Hey All, I’m in the finishing stages of a huge earthwork project and we are doing a ton of shale paths. All between 55 and 65” wide, but they are all tighter turns. I have an older CAT CB-214E, 39” drum width but fairly long. Its useable, but pretty hard to get into some of these spots and its honestly a bit too heavy/too powerful. Wanted some advice on something smaller that hits a little less hard but is a lot more maneuverable. Something like a Wacker RD12 or a BOMAG BW80 or 90/900. All those machines are a 35” drum (except the BW80 which is an 31”) but they all are about 20-24” shorter. I’m assuming an RD12 would be much more maneuverable than my 214E? Any comments on how the gas engines on some of these smaller machines are to operate vs their diesel counterparts? its gonna stay on this jobsite and wont see a ton of use so its not a production machine per se that is gonna see a few hrs per day. Probadly more like 2-3 hrs per week tops. Just dont want to size down and find out the RD12 still doesnt turn that well.
Not sure if this is an option for you, but we are real happy with our Multiquip MRH800GS, 26" wide roller. It's fast going forward and backwards, hits pretty hard, and easy to get right up to the edges. Steers like a tiller steering on a sailboat. It's a gas easy to work on and maintain Honda GX360, but you can also find them with a diesel.
Yeah, I’d been considering one of those as well. How easy is it to make nice sweeping turns with?
I've bid on a few, one was a pad foot, but apparently everyone wants them. I got my Misaka diesel plate compactor for ~1200 only because the recoil was broke and battery dead so most everyone figured it was junk. The ones that fired up at the RB auction went for 2-3x that. Mine took some time fixing and a paint job, works ok, but I think the timing is off as it's quite smokey. Also a pain to move around, need to forklift it or sling it, can't just roll it. It's too heavy to manhandle unless wanting to rip apart the handle isolators, and those aren't very cheap. (I replaced them)
Without seeing your turns it's a bit hard to answer. If you're a strong guy you can just yank it over as needed, but then you might rough up the compaction a bit where you just rolled. To do it best, I would go forward down the middle of the path without vibrating. Then reverse (Best way to control nice turns) along the edge of the path without vibration, go forward again and then back again on the other edge no vibration. Then repeat that process with the vibration on. For a path one vibration pass may be enough. If you need to smooth it out again, do another roll pass without the vibration. Typically the rolling part is way, way faster than getting the roller to the job site, spreading the gravel etc.
A lot of places rent these, so that may be an option. They come up at auction too. There is one for sale in the Seattle area on craigslist for $7,500.00 I think. Or you can by new....
I passed on a small Detroit powered single wheel unit at Saturday's big annual auction. Shudda, wudda, cudda but the paychecks only go.so far for toys.
So I went and looked at the RD12 and drove it and it would be small enough no problem, a full 2ft shorter than my 214. I just ran across a CAT CB14B for sale as well. It’s 4k more, same hours, but diesel. both are 2017. The money difference isnt much of an issue. The cat is 4” wider and 4” longer, but I think the length/wheelbase played a much bigger role in the access issues as opposed to the width, so I’m guessing it would operate bigger, but not a ton bigger. Ive sat on the RD12 and it’s 30 minutes from me, former rental, delivered for 12k with 300 hrs. Cat is in Mississippi, former rental, delivered for 16k. The RD12 seemed to operate fine, it certainly felt a lot less powerful when I ran the compaction on asphalt, but I’m not sure how well I judged that and the 214 I have is 3x the weight and horsepower, so I think thats also to be expected. I also don’t need it to hit crazy hard, just need to compact gravel and road base on close to a mile of walking paths around the job. So, I’d say the CAT is probably the better deal and better resale plus I dont have a gasser in my fleet to contend with in terms of fueling etc but I’ve not seen it personally and its slightly bigger than the Wacker RD12 gas unit. Don’t know why I’m sweating this purchase so much, but, any advice on what to get appreciated.
Dang... The ones I've looked at i passed when they were over 5-6k haha
can barely buy an oil filter in California for that
Sounds like an RD12 may work just fine. What's the edging along the side of the path if the operator goes a bit wide? The walk behind has the better visibility going backwards and control. It's hard to steer an articulating machine on a perfect tight turn. MR800 has the same hit, and shorter wheelbase, and lower cost. Just rent!