As NZ demand for tiltrotators grows, early adopters tout their versatility

An attachment that’s considered a machine standard in northern Europe is now making headway in New Zealand.

Generically known as a tiltrotator, the attachment originated in Sweden in the mid-1980s and gained steam during the ensuing years. It’s now so well established in Scandinavia that operators there regularly express amazement on social media that it still gets a ‘wow’ reaction from operators here.

You may have seen a tiltrotator demonstrated at Fieldays (above) or viewed a video on YouTube or Instagram. There’s no doubt about it: explaining what a tiltrotator can do requires visuals. Check out our Instagram for user-produced videos.

“We sold our first unit in the United States after a guy saw it on YouTube,” says Stefan Stockhaus, co-founder of tiltrotator manufacturer Steelwrist and  “We’ve had tremendous interest from the NZ market. We’ve been growing as fast as you can grow, actually.”

Steelwrist established its NZ presence in 2017. “We feel that our competitors are actually helping us, even though we were here first,” says Jason Stamp, Business Development Manager. “All of us have increased the awareness of the product. The base is here now and it’s growing fast.”.

“Most of the contractors we speak to in NZ are quite open-minded about it. There’s a huge interest on social media, I think this country is about to see a wave of these things come through,” he says.”

Why all the excitement?

A tiltrotator allows users to not only tilt an attachment left and right plus-minus 45 degrees but also rotate it 360 degrees. You can manipulate the bucket 90 degrees from the ground because of the tilt and rotation.  Advocates say this gives excavator operators the ability to perform a variety of tasks without repositioning the excavator. That, in turn, leads to reduced labour and material costs and lower machine-hours, they say.

““You’re totally transforming how you use an excavator,” says Stamp. “With a tiltrotator, you can dig, backfill and level contour with your machine in one spot. You can work around and under pipes and other obstacles.””

“We’re seeing a 25 percent increase in production on our grading and backfilling jobs, and we’re using 25 percent less material,” says Nick Murdoch owner of APS Civil & Construction.

“We are interested in any tool, attachment or machine technology that will save us time allowing us to complete more jobs,” Murdoch says: “With a tiltrotator, I can be in the machine and on jobs where somebody would have to shovel stone after it’s dumped, we can operate another machine and be twice as be productive.”

Dan Pulman, owner-operator of Pulman Earthmoving, is the definition of an early adopter. He bought his first Steelwrist Tiltrotator in 2017 and has not looked back since.

Since then, Pulman estimates he’s put 20,000-hours-plus total on five Tiltrotators. “If you compare me with anyone else out there with machines between 13-20 tonne, I’m easily 35 to 40 percent more efficient,” he says.

One of the areas where the tiltrotator really shines for APS is in backfilling a perimeter drain, Murdoch says: “We usually put in 6 inches of stone and then a filter fabric followed by dirt. With a regular excavator, you can’t get the stone exactly where you want it.” A tiltrotator, he says, allows him to turn the bucket and angle it to any position. “There’s no shovelling or wasted material,” he says.

Grading is also “unbelievably faster,” Pulman says. The tiltrotator eliminates how many times he has to reposition the machine. “You can pretty much travel in a straight line and grade around any bump-outs or anything else that’s around a house.”

Gardocki owner of New Era Excavations cites his recent experience taking down a 1,000 feet of chain link fence. “It usually takes an operator with two guys about three hours to do the job,” he says. Using the tiltrotator with an integrated gripper (also called a grabber) and a grapple attachment, his operator did it in 45 minutes. “He pulled out each post with the gripper and laid it on the ground; then he took the grapple to load up several posts in the truck. He then used the gripper again to roll up the chain-link fence and put it in the truck…all by himself.”

Gardocki is far from shy when sharing his tiltrotator experience.  His “The Dirt Ninja” persona on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram have a combined 280,000 followers. “It’s been cool to show off the tiltrotator,” Gardocki says. “Everybody from Europe, however, is going ‘well, it’s about time.”

Lets talk about price

Perhaps the biggest barrier to tiltrotator acceptance is sticker shock. Depending on the specific configuration, a Steelwrist that can fit 15-to-24-ton class excavators will cost around $50,000 plus installation and any additional attachments, Stamp says. For installation costs, figure two to three days of labour at your local dealer rate.

Stockhaus estimates a Steelwrist tiltrotator will run 6.6 to 7 percent of the cost of a 20-ton excavator.

“If you just look at the cost, you’re looking at it the wrong way,” Murdoch says. “It’s how much it saves you and how much more efficient you become. Buying this means we didn’t have to hire a labourer. We paid for it in a little over a year.”

Anthony LaFata, LaFata & Son Incorporated understands hesitations over price. Part of his uncertainty was the everyday terrain in his locale. “We’re in a very rocky, boney, wooded area, so I was concerned about the durability,” LaFata says. “But they told us not to be shy, so we get into ripping and pulling out stumps and loading some large timbers with it.  Granted, we’ve had it for less than a year, but based upon what I’ve seen, I’m not scared.”

LaFata estimates he spent $40,000 on his tiltrotator, which was put on one of the company’s two Kubota KX080s. “It’s paid for itself in just this short amount of time in labour and materials. Right now, we have seven excavators, and eventually, we’d like to convert all of them to tiltrotators.”

Learning curve

"The best way to learn is to just operate it,” Stamp says.

Getting used to the tiltrotator joystick controls can appear daunting. For example, there can be up to three rollers and seven buttons on each joystick. The right joystick controls tilt, and the left joystick controls rotation. Integrated grabber controls are on the back of the right joystick.

“The first day or two I would do the odd thing that made me look stupid,” Stamp says, “but it was a really quick, natural pick up.”

“At first you love it, then you hate it because you’ve got something strange at the end of the excavator and you’ve got all these buttons at your thumbs and you get frustrated because you just want to go back to the old way of doing things,” is how LaFata, who’s been running equipment for around 40 years, describes it. “About a week later, you feel you can’t live without it.”

Although Murdoch was used to operating tilt buckets, the rotation added an entirely new element. “I’ve had it for over 18 months and I’m still finding uses for the tiltrotator that I would never have thought of,” he says.

Attachments

A tiltrotator can be applied directly on the excavator dipper stick or underneath a hydraulic quick coupler. After the tiltrotator is attached, contractors can either use attachments designed by the tiltrotator manufacturer or purchase adaptors that allow them to use their existing attachments.

New Era’s tiltrotator is shared between the company’s two similarly-sized excavators. “It’s an attachment that comes on and off the machine, so we have a normal quick hitch on each machine and attach the tiltrotator to it,” Gardocki says. The tiltrotator itself also has a quick hitch, so various attachments can be attached at the bottom.

“There’s no more hooking up hydraulic hoses,” he says. “You can buy any attachment for the tiltrotator, and they sell the brackets that allow them to be used.”

Gardocki recommends using a tiltrotator-specific bucket: “They’re shaped a little differently than most buckets, with a longer bottom and lower sides. It makes it easier to scoop up rocks, stumps and materials,” he says. “My arsenal is starting to grow because it’s an addiction. Once you start, you start putting more things on your wish list.”

Contractors can also opt to use an independent quick hitch, such as Steelwrist SQ automatic quick coupler system, which allows the tiltrotator to be connected and disconnected from the cab. “If you need all of your machine’s breakout force, you can take off the tiltrotator in seconds rather than minutes,” says Stamp.

Breakout force

Stamp’s comment brings up a ding against tiltrotators: the loss of breakout force.

“Whatever the excavator can handle as far as breakout force and lift capacity, the Steelwrist was designed to handle,” Stamp argues. “People think it’s only for light-duty work, but it’s for everyday standard excavator bucket work.”

And Stamp says asking about breakout force is actually the wrong question. “Do you get paid for breakout force or do you get paid for doing the job?” he asks.

“I think the perception of breakout force for some people is that they need all the power the machine can give you,” Murdoch says. “For me, it’s not how much breakout force I need, it’s how I can make the machine more efficient. I didn’t necessarily feel like it would be a factor in me buying one and it hasn’t been an issue at all.

There is a common misconception about tiltrotators and the lack of breakout force due to the length of the unit, in actual fact, due to Steelwrist’s cast steel componentry, the weight, strength and build-height is actually surprisingly better when compared to other tilt hitches, even with the optional gripper installed.

Operator Josh Stockwell comments, “When doing heavy-duty work like stumping or working with large rocks, having the ability to tilt and rotate in addition to crowding in the bucket actually gives greater force and makes it far more productive".

Stockwell also states “After putting the Steelwrist through a variety of civil, land clearing, tree removal, rock wall building and earthworks jobs, I now have no doubts about the strength and longevity of the tiltrotator and all you have to do is grease it and you’re away laughing”.

Where to now?

New Zealand is a prime market for tiltrotator adoption, says Stamp. And it’s the smaller contractors who are leading the way and tend to jump in first.

“Once we penetrate a market with an innovative excavating contractor when their competitors start to lose business, it opens their eyes,” Stamp says.

But there’s another aspect to tiltrotator ownership that may be just as powerful. “I like being part of this community,” says Gardocki, talking about the social media surrounding tiltrotators. “I love posting videos and getting feedback, and I’m meeting new people I wouldn’t necessarily have met if I didn’t get a tiltrotator.”

To see how your business can benefit from a Steelwrist Tiltrotator contact Jason Stamp, Steelwrist Business Development Manager NZ, on 0800 587 054 or fill out the form below.