Hitachi’s technology makes the ZX85USB-5 an absolute winner.
Lloyd Johnston is the main man at Pinnacle Civil and Rail, based in Bathurst, NSW. From his mountain home, Lloyd, his crew and machinery offer services all over Australia, and are currently hard at work on the port extensions at Victoria’s Port Melbourne.
“I have staff I send to jobs, plus myself,” volunteered Lloyd. “I’m still very much 100-per-cent hands on with what we do.”
The backbone of Pinnacle’s work is on rail projects. Lloyd explains: “We install all the underground infrastructure for the signalling team on the railways. We put in all the pits and piping, do all the transport, all the excavation, and then the electricians come in and do the wire up at the end.”
To get the work done, Lloyd and his two-year-old company have a couple of excavators and a skid steer, and his newest machine is the Hitachi ZX85USB-5. To say Lloyd’s a fan would be an understatement. “I Love it. I absolutely love it,” beamed the company director.
The ZX85USB-5
The ZX85 is a small, short-rear-end, swing-type excavator with excellent operator visibility and a nimble body. A new, electronically controlled engine and fuel-efficient hydraulics enhance fuel-saving operations, and the engine is teamed up with an electronic governor to save fuel. Electronically controlled acceleration makes for precision engine control and fuel saving.
Operating weight on the ZX85 is 8641kg, so it’s an ‘eight-tonner’ in general conversation, and it has a reach of 7694mm and a width 2200mm.
Those are important specs for Lloyd. “Because we have to go into tight spaces, we don’t have the freedom to be in big machines,” he explained. “That’s why we went with the Steelwrist package with Hitachi – generally we have a lot of space restraints on what we do. The smaller machine gives us the freedom to get in and out of tight work areas, and the tilt rotator lets us dig at multiple angles and reach the places we need to reach.”
Hitachi for the future
Pinnacle currently has several hard-working machines and is looking to expand with new excavators in the next 12 months. Lloyd has no hesitation in naming the brand for his upcoming purchases. “We’re looking at buying another two Hitachis,” he forecast. “The support from Bryce Gibson and Hitachi Australia has been fantastic. “The Hitachi is incredibly quiet compared to my other machines, and it’s nice to sit in all day. It’s incredibly powerful, but its fuel efficiency is the biggest thing I find with it. I’ve got a five-tonne machine that uses more fuel than the eight-tonne ZX85 – and that’s with the Hitachi running at full revs working the tilt rotator hard. “The fuel economy’s fantastic, and the performance is just unbelievable.” That’s about as solid a recommendation as anyone will ever see.
See the Hitachi range at hitachicm.com.au.
