Tilt Rotators add Flexibility and Precision to a Kobelco Excavator
January 15, 2025
Based near Haverfordwest on the South Western edge of Wales, Nev Davies undertakes a wide variety of work from general groundworks contracts through to farm contracting and has built up a fleet of machines designed to meet the varied needs of his clients.
Coming from a farming background, Nev’s first foray into the plant world came from undertaking contracting work for local farming concern. He quickly moved on to developing his own contracting business, again with the farming community at its core. “I always had a digger on the farm and ended up doing more and more work with this than the tractors.” He commented. Whilst farm contracting work carried on in the background, it was the down the groundworks road which Nev has followed. Building up a fleet of excavators and associated plant, he has worked across the region building up a reputation for delivering cost effective and high quality projects.
Nev has never been one to shy away from pushing the boundaries and was one of the first operators in the region to invest in a Kobelco Excavator . “This changed the way I did things and impressed a lot of my farming clients.” He points out. “There was always the negativity about paying extra for the Kobelco Excavator , but after just a couple of hours of seeing what it can do, almost every customer agreed the premium!”
Whilst Kobelco Excavators SK140SRLC-5 are still at the core of his operations, all four excavators sport the Scandinavian technology in one colour or another, his recent excavator purchases have changed drastically over the past few years following major mechanical and back up issues from his original supplier. “We had been buying excavators from this brand for many years and had maybe become blinkered to what else was available.: He commented. “We had a major issue with what was to become my last machine from them which included the dealer blaming everything but the product, including my operating style!” With these issues facing him, four years ago Nev took the decision to look elsewhere and plumped for a new Kobelco SK140SRLC-5 supplied by Avonmouth based Molson Equipment. “It was the best move I had made with the difference being night and day in terms of machine performance and comfort.” Nev commented. “Whereas you felt you had done a shift after 10 hours in the older machine, I could happily sit in the Kobelco for 14 hours and still feel fresh. It was refreshing to sit down with Luke Mercer at Molson to draw up a machine. He listened to what I wanted and worked with me to get the SK140 to a point where I was happy. The following years of operation have also been a pleasure with the Kobelco being very reliable and just as importantly, the resale value is excellent compared to many on the market.”
With his original SK140 coming of age, Nev wanted to replace it with a similar machine, this time going to town on the spec ending up with what is affectionately called ‘Nev Spec’.
Following the addition of a Kobelco Excavator SK28SR-6, Nev opened up further opportunities for his business with smaller machines. With the time due to replace the original SK140, Nev decided to not only change the largest excavator in the fleet, but also add in two additional machines. With Ted Powell taking over Luke’s sales area, Nev sat down to discuss a comprehensive package of machines including an SK26SR, SK58SRX and the new SK140SRLC. “I wanted some sort of uniformity in the fleet and whilst there is an additional cost, we decided to go all out on the three machines and have them in a grey colour scheme to match my tractors.” He commented. “The choice of colour was pretty easy as was the spec for the two smaller machines which have basically been supplied in their standard specification but with the addition of tilt rotators for the pair of them. We have also added some stand-out graphic from Eagle Signs in St Clears.”
With Nev spending much of his time on the Kobelco Excavator SK140, he wasn’t going to skimp on the extras for this machine!
From the ground up, the Kobelco has been designed to offer Nev the productivity and efficiency gains a small business thrives on. “We wanted a full spec machine and Ted and the rest of the Molson team have met, if not surpassed my expectations.” He commented. Sporting Kobelco’s optional bladed undercarriage, Molson has fabricated a robust toolbox to fit on top of the arms allowing Nev to store chains, shackles and the like safely. There is also a cut-out in the face of the blade allowing a towing eye to be bolted in. Each end of the blade carries a fold-over piece of steel which is used to carry buckets around the site.
The upper structure of the machine has come in for Nev Spec with a custom shovel holder under the cab’s FOPS guard along with a custom, fold up step and boot holders by the cab door. There is also a compressor built in for the air horns and to blast dust from the cab. The cab interior is pretty stock apart from the Leica screen and the sub-woofer behind the seat! Nev is a big Iron Maiden fan and not only can he have the sub-woofer blasting out Run to the Hills, but the rear windows of all of his excavators have been adorned with custom Iron Maiden artwork on a fritted wrap to allow the operators to see out. The final additions are a full set of cab, counterweight and offside MittX light bars supplied by Pat Bulcock at StypeX. “We’ve been dealing with Pat and Claire for many years now and find them to be the most helpful people in the industry.” Nev commented. “Their help over the years has been invaluable to us in sorting various issues out and also selling us a variety of kit from tilt rotators to lighting and now buckets.”
The business end of the Kobelco Excavator has a two-piece boom and with this machine, a 2.84m stick, slightly longer than the older machine which Nev says has made grading even easier and quicker. Like the other machines, Nev has a tilt rotator fitted, this time from SMP with top hitch and integrated gripper.
We met up with Nev and the team on the outskirts of Haverfordwest where they were part way through a package of works for the new Puffin Produce creamery. The package included the excavation of a new car park, installation of ducting for supplying street lighting and a new drainage package. With all three of the machines on site Nev sets about trimming stone on the car park. Even though he has Leica’s MC1 fitted, the first pass is old school, getting done by eye with the final trim completed with a grading blade and the Leica. Scraping the wet, sloppy material ahead of him, Nev then spreads out the fresh stone to a level. The other side of the car park sees Aled Morris in the SK58SRX with Steelwrist forming a steady batter to the sloping edge of the ground. Despite its smaller size, Aled is able to load the 16t Broughan tipping trailer with the resulting waste material. The 6-tonner has proved itself on the fleet in just a short while with an impressive production rate, one which Nev believes to be as good as an 8 tonne machine. The smallest machine on site was tasked with excavating a trench for ducting to be installed. At just 2.8 tonnes, the Kobelco Excavator SK26SR is an ideal tool for completing projects like this where finished ground has to be dug out.
With the sale of his mulcher earlier this year and the arrival of the two smaller Kobelco excavators, Nev’s focus at the moment is on building the groundworks side of the business. “It’s still a very cut throat industry out there.” He explains. “We are lucky to have the ability to put our kit out on a variety of jobs at the moment with some long-term customers. With the step away from our agricultural roots we have also had to change over to white diesel which has added to our costs. What we are offering customers is the benefit of good operators, high quality machines with tilt rotators and the back up of one of the best dealers in the area.”
