I'm thinking about replacing my tb260 with a 6mcr. Going to demo one next week but don't know much about reliability/longevity of these French machines. Besides costing 140k new. I put in conduit for fiber and the machine must lift and spin 360 a 4kft reel of 2" conduit. The 260 does it easily the e50 bobcat did not. I'm thinking of the 6mcr because the nature of my work requires much tracking of the machine. Thanks, Keith
I look forward to a hearing what you think about it. I saw their demo at Conexpo and they look really interesting.
I'm also interested in hearing about what you find. I've been half heartedly trying to buy a used one myself for the last couple years.
There was a member here that sells them up in MA. Larusso is the name that comes to mind. They cover most of the New England states from what Mecalac told me. I looked over an MCR8 a few weeks ago. If I was to purchase new, it would be a 10 series for my needs. My sales contract fell through for now so no play money to work with at this time. Maybe in the future. Curious to hear more from other owners and operators of these machines.
I recently did a 2mile driveway that was too soft to trailer machinery down. The empty trailer was fine, the machines were fine but a heavy machine on skinny trailer tires was not. I usually plow in 500ft-1500ft runs between boxes/vaults/etc. I already have to track over each run twice(to squish it back together) but to then walk out the 2miles gave me plenty of time to think. Lol.
Salesman took me put to lunch and I checked in out at their shop. First impression, nice machine, very fast and multifunctions very well while tracking. They are getting me set up to demo as soon as I get another batch if footage to put in. Still need to see if it pulls as good as the 260 and can lift as much. The traction spec for the 260 is much higher than the 6mcr, but specs are specs so well see what happens in the real world. Also the pivoting boom is weird vs the normal offset I'm used to.
Looks like a very expensive and complicated answer to a simple problem. I personally would much rather have the TB260 + a CTL, size truck and trailer accordingly to haul both at once.
Can’t tell from photos, are those ‘stops’ on the back of the bucket to prevent side loading/twisting forces on the stick end when pushing with bucket?
How many ft of 2" conduit did you put in the right of way last year? For some businesses a CTL + excavator makes sense, I don't think it does for mine.
They go against the blade when pushing the bucket into a pile skid steer style.
Right, thanks I see that now.
I will get a ctl in the future anyway. Right now I'm running a very minimal crew(but with max machinery) on a great project. If the speed of the mecalac could get me one more run of 2" a day. It will pay for itself in a few months.
I don’t do any right-of-way work, but did bury a lot of conduit and waterline last year. What is the benefit that you are looking for with the Mecalac? I assumed it was the ability to use the loader bucket/front attachments on a mini ex type platform, have an all in one type machine?
Speed of travel is what I'm most after. High aux flow is second. The loader function is a interesting addition. Maybe a second 6 ton would be most beneficial. One working on the front end of the plow and one on the second. My excavator tracked over 300,000 ft last year. 100k of that was slow running the plow train the other 200k faster travel would have been useful.
That 300k doesn't even factor in the bore pits and trenches for doing couplers that I dig then track over to finish.
Sounds like a unique operation that may benefit from the faster tracking, having one less machine on site, etc. A demo should be really useful in making your decision.
I said the same thing when I looked at them, "there a lot going on there". They do look complex and you probably would not want to keep it to the point you had to start replacing hoses and so forth, as well as a lot of grease zerks, which translates into wear points. However if it can make you more money with it, could be well worth it and just rotate it out before you had to start fixing on it. There are very few of these used that I have seen. I bet the resale value would be pretty high, there is a lot of interest in them and I am seeing more dealers carrying them. Very interested in hearing the feedback on it.
My dealer is supposed to be hooking me up with only other one in the area. Said they've put 4k hours on it so they should know it pretty good. Also getting a mecalac field guy out to go over it with me.
I saw them last year at Conex and back in 2017. Really like the concept and the machines seem well built. The wheeled midi-ex would be a nice addition to our "fleet". MECALAC | 15MWR, Compact and innovative wheel excavator! MECALAC | The 15MWR excavator, a compact 15-ton wheel excavator with 4 steering wheels, versatile and innovative! www.mecalac.com This machine would be handier then a shirt pocket for urban site demo, backfilling curbs and all sorts of technical excavation.
Where are you located and what are your normal ground conditions like? What other equipment do you have and what equipment do others in your area use? I'm all for thinking outside the box to get ahead, make jobs easier, make more profit, etc but over the years I've also come to realize there is a reason why most people do things the way they do. FWIW, I've done a little of your type of work, but it's been 20+ yrs ago. My cousin and I used to run a directional boring rig and trencher/cable plow and backhoe doing private underground utility work. Things have changed a lot since then, there were no CTLs and mini excavators were still few and far between.
One last thought, have you considered a backhoe? Utility work is one thing they still shine at, plenty of ground speed, can lift and carry a lot, plenty of digging power and reach and they wheel roll a trench a lot better than a mini. They’ve been putting fiber in for our entire county over the past few years so it’s been interesting to see what all the different contractors use. There are probably half a dozen here from all over the east coast, every one of them uses a cable plow (mostly on tracks), 3.5-4t mini excavators, and usually at least one backhoe on every crew.
If tracking around is the issue. A wheeled mini ex would solve that. Not as popular in NA but a big thing in the EU. https://www.wackerneuson.com/us/products/excavators/wheeled-excavators
I know this super fresh thread and I just had to chime in. I own a mcr6 and had an 8.. They are a far and away better solution to any contractors usage of purchase power than the dude up there's comment about the CTL, tb290 and the semi truck and 40 ton lowbed to tote them around . That's a lot of insurance and another driver chicking about his AC being recharged soon. Especially when the mcr requires a gooseneck and for every job have you decide to put your midi on but it doesn't make sense to bring two machines and the mcr does anything your tb290 can I have a tb185 same machine . The only difference is is 3 times as fast tracking but just fluidity of movement and it's 6klb less but packs 15 more hp and has high flow quick couplers and a hammer valve/case drain. It just gives you the freedom not to have to choose it support another family running that set up..I had a quick attach coupler made and can now run all my standard skid steer attachments. I'm about to sell it trade mine in to get a new one and I look at the market as I I'll get much less for my machine than I would a tb 290 and a John Deere 331 or 333 or bobcat t770 , Kubota 97.2 far less and it can do just about everything they can do and much more. Just can't justify having 2 . The same reason I sold my 8 .. the one downside is it's not a machine you can leave on a job site and just let anyone operate it. It's similar enough to both to start making these bums way to comfortable way too quick and they do something stupid. It's a seat for one ass though one operator can take 2 other ones off the payroll. Save in trucking every job is more efficient ive got no def..just from an owners perspective and I'm in North Carolina. These machines are a horizontal construction company's cheat code. Believe me. Never heard anyone second guess a purchase
I purchased one early 2025, a 6MCR. I've run both skid steer and mini ex and this far outperforms both. The ability to skid steer AND mini ex both at the same time has allowed me to do things that were unfathomable. I'm a one man operation and haul with a 1 ton f350. I have been towing a 16ft gooseneck dump trailer but will be purchasing a 40ft tilt trailer soon. That will give me the ability to tow my machine with all my attachments. Currently have the skid bucket, 18" digging bucket, 36" digging bucket, skid skeleton bucket, skid plate compactor, land plane, concrete mixing auger and dispensing. I don't know about resale or end of life troubles with the machine. A hose is a hose and a zerk is a zerk. Grease it, maintain it, fix it when needed. Just like all other machine out there it will last forever when you fix what's broken and maintain it.