A collaboration between Skevington Contracting, Meister Solutions, Palfinger NZ, Crane and Carry Engineering, and Hyspecs NZ has created an innovative and versatile digger crane.
Currently it’s at work on its first job in South Otago, reconditioning a dam that forms part of the Waipori Power Scheme.
The resulting machine isn’t the only digger crane in New Zealand, but it’s the largest.
And with projects already lined up for the next 12 months, it could be the most in demand.
The Palfinger PK53002SH has been designed to replace the counterweight on the digger subframe, creating a cleverly specced specialist unit.
With a 1580kg lifting capacity at a 21m reach, the digger crane has several impressive extra features.
P-fold enables the boom to unfold fully and refold from transport position to working position with one paddle movement on the remote-control handset.
High performance stability control (HPSC) downrates lifting capacity automatically when the crane can’t fully extend its stabiliser legs.
A two person workman basket is another feature.
Blair Skevington of Skevington Contracting started the project after completing multiple jobs in steep and muddy conditions.
“Building roads just to get to the work area adds cost and weeks to project timelines,” he says.
“This unit can do the job of four machines.
It can excavate the track, complete foundation work, lift materials into position, and provide a long and high reach to finish off.”
Skevington says the digger crane can solve other issues on complex sites.
“The digger crane reduces man-hours required to complete a job and cuts down the number of people on-site.
“The risk of incidents is lowered with less equipment and people around, and less equipment means less diesel burned – cutting the carbon footprint of each project.”
Skevington Contracting is known for its innovative approach.
The company built New Zealand’s largest hydro excavator, used in the Christchurch rebuild in 2011, to speed up repair and replacement of earthquake-damaged vital services.
At the beginning of March 2021, Skevington and Ross McFaul of Meister Solutions discussed the feasibility of putting a large knuckle boom crane on to the back of an excavator.
Meister Solutions produced some concept drawings and then consulted on the digger crane project – bringing in Reece Dillon, regional sales manager for Palfinger NZ.
Dillon worked with McFaul to figure out size and configuration of the crane – and research, price, and source a suitable unit.
McFaul was so impressed by the project that his operating company, Meister Engineering, contracted the machine for its first job while it was still on the drawing board.
The Waipori Power Scheme project, which focused on overhauling the dam intake structure, had a start date of November 3.
When shipping delayed the crane’s arrival, the full project team – including Crane and Carry Transport and Hyspecs NZ – pulled out all the stops to get the unit up and running in record time.
“Palfinger devanned the crane, got it on to the test bench in the Auckland workshop, and within three days it had been modified and tested against the design spec,” McFaul says.
“The Palfinger Auckland team did an awesome job getting the crane ready while working within COVID-19 level three restrictions.
“The unit was then transported to Crane and Carry in Christchurch.The Crane and Carry boys had just finished some tidy-up grinding when it arrived in Christchurch.It was on the subframe within minutes of arriving.”
James Mackay of Hyspecs applied his expertise to hook up the crane to the digger’s hydraulics system.
Getting the two European sensing systems to work together threw up some challenges which demanded plenty of nous and some sleight of hand.
Palfinger then conducted final stability testing, and the unit was picked up on for its first day on-site the following day.
The unit had to dig its own path through the sludge at the bottom of the drained Waipori lake to set up at the base of the dam and start work.
“Palfinger produce very good cranes, and I struggle to see why you would go anywhere else,” McFaul says.
“Once the crane landed in New Zealand, everyone went hard out and worked together to get the job done.”
Meanwhile, Dillon says a lot people might have thought it couldn’t be done.
“The only other unit like it in New Zealand is half the size, but we decided to jump in.
The toughest challenge for us was the set-up and stability.
“Where trucks have suspension, diggers don’t – and when they start to tip, they tip.
“We solved that by specifying a bigger digger, using our high-performance stability control (HPSC) system, and opting for the widest possible leg beam on the crane.
“We had to trick the crane into thinking that it’s a three-axle truck – with the digger bucket as the front axle, front roller as the middle axle, and the rear roller as the last axle.
“All parties collaborated to come up with that solution and make it work. As technology develops, creative minds push the envelope.”
*This story appeared in the December issue of TransportTalk – click here to download a free copy of the magazine.
