I know that Menzis and other Spyder Excavators are rare. Brian Hay used to have a great site devoted to them years ago but that site disappeared along with so much great information and photos. I thought maybe I should post up a few action shots as I progress with my learning curve of operation with this machine. It's something you don't master in a day or a week but it is a machine that will keep you thinking at all times. Hopefully, some other Spyder drivers will post their photos on here too. Might as well share what we know and pay it forward. I'm on a job that is cutting my teeth in in more ways than one. Lots of heavy gravel and a layer of rip rap on this highway levee that has been allowed to grow up far too many years. I can't use sharp cutters in these conditions. The pucker factor is extreme but dropping with every extra hour that I put into this job as I gain more experience. Confidence with the machine and its placement is not taught, it is earned. Gravity is relentless. First pic here is what I was able to do with my big tracked mulcher. I don't know how I managed to miss the brake drum so closely, but I did. The trees and brush are thick along this bank. I would have run the tracked machine further but I almost got it stuck twice in the silt below the levee toe. Time to bring in the Menzi so that I can stay on the firm ground. This was at the end of the SW facing levee. Next, I jump across the bridge seen here and work my way back down to that other side of the bridge. I'm realizing I need to take more pics but getting about on these slopes is easier in the machine than on foot. Be sure to wear gloves at all times on slopes like these - good advice from someone who had to have hand surgery due to a slip on a creek bank years ago. Thankfully, even though they opened up about 4" of my left hand to remove splinters and debris, it still functions well. A $10 pair of gloves beats tens of thousands of medical bills and lost time any day.
Views from the other side of the bridge: Getting ready to drop into the slot Most of these slopes are running at 30-35 degrees. The most frustrating part of the job is working a mulcher that only puts out 45 gpm and 5k psi max. I'm used to running 105 gpm at 6,500 psi most of the time. It's really slow going for what I'm used to but nothing else is going to get this job done.
thanks for the pictures you did take. I find myself taking less pictures because " I'm working here" LOL. I'll do something cool or different and get it all done and think, man I should have taken a picture.
Me, everytime I do something cool or different . I work in swamps and 200 yr/o ricefields and stuff, and I forget other people don't see it everyday.
Finished up across the bridge today even though the water came up quite a bit and conditions were still damp from about 2" of rain hitting the jobsite during the week. I'll have to wait for the water to hit winter pool again before I knock out the last bit on the other side of the road. I have to track through a fair amount of shoreline to get to the last bit. My second set of chains came in and will be installed on the rear tires for the last section. It won't be fast, it won't be fun and it will be full of more pucker factor than what I've already accomplished. The finished product on the south facing slope: A few others from today:
Thanks for the pictures, I think one of these machines would work well in our similar steep terrain. I noticed some pictures you have chains on and off. Are you pulling chains when running down the road to the other side, and then reinstalling? Also- are you working for the state/ county road dept, or the landowner?
Chains are only on the front tires at the moment. My second set of chains just arrived yesterday. They won't be installed until I cross back over the levee. I ran down the road with the chains installed. When I ran the machine down the pavement to get across the levee, I was surprised that the rear chains left very little marking on the pavement or concrete. Even the ride was hardly any different. I'm impressed - they stick so much better than just plain rubber. This contract is for the city. They got permission from the USACE and TDOT (landowners) in order to proceed with this contract. Now, anyone that lives in or visits Dover can see the water rather than a view of tree tops and brush. It's good for tourism. Hopefully, it gets me more business too. Double diamond chains for 600/50-22.5 tires. I used old trampoline springs to keep the chains tight - works really good.
Its always hard to show a slope in pictures. It never looks as steep as it really is.
Thanks for taking the time to post the pics! Looking at what you’re doing there, I’m not really sure how else you would’ve gotten it done without that machine. Glad to see it’s working out for you.
That's an awesome machine. Thanks for sharing the photos.
That statement is so TRUE!!! I've taken pics of a lot of really steep jobs. They NEVER seem to show what my pucker factor was feeling like while on the job! Here are some job pics of my favorite machine. It is not the Menzi but it still tackles some steep terrain if it can be approached properly. I've had this machine cling on to 45 degree slopes at times if I can approach the work with the head pointed up the hill. BEFORE: AFTER: Lots of bowling ball sized rocks were on that job above. All crushed to baseball size or smaller which helped the grasses lock in the material to better prevent erosion issues. Another steep one clearing out a shooting/access lane on a hunting plot. These days, I have to warn my customers NOT to assume their SxS's or quads can make it through what my machines do. I had a previous customer try that with a quad and ended up being life flighted to the hospital with a broken back after the machine wheelied and landed on him.
Here are a few pics of my first Menzi years ago. I think it was at this load site that the machine pissed me off and made me want to sell it. Have you ever noticed the metal rivet at the top inside of a baseball style hat? That machine dropped too fast on me one time, my head hit the ceiling and the related forces drove that F'in rivet down into my skull with a sliding motion. I had about a 2"-3" opening in my scalp, blood flowing into my eyes and a really bad attitude towards the machine after that. I know, I know, I should have had my seatbelt on and on firmly, but then the hydraulics were crap and I hated the way it operated. I was ready to get it gone so it was sold. That first Menzi, a 5000 or 6000 series, was an experiment for me to test the waters and see what it would/could do. I was very interested in the technology and concept of these machines. I was terribly disappointed in the power of the machine with only about 60 hp. There was no drive power to the leg wheels so you had to push/pull yourself around to move the machine. The third wheel on the cab was the "transport" wheel that would hydraulically rotate down and then provide about 10 kmh transport speed if/when there was enough traction to the tire. Being a tricycle format, get yourself in a slight pitch and it would also start to flip if you did not keep it leveled out. For all of the things that sucked about this machine, I could see the potential applications that the newer A91 series could be good at. The A91's started around the time that I owned this slug, had up to 4x4 powered tires, more horsepower, more hydraulics, pilot over hydraulics, much faster operational speeds and much more. I searched for over 10 years until I found the A91F that I currently own. It was worth the wait for me. Anyway, here on some pics of the hated one:
2 memories you have awakened I messed with one of the old tricycle Menzis for a couple days and came away thinking I was a terrible operator. I know that rivet well, nothing to do with the Menzi, but still many painful memories.
I finished up my levee job this week by getting to the bridge on the north side. This was certainly the worst part of the job, having to deal with trees grown up into some of the phone wires, steeper slopes with less toe to work off of, a lot of chain saw work, lots of big rip rap AND getting by a couple of poles placed right in my way. I had one pole that I had to come in from below in order to get around it. I was running nearly tire deep on the downhill side to get there without any visibility of what the bottom looked like. This job was a major learning experience and like every education, it was not cheap. Glad to have it under my belt and ready to invoice. I'll be better prepared for the next bids after what I've learned. I need to get my coolant leak/heavy blowby issues addressed and maybe some new leg bushings before it does much more work. My second set of chains came in for this last stint and what a relief it was to have them. It's kind of like having velcro tires - they really stick so much better, especially when having to crawl over a lot of limestone rip rap. A lot fewer pucker moments thanks to the chains! Now if it was just easier to get out of the cab to take more pics - nothing is easy on these difficult slopes. You can see the bright colored section of mulch closest to the bridge. That's what I had finished up. The gray/brown mulch is what I got done in the spring until the water came up and kicked me off the job until winter pool set back in.
Saw one of these in the wild a few month ago with a hammer on it. They were crawling all over the rock faces on a road expansion breaking off chunks. He was a good 40 feet over the road; no tethering of any kind. Made me pucker a bit.
When you are running on those kind of slopes, does the machine self level at all, or is that all manual?
Mine is all manual. I'm not aware of any spyder-type excavators that offer automatic grade control on the legs. It takes a bit of thought to get yourself in the best position and keep properly counterweighted for the most stable placement. Each leg has a micro-joystick on the main joystick that allows up-down and in-out movements, 2 of these leg joysticks per main joystick. The two middle micro-joysticks control the left legs on this left joystick. The left most controls the rock claws on the rear leg, the right most contols some of the Roto-tilt functions.
Wow. That would take a lot of time to get proficient at. Looks like it would beat out a grader for lever count. Those grades over the water has a pretty high pucker factor for me . . . hit the wrong leg and start sliding . . .
Thank you for taking the time to post your work pictures. Very cool to see the capabilities of this machine and what you do with it.
Hope to have some more time in the seat after I get the engine back in it. The water leak turned out to be the head gasket but the rubber insert in the flex coupler was too cracked & deteriorated to re-install. Told 6 weeks out and coming from Germany. So, we wait.....