Takeuchi TB230 delivers for groundwork contractor

For the last 25 years, Fenech Groundworx has been preparing residential construction sites for building companies; undertaking concrete preparation works for driveways and footpaths. In addition to working for builders, the company also carries out landscaping and concreting jobs for home owners.

To keep up with its workload, the company needed a new digger in its fleet to carry out tasks efficiently and reliably. After weighing its options, Fenech Groundworx decided upon the Takeuchi brand and took delivery of its new TB230 excavator last year, and never looked back.

“Having owned and operated many brands of equipment over the years, we had a good idea of what type of excavator we needed to keep the business at peak efficiency and maintain our high level of customer service,” says Steve Fenech from Fenech Groundworx.

“The main reason for our decision [to purchase the Takeuchi TB230] was our priority for a highly engineered, rugged excavator that would keep performing faultlessly day after day.

“The quality and engineering of this excavator is first class.”

The TB230 is Fenech Groundworx’s first Takeuchi excavator, and it has been put through its paces for the last twelve months. Fenech says the performance of the rig has met the company’s expectations and then some.

“It has proven its reliability, regardless of how tough the tasks - the quality is brilliant. It’s a powerful excavator and at just 1450mm wide, it’s easy to access most job sites, being only 150mm wider than a 1.7-tonne excavator with extended tracks,” he says.

“While working space is not always an issue, the modest tail-swing radius of only 1330mm works well for us and gives us a 79 degrees left and 58 degrees right boom swing angle, so the machine has full stability, despite its compact dimensions.”

He adds the three-tonne class machine can easily load over the side of a truck and packs a punch with its powerful, yet quiet and smooth 23.6hp (17.6kW) Yanmar diesel engine.

“It also has ample first auxiliary hydraulic output which is more than enough to drive a PD3 Digga auger in tough conditions,” Fenech adds.

“Moving the TB230 excavator and its attachments between job sites is easy, thanks to our 4.5-tonne GVM (gross vehicle mass) rating all-alloy trailer.”

Takeuchi says its TB230 offers several design enhancements over its predecessor models, including a generously proportioned, full-sized operator station with ROPS and FOPS protection.

It also incorporates Takeuchi’s craning system which lets operators safely control the lifting of suspended loads, even when the exact mass is not known. This system features anti-drop valves and warns operators when the machine is reaching an unstable position and then stops excessive reach.

Other features include Takeuchi’s standard multi-flanged roller system that helps reduce the risk of de-tracking on side slopes and an auto downshift transmission system which protects the system from overload by shifting down to low range and then back up when resistance is reduced.