What is the biggest market share pull pans will get.

[Abscraperguy]

The debate goes on... Pull pans or buggies or ADTs. What do you think will be the highest percentage of the dirt moving volumes pull pans will get? Will ADTs replace buggies altogether and then the debate comes down to pull pans versus ADT's? Let's hear your opinions.

 

[JTL]

I personally think it just goanna come down to a contractors choice, and the ultimate bottom line. Just how much (or little) can we move a yard of dirt for? If a contractor is all set up with scrappers and push Cats, then he has a good idea on his costs. If another is set up with trucks and hoes, he knows his costs. All its gonna boil down to then is who is willing to move the same dirt for $1.85, or $1.86 a yard.
If a contractor is all set with one or the other, thats the kind of work hes gonna be going after. A true scrapper contractor isnt going to go after a big rock job, simply because he knows the risk of running scrappers in that enviroment, there for the truck and hoe show will prevail. When it comes to common dirt, I think it all boils down to which contractor has the sharpest pencil.
As far as pull pans and farm tractors. They have there place. I've never been around them, but from what I have read over the last few years, they dont hold a candel to REAL scrappers.
I guess what Im trying to say, is each machine set up has its own place. A mass excavator has no place building a little street into a sub-division, and a scrapper has no place in a drill and shoot, hard rock operation. Once everyone finds thier own niche, it will all work itself out.
Jason

 

[Vantage_TeS]

Dry dirt = scrapers
Wet dirt = hoe and trucks

It's like this a scraper costs x amount of dollars, say $200/h to run. Holds 20 yards. Can load itself, dump itself, level the fill and fix haul roads. Can't load in wet material though.

A truck only costs say $150 to run, but it can't load itself (add $180 an hour for a hoe) and needs something to level dumps (add $140 an hour for a dozer). Your ADT is now actually costing you $370 an hour. Of course the costs of the dozer and hoe are displaced between the number of trucks you run, so really the size of the hoe (therefor the loading time) is the deciding factor on your actual cost.

Two scrapers push pulling should be able to load (both) in 60 seconds. Doesn't matter what size. Lets use a 37E for example. 20 yards each you loaded 40 yards in 60 seconds. An average operator on a 385 can load 20 yards in 60 seconds. Scrapers just loaded twice the amount of dirt, for much much cheaper.

Again, it all comes down to material being moved. In the wet and rock (and sometimes sand) scrapers simply can't load efficiently. In the dry, you simply can't match a scrapers load/travel time.

 

[EGS]

I personally think it just goanna come down to a contractors choice, and the ultimate bottom line. Just how much (or little) can we move a yard of dirt for? If a contractor is all set up with scrappers and push Cats, then he has a good idea on his costs. If another is set up with trucks and hoes, he knows his costs. All its gonna boil down to then is who is willing to move the same dirt for $1.85, or $1.86 a yard.
If a contractor is all set with one or the other, thats the kind of work hes gonna be going after. A true scrapper contractor isnt going to go after a big rock job, simply because he knows the risk of running scrappers in that enviroment, there for the truck and hoe show will prevail. When it comes to common dirt, I think it all boils down to which contractor has the sharpest pencil.
As far as pull pans and farm tractors. They have there place. I've never been around them, but from what I have read over the last few years, they dont hold a candel to REAL scrappers.
I guess what Im trying to say, is each machine set up has its own place. A mass excavator has no place building a little street into a sub-division, and a scrapper has no place in a drill and shoot, hard rock operation. Once everyone finds thier own niche, it will all work itself out.
Jason

Good advice Jason.

Around here the bigger road builders (there are only a couple left) will have both fleets of mass-excavator's 385's, 740's and fleets of 631's. They run the
631's in the "easy" dirt and 385's in the rock and wet/muddy cuts.
If you only had trucks or only scrapers you would lose out on almost every job.
As far as those farm tractors with pull pans I don't think that you would see a lot of those around here. They seem to be too limited, can't put them in rock, can't push them.

I think that the most versatile would be 385's and 740's you can run them in almost all conditions.

 

[Vantage_TeS]

Those tracked farm type tractors with the double pan absolutely KILL on wet short haul. Add in GPS and you're laughing.