Tiltrotator aka- steel wrist on the job, cost, hookup, choices & more

All [Music] right, guys. We're back again with more tilt rotating action, but this is by Steel Wrist. Now, if you're not familiar with what a tilt rotator is, it actually is an attachment that goes on the end of an excavator and dramatically changes its function and performance. And so, today, hopefully a lot of you guys have seen part one, but if you're just tuning in, go with that video. We're also going to today show you what a tilt rotator is capable of achieving. So, without wasting any more time, let's go steel wrist tail rotate. You know, I thought I would dail that better this time. I'd had enough time, but I guess not. We're going to go tilt rotate some stuff. My other question is is minimum and maximum machine size that something like this would is is ideally suited for cuz I mean, I'm looking at that. I'm looking at the 750. Is that a 750 over there? Now, that's a 750. And that's absolutely not for that one. Okay. They start off really small. So, we have a lot of compact Xavors. I think our newest one may be an ECR18. We have EC20s. You can have steel wrist down to that small of a size. The only major difference is the smallest ones will only have one tilt cylinder on it cuz you simply don't need that much force to send it side to side for the tilt function. Okay. Now, on the larger ones, you go up. This is a 235, so an equivalent to a 22 ton excavator. That's a short swing model. This is the second largest model, this X26. The next one up is going to be an X32 and that's going to be the largest model available from steel wrist and we can put that on to that ECR 355 over there or an EC300. So about 30 32 ton X excavator is the biggest class that a steel wrist will go on right now. So for people who maybe have a fleet of other buckets, we don't want to, you know, say you only have to buy Volvo. So we have a quick attach that'll pick up for the most part most people's buckets. There are some that are unique. they need something special, but this is as close to a universal as you can get. So, when you're working with the steer wrist, once you get above the bucket itself, then you get into the quick coupler. This is called a front pin lock. You have these on that side, but you also have cylinders on the back. When you're dropping your bucket, the green indicator will go back. Red indicator comes out, and that will tell you that the cylinders on the back have retracted and that it's now safe to pick up the bucket or drop it off, depending on how you're doing it. this joint right here. This is where the rotate function takes place. Now, all tilt rotators will have a valve above this. So, the nice thing about these is you can just have one flow going out to it. A lot of excavators have multiple lines for different auxiliary circuits. You just need the primary, which on Volvo is called the next one. It goes into there. The valve bacon here will spread the flows out to the attachment. It'll cause it to rotate. Use another function. You can do the tilt. And then on the back of it here, you can take a look and there's a grapple. So, this is an option. It just depends on what you're doing with the equipment, whether or not you need the grapple. But all three of those functions are controlled by that valve bank on the inside. So, one flow controls all the things on here. And then once you get up to the top, you have the secondary quick attach. These are those cylinders that I was talking about before. So when you're dropping the attachment, that red indicator will come out indicating that these have retracted into the body allowing you to drop it. Is the grapple optional? Absolutely. Okay. If you're thinking that you're automatically going to get a grapple, that may not be the case. Right. Right. That is something that you have to specify when you're ordering whether or not you want this is an they call it a cassette, just like a little cassette player. This actually bolts on to the existing frame and is powered by the hydraulics. So it's basically an either or option. And you can get it with or without. Just like you can get certain things with or without lifting eyes, in this case you're getting it with or without the grapple cassette. Some of the new things that are coming out, and this one doesn't have it, is the newest thing that they're going to have is hoses that actually go in to your quick coupler, and then you're going to be able to pick up your attachment, and the hoses will be internal to this. So, you don't have to worry about disconnecting hoses anymore. The hoses will run into the quick coupler and when you pick up your attachment, there'll be face seal connections and they'll line up and that will pressurize your attachment that way. Okay, those are some of the things that are going to be coming soon to the market. All right, I've actually seen those in operation. Okay, you're ahead of me. So, yeah, that's uh that's actually a pretty slick uh system. Now, speaking of plumbing and hooking your hoses up, that's something else that I want to make sure that these guys, cuz hey, here's the fact. Some of you guys, this may be your first excavator, second, third, I don't care. Maybe you don't even have an excavator yet, but you're going to buy one and you are convinced that you need one of these units because I mean, this, like I said, this is actually the next level. But if you buy an excavator and you're not plumbed properly, you're going to get it on the end of your boom and go, "Well, how come it doesn't work?" Absolutely. So tell me a little bit just about the basic plumbing that you need to run this in the first place. When you buy an XV, one of the things you'll have to specify is going to be your primary auxiliary flow. Uh most brands have different names for it. The Vulfur brand is called X1. The X1 takes both flows of the pumps. You have two pumps in these units. If you're not doing anything else, all that flow can come out to your attachment. Now, the issue with operating any piece of equipment is if you sized a piece of equipment that uses all the flow from both pumps, that's great until you have to do something else. So, if you had a mower or flail, something like that, and you sized it for 100 gallons per minute, and that's all the pumps will put out, and the minute you start tracking, that's going to slow down. So, same thing here, except for the fact that you don't have a continuous motor here. You're not worried about that, but you do have to specify that you have what's called X1 plumbing that's coming out to the end here. As far as the machine goes, it stops at that brass colored valve. That's what they have. And then when you order the steel wrist, the steel wrist starts with the green hoses here. They'll go up to it and connect. Now, you can have different ways of doing it. You'll notice there's a four-bolt flange there. That's a more permanent connection. And if you're not going to be dropping this anytime soon, that makes a very tight, a very wellsealed connection. Has O-rings in. It's going to handle high pressure. But if you're going to be dropping this a lot, you might want to go to a quick attach so that you can separate that easily, drop the hoses, and go on to a different attachment that may not use it. So, it's just one thing to keep in mind whether or not you need a hard connection or you want to use quick hydraulic hoses to drop and get them off. Okay, so the question that everybody's going to be screaming is, "What is the retail price or what's the average price of these things?" And we're not here to sell them to you. I don't have a clue. Well, I do have a clue. What am I talking about? I do have a clue, but now we've talked about them all the way up to the 300 unit, all the way down to the compact minis. Let's say a machine like this. How much is a unit like that run? I'm going just ballpark it. That's probably in the 30 range. 30 30 grand, right? Okay. So, 30 grand. That's not installed. It's not plumbed. Correct. That's you buy it. You get to throw it in the back of your pickup truck or something probably way bigger than that and haul it home and figure out how to get it hooked up from there. Right. Or you order it from the factory. Okay. Well, that's the nice thing about is now that uh most brands are starting to integrate with one of the other brands of these is they're starting to offer these from the factory. So you can actually have it attached when it gets done. That's a that's a great thing you just said, Matt, but a lot of guys can't afford a brand new machine from the factory. Sure. A lot of the guys have a piece of equipment that maybe it's served them well and they love it and now they just want to bring it to the next level, right? Is retrofitting an older machine with this unit of a a viable option or is it got to go through? It is now. Uh that's one of the things why we didn't curate beforehand is like I said this had almost 95 100% take rate over in Sweden and it wasn't that common over here. What changed is Steel Risk has set up shop in the US now. They didn't move their entire company here but they did set up an office here. So they have parts service and sales all in the US now. So, if you have an existing machine, you have an old machine, as long as you have the auxiliary hydraulics where you have the means to put those on, then they can sell you the attachment and install it at your site. And we did it here, not with this particular machine, with an earlier machine we had. And I would say it was about a day and a half. And that's all it took. One guy who would appreciate your help if you were there, but one guy with a little bit of help can install this in about a day and a half. So, overall, I hope this video's helped you guys out. Get familiar with it. uh the production, the capabilities, if a tilt rotator is right for you, let me know in the comments down below. And make sure you guys stick around because in this entire video series, um we are going to be talking about how to run a rock truck, a payloader, a skid steer, and compaction. What is compaction? And all of this is possible because of Volvo. They're not trying to sell you on any of their equipment. So, in the other videos, if you're looking for review videos, you're not going to get it. But if you're looking for videos on the things that to do and the things not to do, that's exactly what we concentrate on in this. So I owe a giant thank you to Bobo for making this possible. And if this series is popular and works out good enough, maybe I can convince them in how to run a mini excav.