Takeuchi wheeled excavator is ideal for road construction and specialised tasks.
Having “the right tool for the job” has always been critical to carrying out any job successfully and efficiently. Nowhere is this more true than for tasks associated with new road construction.
Queensland’s Sticky Group had been considering a wheeled excavator for some time, however working on a six kilometre stretch of a new ring-road being constructed in Townsville convinced them a tracked machine would not be able to move quickly enough.
“We had a new Takeuchi 8 tonne excavator which was being used on work and around Brisbane on the clean-up works after last year’s cyclone” said Sticky, the Group’s owner.
“While this is a great machine, we realised that a wheeled excavator would be able to carry out the road construction jobs so much faster, so we purchased a Takeuchi TB295W wheeled excavator to give us the mobility needed to move faster and a lot more efficiently.
“Being more accustomed to tracked excavators, it took a little time getting used to operating a wheeled excavator. However after a few days we didn’t even bother to lower the stabiliser legs as we found we could easily travel, scoop up and swing the boom around quite easily. It was a different experience, but it’s only a matter of getting used to some different techniques.
“I see a great future for our TB295W in assisting with other road works such as clearing drains and with a slasher/mulcher head on the boom we can groom roadside vegetation. With the machine’s extra reach, we know we’ll be able to take on considerably more work.
“When it finishes working on the Townsville ring-road project, I am sure it will fit into my niche fleet to be used on other work around the city.
“As an accredited rail contractor, another potential use of the machine is to add a Hi-Rail attachment for our railway work. Basically, for our purposes we are finding the TB295W presents many more options and fewer restrictions than a tracked machine.
“My introduction to Takeuchi was about four years ago when we purchased a used 8 tonne TB80FR excavator. Its previous owners had carried out some modifications and there was plenty of evidence it had a hard life. Despite the machine’s history I was very happy with its the power and overall strength”, Sticky said.
Sticky Group operates a fleet of machines and undertakes work ranging from construction site clean-up to road construction, earthworks in preparation for small housing estates; contracting for building sites, railways, telecommunications operators, Council works and rural applications.
