LiuGong graders hit the road in WA

Western Australia’s Shire of Nungarin is the latest council to employ a LiuGong grader to assist in the upkeep of its 370km of gravel and 180km of bitumen roads, the delivery backed up by the order of a multi-tyre roller from the same brand.

The council’s Works and Services Manager, Dave Nayda, says that once he’d assumed the role after leaving the drilling industry in the state’s north, he was keen to update some of the shire’s equipment, which he set about doing in consultation with the local government body’s CEO.

“It was in need of an upgrade, but when we looked at the cost of some of the big brands we realised that was not possible,” Dave says.

“We heard of some shires that had the LiuGong loaders and that was our first machine and we have had no dramas with it.

“We did the price comparisons and the saving was huge.”

The council was using a LiuGong 856H wheel loader, which offers up to 217hp from its air-to-air intercooled six-cylinder Cummins Stage III engine. This affords speeds of up to 40km/h and a tipping load of five tonnes, while the grunt is harnessed via a German countershaft powershift transmission, with four forward speeds and three reverse.

Quick hitch buckets are now standard on the loaders, with the high specification model (denoted by the ‘H’ in the model name) using a 3.5-cubic-metre bucket. A 3.0-cubic-metre bucket is used on the standard model.

The high-specification model also includes an auto-greaser as standard.

“It can do a lot of clearing work along the sides of roads and loading of trucks with gravel,” says Dave.

“It’s definitely as good as the major brands, if not better, for pushing power. It’s brilliant pushing the pile.”

While the council had pushed on with its old Cat grader for many years, an assessment revealed it was incurring between $40,000 and $50,000 per year in repairs and maintenance costs, along with all the associated downtime.

So, given the positive experience the council had had with its LiuGong wheel loader, the Shire of Nungarin soon added a LiuGong grader to its fleet – and for considerably less than the outlay required for a big-brand equivalent.

The 19 to 20-tonne LiuGong 4230D motor grader features a 9-litre Cummins engine. And after racking up over 650 hours, Dave says it has proven its reliability and strength.

“It doesn’t lack any power and it’s doing a good job, with no breakdowns so far,” he says.

He said operator comfort with the LiuGong grader was another big plus.

“The guys have all come out of other machines into the LiuGong and they are extremely happy,” he says.

The LiuGong machines were purchased through local Merredin dealer, McIntosh & Son.

“The support has been absolutely superb from the team at Merredin, and they continue to carry out our major machine services,” Dave says.

As for the future, Dave says he hopes to add a second LiuGong grader to the shire’s fleet.