Goodbye SSL & Excavator, Hello Mecalac

[materthegreater]

I did a culvert replacement with mine yesterday. Did all the work from one lane of the road. I was pleased with how much better it worked out than using my Bobcat would have been. It is very convenient to be able to pull the boom back in tight for swinging in close quarters. Travel speed is also awesome. It also has some other nice features that my 15 year old Bobcat doesn't have (but other newer machines probably do): auto idle down when you lift the safety lever, idle down/up button on left joystick. Rubber tracks are nice for street work, we'll see how I like them for other things. I really need to get a tilting ditching bucket for it.

 

[Welder Dave]

If you could drill a couple holes in the ripper shank you could make a bolt on serrated edge for roots. Welding could work too but might be in the way for other ripping jobs.

 

[StumpyWally]

If you could drill a couple holes in the ripper shank you could make a bolt on serrated edge for roots. Welding could work too but might be in the way for other ripping jobs.

Yeah, I'll probably try that sometime.....

 

[materthegreater]

This thing sure saves a lot of time

 

[StumpyWally]

Just waiting for Anderson to install the block heater in my Mecalac 9MWR, & then it gets delivered...!!! I've seen it & touched it, so I'm gettin' pretty excited!!

 

[StumpyWally]

I've had my Mecalac 9MWR for about 3 wks now & I've put 20+ hrs on it. My son & I have done some work with it that we simply could NOT have done with my previous conventional tracked excavator...not the least of which is some trench & pier digging with the bucket inverted in some rock-hard clay!!

Our initial impression was "there are a lot of switches!!" But at this point we've used & understand all of them, & thank God for most of them!! For me, the biggest change was travelling & stability. A tracked ex is much more stable, both fore & aft & to the side, without doing anything special, other than putting the blade down. In this machine, there is a blade, & rear outriggers, & an oscillating front axle that should be locked for all work, especially to the side. Locking oscillation is easy (via a joystick button or by locking the foot brake), but you have to remember to do it!!

Then there is the left-right invert switch, which corrects for left & right when driving backwards. And of course a steering wheel instead of levers for left & right, & a button on the joystick which selects the motion of forward or back (like on a loader). But when you're used to just 2 levers, that's a lot of motions!!

The hydraulics are extremely smooth & precise compared to my previous conventional excavator, & that was in excellent shape & considered very tight. But now I realize that was sloppy compared to this machine.

Two features we have not used yet are the offset boom, & the Mecalac boom mode. The offset boom is easy to understand, & is operated by a proportional control on the left joystick. The boom mode is controlled by a switch. In excavator boom mode (which we have used exclusively), the adjustable boom cylinder & the dipperstick cylinder are linked via some algorithm that lets them operate together but at different rates depending on the instantaneous boom geometry to be effective. They operate via the crowd joystick.

In Mecalac boom mode, the 2 cylinders are unlinked & are operated separately. One via the crowd joystick, the other via foot peddle. There is a button on the left joystick which selects which cylinder is operated by the foot peddle, The other one reverts to the joystick. I believe there is a colored indication on the control screen of the cylinder operated by foot peddle. You can appreciate that such control allows some weird...& maybe some effective boom geometry, but we need to try it and practice it....a lot!!

I got my Mecalac with a Werk-Brau 24-in wide PowerGrip bucket, to help make up for not having a thumb. I've found that you can't pick up as much with the bucket as you can with a thumb (no surprise there), but you can be fairly precise. We reduced the aux flow rate to the bucket (selectable thru the Mecalac on-screen tool menu) to slow the opening & closing of the bucket. We've found the bucket is very useful in opening to provide a smooth edge for ditch cleanout. It's also handy for controlled backfilling by opening the bucket.

When you invert the bucket (& we have) the aux hydraulic lines hook to the opposite side supply (so the hoses are not crossed), but the flow is reversed to match via a setting in the Mecalac on-screen tool menu when you activate the invert bucket switch. The only problem we've had is residual pressure in the bucket hydraulics makes connecting the hydraulic lines hard. Releasing the pressure in the Mecalac aux hydraulics is easy, & the other trick was to open the bucket just a bit before unhooking the lines. But it can still be tough to connect them. So, we've resorted to assembling a slide-clamp connector tool like the one advertised on the XBOOM website.

The only other issue with the PowerGrip bucket is that it is heavy....about 800 pounds, or at least 200 pounds more than a normal bucket. But probably still less than a thumb, & I'm not sorry I got it.

I'm trying to post some photos of the work, but they all fail!!! What's going on?? Whoops...just got it to work.

 

[materthegreater]

When they updated the security of the site, I couldn't upload pictures that I had taken with my phone camera. Now I have to "edit" them (I don't actually change anything, just use the edit function of the photos app to resave the pictures) before it will allow me to upload.

 

[materthegreater]

Congrats on the new machine by the way! Sounds like you are enjoying the additional capabilities. Does it have loader mode? I've only been in a MWR once and it was 5 years ago so I don't remember. I really like having the loader bucket option. Really saves a lot of time for me.

 

[StumpyWally]

Congrats on the new machine by the way! Sounds like you are enjoying the additional capabilities. Does it have loader mode? I've only been in a MWR once and it was 5 years ago so I don't remember. I really like having the loader bucket option. Really saves a lot of time for me.

No, no loader mode, just Parking Mode, Working Mode, & Road Mode. Use Working Mode almost all the time...just connect the 90" wide skid bucket, normal or inverted, & use it. It is not designed to contact the blade, & doesn't have the blade bumpers on the back like your MCR, but it pushes & loads by either driving forward or just use the boom functions. I don't know why no blade bumpers, but I think it's because the wheeled MWR doesn't have the tractive force that your MCR has. But that wide bucket works great for backfilling & cleanup.

 

[StumpyWally]

When they updated the security of the site, I couldn't upload pictures that I had taken with my phone camera. Now I have to "edit" them (I don't actually change anything, just use the edit function of the photos app to resave the pictures) before it will allow me to upload.

I just tried your suggestion, of opening each photo, then saving it with a slightly different name, & they all uploaded fine!! But it makes NO sense!! I hope Steve or someone can fix this anomaly soon....

 

[materthegreater]

Wally, does your MWR have cushioned cylinders? My MCR doesn't and it's taking me a while to get familiar with where the end of each stroke is...

 

[StumpyWally]

Wally, does your MWR have cushioned cylinders? My MCR doesn't and it's taking me a while to get familiar with where the end of each stroke is...

I never thought about it...I don't think so....stupid question, what do cushioned cylinders feel like??...as opposed to not?? I don't notice a pronounced thud at the end of stroke. I will say that the hydraulics are very precise.

 

[materthegreater]

They slow down drastically at the end of the stroke and you can hear a sort of "hissing" sound as the oil passes through the tiny channel before coming to the end of the stroke. Basically it just gives you a little warning so you can slow down before coming to an abrupt stop at the end of the stroke.

 

[StumpyWally]

They slow down drastically at the end of the stroke and you can hear a sort of "hissing" sound as the oil passes through the tiny channel before coming to the end of the stroke. Basically it just gives you a little warning so you can slow down before coming to an abrupt stop at the end of the stroke.

My machine is at my son's place for a while. Next time I'm there, I will try to pay attention to what happens at the end of a stroke. He feels that the cylinders do slow as they approach the end.
What equipment, typically, has cushioned cylinders??....or what have you run that has such cylinders??

 

[MG84]

What equipment, typically, has cushioned cylinders??....or what have you run that has such cylinders??

A lot of backhoes have cushion on the swing cylinders.

 

[materthegreater]

My machine is at my son's place for a while. Next time I'm there, I will try to pay attention to what happens at the end of a stroke. He feels that the cylinders do slow as they approach the end.
What equipment, typically, has cushioned cylinders??....or what have you run that has such cylinders??

My Bobcat excavator has some cushioned cylinders. The bucket cylinder is not, but the arm cylinder is cushioned on both ends of the stroke, and the boom cylinder is at the extended end of the stroke.

I'm not sure, but I always assumed that most modern excavators have them, at least for the boom and arm.

 

[StumpyWally]

Some updates on my 9MWR...

On June 18, 2024, my new Mecalac 9MWR was delivered with 6 hours on the clock, to my son's house to begin a major project for him.

On September 20, 2024, with 66 hours on the clock, Anderson Equipment completed warranty repairs to the main boom cylinder. Evidently, the o-ring gasket around the rod had never been installed quite right, the-ring wore & the rod had started leaking oil. Anderson had to remove & rebuild the cylinder.

On November 25. 2024, with 101.3 hours on the clock, Anderson Equipment completed warranty repairs to the left, rear final drive assembly. Evidently. all but 2 of the wheel lug nuts were loose, the 2 smaller bolts holding the final drive "hat" to its back had broken, allowing all the oil in the final drive to leak out, & the holes in the final drive "hat" had become wallowed out a bit. Anderson replaced the final drive o-ring, the 2 broken bolts, the entire final drive "hat", all the oil, & tightened all bolts.

Luckily, both of these events occurred during a lull in our required Mecalac use. The bonus was that I became very close to my Anderson repair team & was happy with their service.

The downside is that other than covering the repairs under warranty, I lost some faith in Mecalac's QC. Neither event should have occurred....the rod leak was a simple mistake that didn't get caught....but the final drive "hat" becoming loose due to lug bolts having never been torqued was a real failure!! We joke that the assemblers were eating too many croissants that day - probably a Monday or a Friday - but it's a damn wonder that I didn't lose the whole wheel!!

So, now my Mecalac is "all fixed", & I hope that I don't discover any other QC failures. We love the machine & are thankful that we have Andersen to deal with. I'm not thrilled with my DLL financing (mandatory insurance for full replacement value, no allowance for partial repayment, and repayment penalty % if I do full early repayment), but that's a separate problem that I may be able to remedy in the future.

For my previous excavator, I had purchased a SSL quick hitch from Thor Attachments, & then designed & had built my own frame, & welded on the attachment ears for my then excavator. Just about 3 weeks ago I picked up my modified SSL adapter from my fabricator. We cut off the old mounting ears, cut the frame down a little, then welded the new mounting plate that I got from Mecalac. After painting, the finished SSL adapter looks like what is show in photos 18 & 20 (with pallet forks) attached.

The Mecalac mounting plate was expensive & a pain to get from Mecalac. For the future, I checked with Thor Attachments & discovered that they now offer Mecalac mounting for their attachments!! They make their own mounting ears completely from AR400. They (John Gustafson) is infinitely easier to contact & deal with than Mecalac, & I would urge anyone with Mecalac mounting needs to contact him.

 

[Welder Dave]

Considering the type of terrain Mecalac's are designed for be glad you weren't in a precarious position if you did lose a wheel. Don't know how they ship from the factory but maybe the problem was the PDI from the dealer was lacking? Loose lug nuts seem a little bizarre. It must have been used a little if it had 6 hours but maybe just for moving it from place to place.

 

[KSSS]

Wheels, when new have a way of loosening up at times. My tire shop tells you to bring the pickup back when you buy new wheels so they can be retightened after a couple hundred miles. Maybe the Mecalac situation is similar? The cylinder getting rebuilt, in my view should have just been a new cylinder, not a rebuild. I agree it will be interesting to see how things progress on the QC front. There is a lot going on with those machines, you sure have to hope that they were paying attention during assembly. If there are other issues, maybe you can convince them to extend your warranty.

Those things are cool, I hope it works out.

 

[Welder Dave]

It's not high speed like a hwy. vehicle so not sure what would cause the wheels to come loose if they were properly torqued. Would think checking would be part of the PDI. The shop I got new tires from (Kal Tire) said the new way to torque wheels is to tighten them to spec. and then brake hard a couple times in forward and reverse and then check the torque again. They said there's no longer the need to drive for a short period and bring the vehicle back for torquing. How many people check the torque on a new vehicle after a couple days? I think in StumpWally's case they were missed. I know with motorcycles there's only a very select few that can buy a bike in the crate without the dealer doing a PDI because of the liability. The riders that can get them in a crate are usually sponsored riders who go over the complete bike anyway to make sure the steering stem and suspension linkage is properly greased and all the bolts are torqued to spec. The factory generally skimps on the grease they apply.