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Digger Man

Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Mon 03 Apr 2017

Hitachi short radius excavators star for Tonic Construction

I was recently out on an assignment checking out an exciting new safe site dumper concept and while I was there I snapped a few shots of the contractors Hitachi excavators in action.

Hitachi short radius excavators star for Tonic Construction
Tonic Construction Ltd was first established in 1999 and operates from their base in Swindon, Wiltshire. The company works extensively for a number large national house building companies and employs around 120 people working on sites along the M4 & M5 corridors, ranging from Ascot to Bristol and Warwick to Taunton.  I visited the company on the Lay Wood development which Tonic is working on for David Wilson Homes in Devizes.   The company’s chosen brand of excavator appears to be from the Hitachi stable. These Japanese machines which are currently assembled in Holland for the European market are as popular as ever with groundworks and civil engineering companies across the UK.   On this particular site the favoured models were Hitachi’s short tail swing radius versions, consisting of the 13 tonne class Zaxis 135US of which there were at least 3 working on site and the 25 tonne class Zaxis 225USLC. These compact machines are ideal for contractors working on increasingly congested sites and in particular on housing developments when working in tight situations often between house plots.   Power for the Hitachi Zaxis 225USLC comes from the well proven 4 cylinder Isuzu AM-4HK1X diesel engine which is Stage 3B emissions compliant and offers a power output rating of 122kw (164hp). On the day of our visit the machines were engaged in a variety of tasks including loading stone onto dumpers and forming temporary tracks for the site forklift to use to deliver materials. Look out for the report on the specially developed site dumper I saw on this site in a future edition of Earthmovers Magazine, I believe it’s going to be a game changer!

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