I'm helping a friend on his small mine, and he has a plan that includes a telehandler, and I'm not confident it's going to work. I've only got a hundred hours or so in one, all with forks, so not real sure what they're capable of. In the underground operation, there is an area which needs to be cleared of broken rock, nothing too large. His plan is to use a bucket on a telehandler, extend to the debris pile while the loader stays on stable ground, pushing the bucket in and then retracting with the load. With my limited experience on those things, I can see this plan perhaps working with a few feet of extension, and on pretty loose material. I have an idea the bucket option was maybe made to load with the boom fully retracted, extending the load to where it needed to be, and dumping. Pushing or driving into a pile seems like the wrong kind of force to put on an extended boom. Could someone line me out a little? Long term rental on this thing isn't bad, but getting it to where it needs to work is a long haul..don't want to waste a bunch of money on what isn't going to work. Thanks..
OK, first thing is the design of a telehandler. I have abused and seen them abused smashing dumpsters, etc. The telescoping feature is intended to extend a lifted load out, not push material. The phrase Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) has rarely been as appropriate as when describing how soon you will break the machine. Some break rather easily, the Extreme brand being one of the worst I ran over the years. They´d blow the telescope cylinder without abuse.
fwiw. a telehandler is one of the most useful machine any contractor or farmer could own as long as they don`t get the idea its a bulldozer
I wouldn't use it for that. The boom isn't really meant for pushing and shock loads if you ran it into the pile will wreck those boom sections pretty quick.
On the 520 bridge job, we had a few Xtreme 1542ś. One night they had a big blowout on a pontoon pour, and they shoveled a big pile of concrete into eco pans and dumped it on the lot above. it was a big pile and nobody knew to keep breaking it up as it cured. I was running the big forklift across the way on day shift and had nothing to do with it. They rented a mini and started breaking it up next night shift, and one of the crane operators was ramming the pile and prying on it with that light material bucket on the extreme. Those buckets are for snow and things like sawdust, LOL. He got it hooked into this high strength concrete really good, then pried up on it and made that bucket into a V-plow!!
Jcb makes several telehandlers that can be used as loaders.
Thanks, guys..pretty much what I had figured. I had a chance to operate a Volvo MCT135 some this last year, see how the monoboom design fared. Guy I work with off and on is playing with the idea of one of the tele-skids for concrete prep, walls and flatwork. For most of the 4' wall jobs, that makes a lot of sense; most of the time we have a hoe on site to lower the form cages if needed. We don't do enough to warrant having a form truck/crane. I saw those, center-fire design, hadn't kept up and will learn some more about them. That seems to be to be a lot stronger platform for the loader side of the duty roster.
Telehandlers aren't designed for that type of use, JCB withstanding as I'm not familiar with them. We have a Gradall 534D with a light material bucket we've used for all sorts of things - handy as a shirt pocket but not a digging machine. With boom fully retracted you fill the bucket with a pile of stone but just be easy with it. We built Keystone block walls with it from the front side of the wall as there was no access from the back. Lifted the pallets of block with the forks, swapped to the bucket and backfilled with crushed stone. Worked like a champ.
Is there an excavator involved inside the mine getting the loose rock to that point? If you could load the bucket I would be confident in having it last. I just never equate the term ¨mining¨ and light duty
I've seen it done, with plenty of different materials. Eventually, even with the JCB's, stuff gives. Pins bend/break, retainer bolts go and pins come out, bores get blown out, cylinders get the guts ripped out, booms get bent and cracked. I think on paper like what JCB intended them used for, feed, sawdust other light stuff under the ol' "ideal conditions" it be great. But when do operators ever = ideal conditions.
No, it's a hard rock operation, drilling/blasting; I've yet to go down and look around, hopefully this spring. There's one area that has a unique situation, and that's why the machine. I'm not an underground guy, he needs me for plant duty and welding, heavy equipment operator, road building and reclamation on the surface. A little late in life to be learning the underground trade, anyway, tho I'm interested in helping enough to see how things are done. I agree on duty requirements, I worked around a jaw/roll crusher some, wash plant and now this trommel array. Anytime you deal with mining or logging... My uncle owned a dairy, and he told me something once that translates well: "When you go to build fences, gates and enclosures for Holsteins, don't think in terms of cows. Think in terms of Sherman tanks."
Manitou also is pretty good using as a loader, but for hay and manure - not for rocks.
I think if you were to move rocks, you should stick with a smaller bucket to not overload the machine.
As others have said that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Material buckets are designed for loose material and debris. I cant count how many busted extended/ retract chains, damaged cylinders and completely destroyed boom sections ive had to replace over the years from people using telehandlers for "other " purposes.
They are tempermental as hell though. They are by far my absolute least favourite brand to have to fix.