A one of a kind excavator

Behind the controls of this unique excavator is Kristoffer Westman from Sundbergs Åkeri, a Swedish plant, and trucking company. He puts the excavator to work on constructing a forest road, making use of the greater flexibility and efficiency the combination of the front blade and tiltrotator bring.

Equipped together with Engcon’s quick hitch, EC-Oil automatic oil connection, and a DC2 proportional control system with MIG2 joysticks that control the tiltrotator, track, and blade.

At the end of 2018, Caterpillar launched the next generation excavators in the 30-ton class – 330 and 330 GC. When Sundbergs Åkeri chose equipment for its newly acquired Cat® 330 Next Gen in early 2019, among other things, a tiltrotator and grading bucket from Engcon were chosen.

Together with a custom-built excavator blade from Nyströms Verkstadsservice in Edsbro, Sundbergs Åkeri now has a one of a kind excavator that delivers significant improvements in efficiency with the company’s road construction work.

“From just scooping up material which I then have leveling with the bucket, I can now plan where to place the material with the front blade. This means that I now roll the material in front of the blade, which results in larger stones falling to the bottom and finer material settling on the surface. It also makes the road easier to adjust before graveling”

A successful combination

Up until now when building forest roads it has been uncommon to use an excavator with a tiltrotator, but for Kristoffer it has so far brought only benefits, especially in combination with the front blade.

“I haven’t driven more than a couple of hundred hours, but this is how an excavator should be. The tiltrotator complements the front blade very well as I can use it to rotate the grading bucket to a position where it acts as a wing along the front blade. That way I can either steer in or out of the ground from the embankment” 

Kristoffer Westman goes on to say that his new Cat 330 is also equipped with Engcon’s automatic quick mounting system with EC-Oil.

“Thanks to EC-Oil, it only takes 10 seconds for me to hang the tiltrotator and switch to the toothed bucket in case I need extra braking power. This without me even having to leave the cab to connect some hoses”

The new excavator is currently being used in the construction of a new forest road west of Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden. The front blade is controlled via Engcon’s proportional joysticks MIG2, which means that Kristoffer does not need to change the grip to dig or excavate. The control of the tracks is also connected to Engcon’s control system DC2.

Engcon

Engcon manufactures and sells its tiltrotators, quick couplers, control systems and tools for excavators throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. The company is the world leader in tiltrotators and their attachments for excavators in the 1.5 – 33 metric ton range.

Engcon is a privately-owned Group with its parent company, Engcon Holding AB, based in Strömsund, Sweden. In 2018, the Engcon Group achieved $130 million in sales with 250 employees. The company was founded in 1990.