Hydraulic Kits for Excavators (HKX) has created its first kit for wheel loaders, extending more than three decades of auxiliary hydraulic work on excavators into a new machine category.
HKX’s wheel loader third spool auxiliary field installable kits give equipment dealers and owners a way to add attachment capability to wheel loaders already on the lot or in the fleet.
Quick installation
Ordering a wheel loader with auxiliary hydraulics from the factory can mean a plant lead time of 12 to 20 weeks. A dealer with a customer who needs a machine to run a grapple, snow blower or broom next month has had few options other than to wait. The new HKX kit can be ordered and installed in a fraction of that time, allowing dealers to configure a machine already in inventory.
“Dealers have told us for years that lead time is the constraint, not the hardware,” said Robert Burnett, Vice President and General Manager of HKX.
“A loader sitting on the lot is a versatile machine if you can equip it quickly. These kits let a dealer say ‘yes’ to a customer this month instead of pointing at a plant schedule, and they let that dealer stock a simpler machine that stays sellable to everyone.”
The kits change what a dealer needs to stock, according to HKX. Rather than holding equipped and unequipped machines side-by-side and guessing at demand, a dealer can carry base machines and add capability when required.
When installed, the kits can power a wide range of mounted tools, including rollout buckets, grapples, bucket screeners, snow blowers, brooms, mowers and hammers. Currently, the kits are available for Komatsu’s WA200-8, WA270-8, WA320-8 and WA380-8, with the WA475-11 to follow.
Optional jumper hose sub kits with quick disconnect terminals are available, and fourth and fifth spool options are in development.
The kits use a bolt-on external valve design that mounts to existing OEM locations, so the machine’s main control valve is never removed or opened. Plug and play controls connect to the machine’s existing joystick and proportional control switch, with flow adjustment made through the operator’s own monitor rather than an added switch box in the cab.
Adjustable relief protection is provided on the added function. Each kit ships pre-assembled with a complete installation and parts manual, lifetime technical support and same-day availability on nearly all replacement parts.
The wheel loader line joins an established excavator portfolio that remains the core of the company’s business.
HKX auxiliary hydraulic kits equip excavators across a wide range of machine brands and size classes to run breakers, thumbs, shears and rotating tools, with the same install-ready design, control integration and parts support.
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