When tiltrotators began to appear on construction sites, they quickly caught the attention of Kevin Cox, President of DK Excavating.
However, figuring out how to ensure purchasing a tiltrotator translated to a favourable return on investment was a challenge.
“I thought they would be pretty slick, but I was trying to justify the price because they’re not cheap. It’s a big investment, and you have to know how to make that investment pay,” Cox said.
Now, as DK Excavating approaches its 10-year anniversary, four out of five of the company’s excavators are equipped with tiltrotators. The company’s John Deere 35G, 60G, 75G and Caterpillar 315 are all equipped with full engcon setups. The John Deere 240 excavator is reserved for bigger bulk work.
Based in Erin, Ontario, installation of septic systems accounts for about 75 per cent of DK Excavating’s work. Since installing tiltrotators and quick couplers on his machines, Cox has been able to cut installation time in half.
“We were doing these very large biofilter septic systems. We quote to do them in five days, because that’s what it would have taken us before,” Cox said. “Now, we’re doing them in two and a half days. And that’s right to finish topsoil — everything in two and a half days. It’s crazy how much it sped up the process.”
The investment required for a tiltrotator set up, combined with fewer billable hours, meant Cox had to change how he quoted jobs to clients.
“If you’re going to put a machine out by the hour with the tiltrotator on, you don’t make any money,” he explained. “I had to change the way I ran billing and quoting to make sense of it.”
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To accommodate for its efficiency reducing the number of hours on-site, the tiltrotator became a billable asset. Now, the tiltrotator is saving time and money for both DK Excavating and its clients. Cox is also able to easily bid on jobs knowing he can complete the work faster and for a lower price than his competitors.
“You actually get your money back fairly quickly. I’ve had these machines now for two years and I would say all the tiltrotators have more than paid for themselves,” Cox said. “If you’re billing and invoicing correctly, and you’re using them for what they need to be used for, it’s a very profitable attachment.”
Tiltrotators reduce wear and tear
Using tiltrotators has also extended the life of DK Excavating’s fleet. Some of his engcon-equipped machines are now approaching comparable hours to when he would typically be required to start making repairs or replacing tracks.
“The tracks on the machines now are still like new, because you’re not moving around as much,” Cox said.
“When you’re constantly maneuvering around a hole, it’s scraping through the dirt, you’re filling the undercarriage full of rocks, and it tears the inside of the tracks apart. Now you don’t have to do that.”
The maneuverability created by tiltrotators, Paired with the ability to quickly change attachments, has also helped to reduce labour on septic tank jobs. On a septic job, labour outside of the excavator cab has been reduced to plumbing.
“We just lay our pipe, shim it to where it needs to be and cap it with more stone. You’re not out there raking and shovelling and stuff like that,” Cox said.
A learning curve
When DK Excavating is recruiting new operators, it’s a learning curve for new hires to master the use of tiltrotators. Optimizing the efficiency of the setup requires the operator to refrain from frequently changing the machine’s position, which becomes a habit for operators with pin-on bucket experience.
“It’s almost easier for guys that have never ran an excavator before to kind of learn,” Cox said. “They dig very differently than a traditional excavator. It changes the entire way you do the job.”
The tiltrotator set up adds about a metre of length to the stick, which reduces breakout force.
“When you’re digging in hard ground like clay, you don’t use the bucket breakout, you actually use the stick breakout,” Cox said. “So, you dig with the stick rather than the bucket.”
Cox estimates he’s personally accumulated upwards of 5,000 hours operating a machine with a tiltrotator.
“And I’m still learning new little tricks every time I’m running one,” he said.
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