I was wondering how many of you are familiar with the Felco Bedding Conveyor? I would like to equip an excavator with one, but I wasn't sure if they are worth the initial investment-are they that much more productive? Would anyone care to comment on the pros-vs-cons? Thank you, ZAXIS:usa
I used to work for Felton Construction whos owner also owns Felco Industries. We used them on a lot of their jobs. If you are on a tight job site they can be an invaluable tool. Most of Feltons jobs were pipe jobs on city streets where conditions were extremely tight. On a job we had in Portland Oregon we couldn't turn the hoe around for full city blocks. It was the only way to get bedding in the trench. However, the downfall to them is they tend to get in the way. Unless you have a dedicated trench machine on your job they can be a pain. Also they tend to hang pretty low. If your jobsite is muddy or soft they will drag around though the muck. I would recommend one if your in tight job conditions but if your not I think your better off without one. The first picture is on a 7 mile waterline we did in Glasgow Mt. It was between the railroad and a highway. It was to tight to get a loader up along the trench so it worked well. The second and third pic shows the job in Portland. You can see how tight it was.
Dear lashlander, Thanks for sharing the old-school pics! Also thanks for the advise. Most of our work would allow for a bedding box - we also work all winter in the mud so a wider track excavator would be an obvious advantage if we were to invest in a bedding conveyor. Thanks again, ZAXIS
Now that is a big damn Koehring!
Back in the early 90's, Kenko Contractors out of Minnesota(I think) came to little old Jonesboro, Ar and laid a 48" VCT (clay) trunk line across most of the city limits. They had rented a 666(?) Koehring that was freakin huge and they had a shop made bedding box with a dual-wheel axle on one end that was also a monster. Those guys on several day laid 700+lf with that big boy.
This Hoe is a 1266. On the job in Glasgow we had a 14 yard bucket that Felco had narrowed the bottom to slope the trench walls. On the job in Portland it had a seven yarder on it. The Hoe was powered by 2 8-92 Detroits. If I remember right it weighed 300,000#.
WOW, AWESOME PICS! I COULD LOOK AT STUFF LIKE THAT ALL DAY-THANKS, ZAXIS
That hoe must have been a menace for maintenance and noise.
The 1266 Koehring, 255,700 lbs. 2 - 12 cylinder engines 760 HP 30,800 lb counter weight 17' 10" minimum width 339,300 lbs of stick force 60' 10" of reach Up to a 7 cy bucket
I think we need a thread here for those old Koehring's, there's one for the Poclains anyways.
So then you should carry 4 gallons of oil to the machine everyday? When i ran terex ts 14s i would take out two gallons, one for each 6cyl engine everyday
Felton bought this machine brand new in 85 for a 96" sewer line that ran along the Duwamish river in Seattle. I won't argue about the weight of it because I never ran it across the scale. However I helped change oil on it a dozen times and it was powered by twin 8-92s with twin turbos. It had 3 buckets. A 5 yard, a seven yard, and the fourteen they narrowed down. Thanks for the comments. Here's a couple more pictures from the job in Portland.