Am looking to purchase one or the other but am on an information seeking mission to get as much input from you guys. Pro's and Con's of each type to find out how well they work, and it will be as wide (min 72" width) as I can get. I am leaning more to the Allied Skid-Pac ?
Erskine has a good unit available. email me for info. Ken :canada
WOW ! Can't beleave no-one owns one of these to give an opinion how well or bad that they work ? :beatsme
I own one. I use it on a Bobcat S330 or a T320. I like it better on a rubber tired machine. Handles the vibration a little better. The Skid pac pounds like nothing I have used in the past. It litterally turns limestone into concrete. Two or three passes with it dry and it is hard enough to turn on with only leaving a scuff then add some water and you have unbelivable compaction. You have to keep a close eye on your bolts that attach to the Hydro motor the drum. These bolts came loose on me and I snapped the splined shaft. It works great for putting posts into the ground. It takes a little to learn how to use it best but works quite well. Far better than a large walk behind and much faster.
Thanx! Curbside ....thats pretty much what I wanted to hear ... we have a really good dealer rep out west here and .... well you just never know with these sales guys, of coarse everything they sell is the best .... if you know what I mean, also it seams the pricing is not to bad at all either. How old is your unit? ... and what kind of hyd motor are they using, I imagine that the motor is a four bolt flange I have a 1000yd job coming up and I would be using it on my A-300. When you said you used it for posts did you use a probe first? and then vibrate in with a cup ? Looking forward to hearing more feedback ....
I used to work for a testing company (Yes I know I'm the offspring of satan himself) as a civil engineer and these skid plate compactors work very good for achieving density in a timely fashion, the other thing that is worth investing in is a hoe-pac. When you look at the specs look for the highest force and the highest frequency (vibrations per minute). The higher the force the less number of passes you'll have to make and the higher the frequency the faster you can travel while compacting. Good luck with the purchase. Ando
My unit is about 2.5 years old. I have the larger motor in mine. Surpisingly the flange only has two bolts. (if my memory is correct I'll check later when I goto the shed.) I actully did not buy it new I bought it with approx 10 hours or so on the machine. It looked new when I got it. The bolts rattled loose after using it another 10 hours. Now we check them all the time. When the spline shaft broke I just went to a local hydraulic shop and bought another motor and shaft that was exactly the same as the original. Needed it working. As far as driving the posts just placed them by hand put a little weight on the post and tapped the flow button and that post went down almost two fast. Like a hot knife through butter. These posts were metal posts so no cups no probes just placed the pac on the top and they were done. I think if you wanted to do wooden posts you might need a cup but I'd try it without first.
I have seen them on the jobs used by local contractors and they always seam to pass compaction test . Like what is said above they pack fairly fast and are not 30K like a one trick pony......
Thanx Andoman ! ..... points well taken especially coming from an eng. ... I will be dealing with geotechs and eng.'s and can appreciate where you are coming from .....that's why I thought i'd ask the forum for opinions...... Allied claims the skid-pac I am looking at has the same proctor rating ability as their hoe-pac (because it is a hoe-pac re-worked with extra counter weight added and a much larger plate) .... the specs are impresive ....but i'd like to lick the door handles before I buy (try one out first...LOL) ... I am surprised that there is not more manufactures of these ..... not saying that the one I'm looking at is not going to be right, but as you said about frequency rates VPM, I asked if a larger and heavier unit with a higher flow hyd motor is available none so far Curbside ... I am surprised that they use a 2 bolt flange motor mount, maybe thats why you/they are have bolts coming loose ..... I have a 6' dia rotary brush mulcher that uses a similar gpm rated motor and it's a 4 bolt, the shock waves that that thing goes thru it is unbelievable and it to I check the bolts out of caution ...thats why I asked you what motor it was ..... I have not seen it up close yet and I will bring it to their att'n .....Thanx for telling me
hey guys I am also interested in one of these units. The Skid Packs plate compactor looks great, but what about roller models? I'd like to know if anyone had success with them. I was thinking of using one for small building pads instead of hauling out a ride on compactor and using to prep smaller flat work. Thanks guys.
We used a Bobcat one borrowed from a local housing contractor to do the 5000 sq ft base for a house. I also had a ride on dual drum dedicated packer for my shop and both seemed to do a pretty good (simular) job of making a solid base. (no cracks in either slab) The big difference is the attachment would have the obvious benifits of less maintenace and easier to transport to the job. I have been a Erskine dealer for a few years now, and they added smooth and padded drum packers to their lineup 2 years ago now. I'm confident they would be a quality unit as is rest of their line up. Though I have not had the chance to use one, it is on our attachment wish list for the rental business. Is there a places where a drum packer is prefered over a plate and vice versa?
Morning Skid-steer ! ..... I too would like to hear more feed back on the rollers, but so far its not very good ..... considering the BCat dealers out here say to stay away from them ..... cost vs effectiveness as well .... the rollers pack, BUT not to the proctor rating that is advertised and also have been told they're having bearing probs ..... is why I started fishing out there for other brands ..... correct me if i'm wrong but the BC and erskine are almost identical .... if not .... no-one has beat down my door to demo me one ! ..... so far the Allied Skid-Pac is the one (and has a proven track record) at least it can be rented or demo'd first with out a hassel ..... cheers
Stehr makes an interesting model of a plate compactor. Larger utilizing three plate compactors together, interesting design. Some disadvantages of the plate for me would be a tendancy to push the material and change the grade. I have been looking for one of these attachments as well. It would be nice to have an attachment in addition to a twin drum.
Hello KSSS ! ... Ya right, no kidding but where does it stop ! .... and now we have to haul the skid with 18 attachments to each job site with a lowbed, cause we're gonna be so stink'n overloaded behind or P/U's ....LOL ..... hahaha .... ya thanx I'm going to look it up right now, never knew that Steyer made one .....bet the quality is awesome, now if there is only a dealer ? ...hmmm ...... just like when I was looking at snowblowers .... would have had to import myself and our dollar really sucked at the time .... I'll let you know how I make out..... Thanx again
I haven't worked for the testing/geotech company since 2006, and have been working at an asphalt company as a QC engineer / estimator since then. What we did was customized a trailer with a rack that holds everything (granted I don't have a heavy plate or roller) we have a 24" mill head, forks, broom, hook, and bucket on the trailer with a gehl 7810. Works out really well for asphalt work.
LOL .... andoman I know a rack would answer our probs but they still don't make micro light attachments that inflate to reg size on jobsite to be normal..... just add water and watch it grow .... LOL ... and .... well I already gotto sneak around over loaded with weight .... ohhh the joys of being versatile ....but ya if I have to i'll load 'er up on the tandem dump and tag trlr
KSSS I originally thought the plate compacter would push the material and changing the grade would be a problem. That turned out not to be the case as long as you have the plate fairly level it just slides along the surface just like a regular plate compactor. Depending on your final lift depth we usually place material .5" to an 1" higher and then pound it down to the grade height.
:beatsme Just saying that's what we do, but we have high weight limits here in michigan. Good luck with the purchase.
I hear you Andoman ..... We have these stupid things where they take the advertised GCVWR and think its gospel ....just a pain in the butt .... was just joken with Ksss that you pretty much have to pack the whole back yard with you when going to the job site just to make a living. Did a fencing job last year where I had to pack the Skid, post pounder, ind. grapple, 2 buckets, stump grinder, pallet forks, rotary mulcher, Quad & fencing trailer with all the hand tools and chain saws just so I wouldn't have to pack the skid back and forth to load it all twice .... I know I was well over 30,000 #'s and no axel or tire was over .... but GCVWR ??? ... 23,750#'s... the distance was just far enough to warrant doing that ..... now I want to get a packer but maybe we have to have 2 types to take to the jobs ..... any how just having fun with your idea which is a good-one BTW ..... Happy Easter !
KSSS .... I tried to find Steyr with no luck you wouldn't happen to have a link for them ? ....Thanx
I got my Steyr and Stehr confused. Here it is. http://www.stehr.com/en/Products/Plate_Compactors/Plate_Compactors.html One of these sold on IP this Winter I recall
I should have known better too .... and tried the diff spelling... NOW that is a different concept , have you ever priced the skid SBV 55 H3 out ?
I have not. The one on IP went very reasonable as I recall. Good to know that these don't change the grade. I would think that with three individual plates that the compaction rate must be really impressive.
has anyone else have experience with a packer on a skid steer. I am in the market for one but what is going to be the best choice
has anyone else have experience with a packer on a skid steer. I am in the market for one but what is going to be the best choice
The website does not list a US dealer. Are they available here? Did you ever buy one of these? How did it work on your A300? I have seen a triple plate set up before. It was on the back of a small grader (in place of the rippers). The grader was made by Pucket. It was an O/O and he specialized in slab prep for very large commercial buildings. I used to have a customer (back when I lived in CA) who built large concrete tilt-ups for industrial customers and they had hired him.
I wound up buying an "ALLIED SKID-PAC" ..... it works awesome and has stood up very very well ...... I have also adapted it to fit my 312 Cat excavator which works too cool as a wide hoe pac ... works good that way to grade off slab prep areas or forming ditch lines over a bank or? where the wheel machine can't go.... I built an adaptor plate mounted on the bottom of the skid-pac and we used it last fall to probe and vibrate in fence posts (5 miles of range fencing) .... it made the job for me
What kind of lifts are you getting away with? I already own an RT 820 walk behind and when I compared the frequencies and impact energy between the two the Skid-Pac pailed. You have an RT don't you? How do the (2) compare in the real world?
If I wanted to get greedy I could lay down up to 18" of the 3" minus pitrun .... but that was after going back and forth with the skid grading to the level we were trying to achieve, so you could say there was a bit of compaction already done before the skid-pac touched it ..... the thicker you lay down the longer you took before the next lift .... we found the 6-12" lift was premium and way quicker to compact maybe only 2 passes with the skid ..... the amount of moister in the gravel has alot to do with the thickness of each lift as well, we laid down alot of water in between and during each lift Not quite sure what you mean by "pailed" ? ..... I'm not familiar with the RT820 walk behind (regarding size....double or single drum) but I have used walk behind doubles and they might be OK to do sidewalks but a Parking Lot? .... NOT ...... WAY TOO slow, and no control of the leveling ...lots of hand work or grading with a bucket where as the Skid-Pac can be controlled to either grade and compact or just plain compact .... it really does work well taking off high spots and carrying to the low spots. As a small follow up from that job I did back in 2010 .... it was a Firehall job that was for where the trucks pulled up and swung into (backing up into) the hall ..... Last year in the spring break-up (a term we use up here where when the frost comes out of the ground and EVERYTHING gets really really soft) the heavy fire trucks NEVER sunk down more than an inch into the gravel .... I did use a geotextile fabric about a foot from the surface and compacted to ~95 % proctor ... which allowed the water to go down but not back up year round, it stayed tight so the amount of moister left in the surface was not enough to heave alot when it froze. Simular jobs that I had done before owning the Skid-pac, there was alot of sinking into the gravel during break-up (up to 5 & 6" ruts) or in rainy seasons ....... speaking of which the skid-pac works great for fixing those drives, pounding down the centre of the road way and beating the crap outta those big rocks that seem to always work their way to the top, filling in the low spots as well .... its all in the angle of attack at the plate .............. as posted before, there is a short learning curve to running one ...... you will start to invent things to do with it ......... cheers for now
Pailed as in the term "pailed in comparison" or "That one pails in comparison to the other one". The specs for the RT are much higher frequencies and impact energy. The RT is 32" wide, double drum, 2900#, made by Wacker, and it's the one that articulates. I only do 8-12" lifts-max with the RT. 8" if trying to reach 95% modified proctor. As far using the Skid-Pac to make grade I can see the advantage. You are somewhat correct regarding not having control of the leveling with the walk behind. We usually try to anticipate the amount of shinkage. I also like to build the fill high and then cut it back to grade. Your comments have fueled my interest. How much do they cost? Any items that required repairs yet? You mentioned using it on your 312 too. I thought I might be able to mount to my 315, as well, when looking at the site. There must be a pretty big difference in flow between the (2) units. I think the A300 has about 34 GPM and my 315 was measured at 43 GPM, at the stick, through my double acting auxilary circuit. Different hose sizes too. Doesn't this create any problems (like excessive heat)? Is the plate any wider than the skid? Have you tried it on dirt too? I do a lot of custom residential so I do quite a bit of slab prep (garages, driveways, and porches/patios) that usually require 12" of structural fill (we usually use class 6, 3/4" ABC). Thanks for all the information.
The A-300 is rated at 37gpm on hi-flow WOT ..... 21gpm WOT standard flow ...... the 312 is 30gpm on my thumbs aux circuit WOT .....neither the skid or excavator is run at WOT to make the skid-pac do its job, the skid-pac has a motor on it that is rated at ~18-20 gpm, to prevent excess flow just throttle back even though it has an over-flow circuit built in to it, but obviously you don't try to crank 30 or more gpm thru it and gen excess heat..... The hyd lines are #10's on the skid-pac ....I tied into the lines on the ex stick using three way valves, and the hose sizes on the ex are the same #10 lines. The same system I use to run my Davco 72" rotary mulcher, I built a saddle for the Q/A that just bolts on to either unit. I think when I was researching these units there was a guy in NY that got one about the same time I did, they both were in to about the 5-$6,000.00 range New at that time. Who know what a guy could find sitting around these days. As far as repairs .... NONE so far,(knock on wood) not even bolts loosening, its been amazing. My skid is a bit wider than the norm at 74" straight line, when the A-300 turns it gets slightly wider and the skid-pac is 72", but that has not been an issue either due to the way the compactor does its job ... the skid hardly leaves any chevron tire marks .... Yes we use it on soil as well but as any compactor especially plate style if there is any clay it will stick slightly to the bottom of the plate .... again that is not a problem, if it gets too built up we just back drag without it running on a drier surface like scraping your boots off ....lol... and that's alot easier than the walk behinds where you gotta roll over and scrape it off. Got to say that I was dissapointed to hear that the roller style packers for skids are not effective as you would think they should, eng's will tell you that they do NOT meet compaction specs. Maybe there is a dealer around your area that will rent one for you to try, as I did........ Hope this helps you out ....... cheers
I tried out the roller version, and was gald I just rented it. I could do almost as good just trackrolling the fill. It was a POS. Glad to hear the good reports on the plate style. Maybe I need to look for one of those.
has anyone run across a used one for sale? would i be better with a packer for 315 excavator or for a skid steer is there a benefit of one over the other?
I'm sure each one has it's advantages and disadvantages. I would think a lot depends on what you are using it for.