standard machine with all the goodies.

Trust me, it's not practical to swap back and forth from a long reach boom to the standard. The long reach boom will not take any breaker or pile hammer work.

It's best to pick the greatest number of jobs you will do with each machine and buy that way. Hire a contractor to do the other jobs you only do once in awhile.

Yes I believe you…

Doing this was suggested to me by a dealer trying to convince me to buy a standard machine and then sell me a new long reach setup for it with the added advantage of having both configurations. I kind of anticipated hiring some of the jobs out that I may only do once anyhow, so I agree with you there as well. Much of the work I will have to do myself as the income from the marina will not support the hiring of contractors, especially in our current economy.


ez

 

[ezfriday]

You are talking a swiss army knife for a machine that isn't possible. You get the long reach with the tea cup bucket or you get the standard machine with all the goodies.

Trust me, it's not practical to swap back and forth from a long reach boom to the standard. The long reach boom will not take any breaker or pile hammer work.

It's best to pick the greatest number of jobs you will do with each machine and buy that way. Hire a contractor to do the other jobs you only do once in awhile.

You sound very familiar so if you don’t mind I would like to run my scenario by you as follows:

Most of the work I will be doing will be with the machine positioned on a levy about 5ft to 8ft above the water surface (depending upon the tide) and set back from the waters edge about 10ft – 12ft (depending upon the tide). I will need to dredge to an average depth at low tide of around 10ft. Given this criteria what would you recommend. I have thought of looking for something with a 40' to 46' reach.

As far as the pilings, I would only be driving steel tube piles or sheet piles in soft soil conditions and the bedrock averages about 20ft below the silt. The steel tube pilings here average 40ft to 50ft in length. Will a standard machine be able to perform the initial set of a 50ft piling? Do you think a long reach X will have trouble with a small vibratory hammer? Others have told me that long reach x's have been configured this way.

I realize the bucket on the long reach is probably not going to be able to exceed 36" however for my needs 36” will work. Bigger would be better but I can get things done with a 36”.



ez

 

[tripletree]

If you look at a cat 320c or cat 324c the company I work for has just changed our long reach booms to standard booms. the 324 is in central CA and the 320 is in FL. We also have a 320B set up in SC. We use them from time to time and seem o forget about them when we buy or rpo a new machine a seem to have a few around that we no longer need. It may be a cheap way to get a long boom set up.

 

[Taylortractornu]

M brother has a 120 Hitachi Grey market he picked up for 34000 decnt machine. lots of times he has a dredging job he can get a dock company to rent him a small barge and a tugboat. but yo uhave to unoad alot some times he uses a hopper barge in tandem. But it has to be unloaded. On pilings here we use homemade drop hammers my freind William Davis builds them with a 1000 ound drop weight with an 8 to 10 foot free fall. they have to be hand cycled but have an auto trip at the top. He also builds in a grabber to pick the post/ pile up off the deck and drives them into clay up to 10 feet. One suggestion is you could buy a normal reach hoe and and then buy a cheap duty cycle crane/ dragline and learn to use that. Ive never dragged yet but wantin to but I have spent a lot of days clamming with a 120 foot boom. clamming is pretty easy once you get a little practice and get into a rythm. I was calmming with a 3 yard bucket then shortened the boom and used a 4. Plus we als used the same machine for pilings to with a simple drop hammer an tire.

 

[AtlasRob]

I disagree on not having a standard machine and a long reach boom.

As long as you are aware that you will need a day and some lifting gear ( not necessarily a crane ) as well as some assistance I think the standard machine and a seperate long reach boom + dipper is what would suit you best.

My understanding from what you say is you need to do some long reach dredging, possibly days, weeks, months ( you dont specify ) and you will complete this operation over a period of time as needed. I assume similar work if not actual repeat will be required some time in the future, possibly a couple of years. Possibility for others once you have the gear!

You also want to do some excavation/piling/construction activity.
IF
These two main activities can be seperated and do not require you to chop and change between the two on a daily or weekly basis and you can do one of them for several weeks or more without changing I really dont see a problem.
The important thing for you to be aware of ( learn ) is exactly what is required ( time, effort, cost ) in changing between the two booms.
Many of us supposed experts professionals judge things on our normal way of doing things and I agree 100% that nobody in thier right mind would suggest chopping and changing between the two booms on a regular basis ( you would get laughed off site ) but when you get into the realms of hobby operators and volunteers there is a different priority culture.
I really advise you too persue your enquiries as to what is involved in changing between the two, and see if the aggro is worth the effort.

Many of us can tell you the proccess, un bolt this, knock that out etc, etc and frighten the life out of you with cranes, fitters etc etc, but if you look into it properly, including availability of strong labour, tools, timbers, storage etc I really think its the way I would go, on my understanding of your requirements.

There are more than enough experienced people that visit this forum to give you advise and help and plenty of them will make sure you are not misled.

Ask away. :drinkup

 

[ezfriday]

Possibilities

I disagree on not having a standard machine and a long reach boom.

As long as you are aware that you will need a day and some lifting gear ( not necessarily a crane ) as well as some assistance I think the standard machine and a seperate long reach boom + dipper is what would suit you best.

My understanding from what you say is you need to do some long reach dredging, possibly days, weeks, months ( you dont specify ) and you will complete this operation over a period of time as needed. I assume similar work if not actual repeat will be required some time in the future, possibly a couple of years. Possibility for others once you have the gear!

You also want to do some excavation/piling/construction activity.
IF
These two main activities can be seperated and do not require you to chop and change between the two on a daily or weekly basis and you can do one of them for several weeks or more without changing I really dont see a problem.
The important thing for you to be aware of ( learn ) is exactly what is required ( time, effort, cost ) in changing between the two booms.
Many of us supposed experts professionals judge things on our normal way of doing things and I agree 100% that nobody in thier right mind would suggest chopping and changing between the two booms on a regular basis ( you would get laughed off site ) but when you get into the realms of hobby operators and volunteers there is a different priority culture.
I really advise you too persue your enquiries as to what is involved in changing between the two, and see if the aggro is worth the effort.

Many of us can tell you the proccess, un bolt this, knock that out etc, etc and frighten the life out of you with cranes, fitters etc etc, but if you look into it properly, including availability of strong labour, tools, timbers, storage etc I really think its the way I would go, on my understanding of your requirements.

There are more than enough experienced people that visit this forum to give you advise and help and plenty of them will make sure you are not misled.

Ask away. :drinkup

Well thought out and well put...

I would not be changing the arms on a regular basis...

I have thought of a few ideas that would simplify the process of change the arms out if I do go with one machine. My idea is to weld together two separate storage racks (one for each arm). Each rack would be designed to hold the elevation of the arm at a position to allow for ease of mounting.

ez

 

[AtlasRob]

I would not be changing the arms on a regular basis...

I have thought of a few ideas that would simplify the process of change the arms out if I do go with one machine. My idea is to weld together two separate storage racks (one for each arm). Each rack would be designed to hold the elevation of the arm at a position to allow for ease of mounting.

ez

I went back and reread your post and realise we are not dealing with a complete greenhorn which makes life a lot easier.
I believe you are thinking along the right lines, but before you get too involved in design of frames etc decide on machine base size, which apart from reach, will transportation before during or after ownership be an issue ?
Once you decide on base size then narrow it down to make, do some manufacturers have same size boom and ram pins and footprint.
What long reaches are available / common.
Once you have this info, then you will have some idea of cost.
You will probably change the dipper and bucket ram and all the linkage each time you change over but if you had the second set complete life would be easier, but initial expense higher, and how long would those extra expensive items sit not being used. :beatsme
If you convince yourself to go this route the actual changeover will be the time to look at frames, supports, overhead lifting frame etc, etc,
One company I know used to dig a hole to lower the dipper into which brought everything down to a safer more managable level.
Dig the hole, then remove bucket and anything else you want, then pop the dipper back down the hole to remove it. :beatsme

 

[Prep]

For light duty dredging why not look in to using an "add a stick" or "extendavator " attachment. I think it would be easier then trying to change out your entire boom and stick assembly. (Of course this is coming from a guy who sometimes has a hard time changing buckets. )

 

[stock]

one of these may be an asset and I have seen telescopic sticks available but haven't been able to locate a picture of one.

 

[T_S_S]

The Link belt 240 x2 long front machine is a great excavator. Use it for cleaning storm water management ponds. Very quick , well built unit.

 

[Raildudes dad]

For your piling work you might want to look into a small lattice boom crane. I bought a 1966 P&H 215TC about a year ago. I paid scrap value for it ($3500) but everything works on it. A sister unit is available on Machinery Trader. There's no market for them commercially but for doing your own work.... There are a few clean ones out there. The nice thing about mine is it isn't overweight, over width or over height on a standard lowboy. Real easy to truck - I wouldn't want to road it very far. Mine's got a Chrysler flathead 6 in the crane and an IHC BD308 in the carrier, real easy to work on. FWD built the carrier and I was able to get a copy of the "builder's file" from Seagraves Corp.

 

[ezfriday]

M brother has a 120 Hitachi Grey market he picked up for 34000 decnt machine. lots of times he has a dredging job he can get a dock company to rent him a small barge and a tugboat. but yo uhave to unoad alot some times he uses a hopper barge in tandem. But it has to be unloaded. On pilings here we use homemade drop hammers my freind William Davis builds them with a 1000 ound drop weight with an 8 to 10 foot free fall. they have to be hand cycled but have an auto trip at the top. He also builds in a grabber to pick the post/ pile up off the deck and drives them into clay up to 10 feet. One suggestion is you could buy a normal reach hoe and and then buy a cheap duty cycle crane/ dragline and learn to use that. Ive never dragged yet but wantin to but I have spent a lot of days clamming with a 120 foot boom. clamming is pretty easy once you get a little practice and get into a rythm. I was calmming with a 3 yard bucket then shortened the boom and used a 4. Plus we als used the same machine for pilings to with a simple drop hammer an tire.

I had thought of this approach … even drove 500 miles to look at a P&H crane for $35,000 in Los Angeles. The crane was nice but turned out to be a little to heavy for the barge size I am restricted to (25ft to 30ft by 45ft to 60ft ~ still looking for one of these also). I looked into sectional barges but they are expensive ($120,000+). That’s the real killer is the expense of the barge and the X. Fortunately for me I can reach the majority of what I need to do with an extended reach X. For my intermittent needs I was hoping to find a single piece of equipment that can do the majority of the work needed and then sub out the rest (less machinery to maintain the better). Given the income of the marina I am on a pretty tight budget and cannot afford to lay out $100k on the X and then another $100k on the barge. My brother is a very good mechanic and can make just about anything run even if it needs a complete overhaul. Suppose the most one can hope for is to find a decent setup with what ones wallet can afford? Thx for your suggestions… I wouldn’t mind seeing some pics of your setup…


ez

 

[ror76a]

If I were you I would be looking for an old cralwer crane. Something like a Bucryus 22B, Northwest 25 or any of the old 3/4 - 1 yard machines. They would be ideal for pile work and set up with a dragline bucket can reach 45-50 feet. These smaller machines don't weigh much if any more than a 240 long reach, and it's a lot easier to switch between a drag/clam bucket, pile driver, etc than switch a boom on an excavator. They would dig slower than an excavator, but cost far less to buy and if in decent condtion and properly maintained cost less to operate. The biggest drawback would be that they are tougher to operate than an excavator, but they are capible of most jobs an excavator will do and some that an ex won't. A crane would be handy to have around the marina after these projects are done to lift boats, docks, and all of the other misc. stuff that will need lifting. I keep an old Unit crane around my excavating business for small dredging jobs where it is not economical to rent a long reach, pilling sand & gravel, and it's really handy around the shop to be able to lift stuff.