For moving materials in tight spaces, a compact skid-steer loader is hard to beat. The UHI T40 skid steer loader is a great example.
United Heavy Industries specialises in small machinery with a big heart. It has available a big range of electric, diesel and petrol-powered loaders, forklifts and excavators, and they’re all on the compact or smaller end of the machinery range.
The T40 is a diesel-powered stand-on skid-steer loader driven by a three-cylinder 30hp Perkins engine, and it’s supplied with an Italian Hansa triple pump and a four-inone bucket. Running speed is 2400rpm and the machine will move at a maximum of five kilometres per hour.
If you’re feeling like the T40 reads like it’d be a great asset for working hard on tight-access domestic sites, we’d have to say you’re on the right track.
Or in the case of the T40, the right two tracks.
Measuring up
Being able to flex a little muscle is important of course, but the physical size of this type of machinery is an integral part of its appeal.
The T40 rides in with an overall width of 1070mm, which is about the norm for this class of machine, and should mean access to backyards and alongside houses is okay. Length with the bucket in place is 2702mm, so most landscapers would be able drop the bucket and haul it about with a trailer.
Rated load capacity is 400kg, which, again, is about what we’d expect for a machine of this size and should be plenty for it’s intended purpose. A big bucketload of topsoil or turf rolls should be well within the T40’s comfort zone. And for the heavy materials, a competent operator can make sure the bucket isn’t overfilled. It’ll still be far more efficient and cost effective than trying to move those materials by hand.
On the job
When it came to put the T40 through its paces the first thing which caught our attention was the sprung operating platform. Across a long day it’ll make a huge difference to operator comfort. Instead of the rough and tumble of traversing a building or construction site being pounded straight up through the operator’s legs and knees, the sprung platform reduces the shocks to an amazing degree.
While we’re talking about comfort, the guard rails around the controls are really good. They’re strong enough to lean on or hold onto if the machine has to rock’n’roll on tough terrain, and they mean the operator never has to put his weight on the controls themselves. They’re a common feature on machines of this type, but we felt the design on the T40 was particularly good.
On the job
Our driver for this review, Matt from Dual Landscapes & Stonework on Sydney’s northern beaches, is an experienced machinery operator and pro landscaper, but he’d worked primarily with cabin-rigged machinery, and he was rapt with the allround vision of the T40. He was especially impressed at the power and size of the UHI.
The machine was actually put through its paces in a stoneyard, and while a competent and experienced operator will show a machine at its best, the UHI humped some serious chunks of rock, and Matt’s grinning surprise at the T40’s capabilities was obvious.
The 30-horsepower Perkins diesel powered the T40 really nicely, with torque and drive delivered well and truly in the sweet spot, and the handling and manoeuvrability were really good, with the tracks proving very surefooted on the less-than-ideal surface. Matt even remarked at how stable the T40 felt, and how well it handled the terrain compared to wheel loaders he’d used in the past.
Response to the controls was smooth and predictable, and when we asked Matt if there was anything he didn’t like about the T40 he thought for a while, looked around, scratched a couple of circles in the dirt with his toe, and said, “For the size of the machine, and what I’ve seen it handle today, for something with 400kg capacity and the reach, I think the price tag is very reasonable.”
And while Matt didn’t come up with anything he didn’t like, he did underline a major attraction of the UHI T40: For the skid-steer, Italian Hansa triple pump and a four-in-one bucket, the asking price as we go to print is a razor-sharp $27,990, and that includes a two-year/2000-hour engine factory warranty and a two-year components parts warranty.
That’s nearly as amazing as the UHI T40 itself.
To see the full range of UHI machinery, log on to unitedheavyindustries.com.au.
