Menzi Walking Excavator - Best Video Ever!

[BrianHay]

No one said it had to speck out the same as a 200 or be a mass excavator. Dayexo is right, I stand corrected . It's reach and digging depth is closer to that of a 120 size. Which is still very impressive, a 120 is over half again it's size. It has the same horsepower and a little more lifting capacity then a 200 which is almost 2 and a half times it's size.
I have no idea what the terrain or the market is like in your area Day and if it seamed like I was trying to say a Spyder is the better choice for anyone in any area I wasn't. I may have misunderstood you as well. I thought you were saying the same thing but from the other side of the fence when you said a Track Hoe could do almost any of the things in the pictures. Believe it or not I have really been enjoying your criticism here and in the other forum we talk in. It kinda helps keep a guy looking at things from all different perspectives. I'm new in business and when a guy who has been successfully in business for years has something to say I listen and put a lot of thought into it.

 

[treemuncher]

BrianHay - Just wondering if you took delivery of your Kaiser yet. Let me know when you do and how well you like it.

I've got a Menzi 5000 that I've had a couple of years. It's a trip to operate and can get you into some pretty difficult terrain. You need to be a really good and smooth operator to run one of these things safely. You need to be several moves ahead in your mind to keep yourself out of difficult situations. The abilities of these machines are very impressive to say the least. I would really like to try one of the new 4x4 models and see how they perform.

I'm planning on selling the 5000 for now but I will likely get something newer in the future. I always look for specialty work in the niche markets. I like a challenge to keep my head busy.

If you get into much swamp work, a rubber tracked dumper like my Yanmar C60R works very well together with the walking hoe.

 

[BrianHay]

No, haven't got it yet but it shouldn't be long now. I talked to Kaiser last night and it was shipped about 10 days ago ! I don't know how long the boat ride is but I imagine it should be hitting our shores any day now....then we just have to wait and see how long it takes to clear customs

 

[RKO]

i know we've discussed this in another forum, but after looking at your pics, i can see "maybe" 1 out of 10 situations in those pics posted that i couldn't do the same thing with my excavator .....you'll definitely be in a niche market.

good luck

I rented one and they are real nice, they will do things that no regular excavator will do. You might be able to do a few of the things it does with your regular excavator but it would take more time and money. I don't think you could work in 6 feet of water, or walk an excavator off that tall of wall (I walk a 200 John Deere off an 10 ft. wall and didn't like it, thought it was going over) or place rock on that steep of bank, just to name a few. I will agree that it would be a niche market, but that is where the money is. Regular excavators are every were. But special excavators are not. That is why I got in to the market I did, (long reach excavators) Now that a few more contractors are buying long reach excavators, I'm going to cut back and do some thing else in a niche market.

BrianHay You will do fine finding work for it. Good luck.

 

[BrianHay]

Hi RKO sorry it took so long to reply I haven't had time to stop into the forums much lately. What did you do with the one you rented? Work is looking really good for when ours gets here (Jan sixth if all goes well clearing customs). It is coming at the worst possible time of year for finding work but it doesn't seem to mater, we are already booked
Are you considering one as your next niche?

 

[RKO]

Brain Hay

Hi RKO sorry it took so long to reply I haven't had time to stop into the forums much lately. What did you do with the one you rented? Work is looking really good for when ours gets here (Jan sixth if all goes well clearing customs). It is coming at the worst possible time of year for finding work but it doesn't seem to mater, we are already booked
Are you considering one as your next niche?

I'm thinking about one pretty hard. I used one on several jobs: First one being placing/building retain wall along an interstate, I sat on a 1 to 1 slope, picked the material up behind the machine and placed it in front of the machine. Next job was repairing a storm sewer in a drainage ditch. The water was 4 to 6 feet deep. I could only set in the water as the golf course did not want it's course tore up. I wad to walk the machine off a 10 foot high box culvert to get to the ditch. The last job was placing a sanitation pipe line 6 feet deeper along side a 96 inch storm pipe. All these jobs could?? be done with other machines, but only with more work, time, and expense

dayexco
Maybe in the type of work you do just plain sanitation pipe work there is not a big need for one of these but. South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas have about the same terrain/construction. From experience/talking to contractors there is lots of work for this type of machine.

Brain Hay
Post pictures of machine and jobs you do. It is amazing what they can do. Even tho they do not spec. out with a 200 class machine they will out do one in most cases. I was not sure about renting one but after running it I would rent one again in a heart beat. You will do good with one of them.

 

[KeppleServices]

The county here has one to clean all the drainage ditches and whatnot here. Its wild to watch it work. Just walks down the ditch.

 

[DirtMan]

Spiderman!

That's impressive, but you should really see my friend Andy, aka "Spiderman" work the cliffs on the California coast in his Kaiser Spyder with Rototilt.

Andy literally hangs upside down, digging below himself, while hanging from one of the Spyder's legs, see...www.aisconstruction.com.

WOW!

 

[BrianHay]

I haven't seen a 200 working beside one yet but have heard several comical stories about it. The Spyder guys get laughed at when they show up on a job conventional machines are working on...everyone stops laughing when they see what it can do and the conventional machines get sent home.

My machine is at the rail yard in Vancouver right now and should have gotten its customs inspection today. If that went well I should be posting pics tommorow night. I'm bringing it to a friends place just outside of Mission for a few days and then out to Vancouver Island. If any of you guys are in the area and want to see it up close, give me a shout.

Any chance Andy would stop into the forums and visit us?

 

[bobcat ron]

I'm just across the river from Mission, how many days to be exact?

 

[BrianHay]

I finally got to put a few hours on her today! ! It's everything I had hoped it would be and more. Kaiser is top shelf. It's like a new machine. They fixed it up really nice, even put a new cd player in it for me. I took a bunch of pics with my cell phone but these were the only ones that turned out small enough to post. I'm having a really hard time trying to post them because my phone keeps going out of service...hope they post.

I'm not sure how long I will be here Ron, probably not long. I don't have a job to do here I'm just spending some time getting used to it before putting it to work.

 

[CascadeScaper]

Congrats on your machine Brian!

 

[Countryboy]

Congrats on the machine Brian. I know its been a long time coming. :drinkup

Will be awaiting the action shots.

 

[DirtMan]

Spyders

Congrats Brian, much fun ahead. Mr. Beavon is my hero!

 

[Construct'O]

The machine looks really great!!!!!! From the picture of your first post of the machine on earlier post,it looks as tho they really went over the machine before they shipped it.

I noticed things painted better and also the new hose cover guards on the hoses of the boom.

Is this the same machine you first posted ???? now that i think about it the other one might have been one you just found on the net to compare and posted:beatsme

So how many hours are on this machine,i also thought you said about 6000 hr on other post?

Will be looking forward to pictures of your furture work and jobs.

Good luck with your new machine and you new adventure(business):usa

 

[Construct'O]

Also forgot to add!!!! The machine looked like a pretty tight fit in the truck box.

Also how'd the inspection go when it got here???

 

[BrianHay]

Thanks for all the congrats and good luck wishes guys!

Yes it's the same machine. When I first talked to Kaiser about it it was out on rental and it was of course hard for them to give me a price without bringing it into the shop first. But I needed to know for our leanders so I could get the cash together. So they gave me a price for it fixed up no mater what it needed. They REALLy held up their end of the deal. Anything that wasn't in new condition they replaced and gave it some paint. They even painted inside the cab were it normally gets worn from boots, key chains and stuff. That's a custom paint job too (factory ordered when it was new) they were blue and red stock. I didn't get the digging bucket I ordered. They sent me a way better one...a little large (100mm or 3 foot) but I like it a lot and the machine handles it well. I was bulking some really heavy wet dirt today and a full bucket, fully extended was no prob. I will get a smaller one later if I need it for something. It has about 6600 hours on it now and is as tight as new machine. The first pictures I posted were all I had seen of it before it arrived. How often does it work out the way it did for us eh. Normally its never the way it looks in pics and I was worried I would be disapointed when it got here. But it is way better then I had hoped it would be.

I like those pics of it coming out of the container. Really shows just how tight of an area it is capable of getting into. Sitting outside of it it sure doesn't look like it would fit.

Customs inspection went really well. It took $250 and one day. I was a little worried. I've heard of machines getting held up for a full month there.

 

[hottimedancer]

Have enjoyed following your story

Hi Brian

I have really enjoyed following your story on your new machine. Congrations on your new purcase. I am curios to know if you have come up with a price per hour to work your machine. It is a specialty machine. Thanks Winn

 

[Countryboy]

Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums hottimedancer! :drinkup

 

[BrianHay]

Thanks Winn
I'm really flattered how many people are interested in what I'm up to. I frequent a couple of other forums as well and if I don't post anything new for a while someone usually asks for an update. As well on my own site over 1000 people have added it to their bookmarks already...that blew me away when I seen those stats.

I do have a rate in mind when I bid a job but I would prefer to set a price for the finished job. I think that works best for the customer in most situations because then they know exactly what it will cost before I even start.