A custom Shantui dozer from Northern Heavy Machinery Sales and Service and imported by Cobra Equipment Sales is demonstrating its power in a North Queensland rainforest, clearing the way for remote construction
In the harsh landscape of North Queensland – where rocky hillsides and dense rainforest are the norm – one contractor has built a reputation for doing the difficult earthmoving jobs that others may shy away from.
For Townsville-based Civilquip, navigating this harsh terrain is just another day on the job.
Established in 1993, the family-owned and run earthmoving business specialises in small-scale heavy-weight jobs across the vast expanses of North Queensland, including maintaining access tracks up hills for mobile phone tower sites and under powerlines, as well as private jobs in remote, hillside, rocky and generally difficult sites.
“We’ve worked as far south as Rockhampton, as far west as Camooweal and as far north as Lockhart River,” Civilquip owner Ken Willing says.
“We tend to do the jobs that need decent sized equipment but are too small for larger contractors to be interested in doing, which includes one day jobs.”
Civilquip’s fleet consists of loaders, dozers, graders and even 30-tonne excavators. Recently adding a new machine to its fleet, Civilquip is proving that even the most remote and rugged sites can be tackled with the right equipment.
Remote rainforest
The machine in question is a Shantui DH17-C3 dozer with a Power-Angle-Tilt (PAT) blade and forestry protection, which was provided by Northern Heavy Machinery Sales and Service as the northern dealer working with Shantui authorised distributor and dealer Cobra Equipment Sales.
Willing procured the 19.2-tonne dozer with three shank rear rippers as an upgrade on one of his older machines, and wasted no time putting it through its paces in the middle of the Cardwell Rainforest, approximately 160km north of Townsville.
This job involved clearing rainforest and rocks for a house pad on a private property, while creating an access road up a hill to the eventual house.
“The machine so far has been proving quite robust, because I’ve had a few decent sized trees crashing down over the top of it,” Willing says.
“I did order it with forestry protection and I’m glad that I did, because although I don’t do a lot of tree clearing, this first job it did was pretty hectic with all the vines tying the trees together.
“You push one over and that pulls in another half a dozen on top of you.”
The PAT blade was also specifically requested by Willing due to the large amount of access track maintenance Civilquip does.
“We use the PAT blade like a grader for maintaining those tracks,” he says.
“It’s the most useful attachment to have on a dozer for that work. It doesn’t suit everything, but it suits most of our work.”
Established brand
As the first Shantui-branded machine in the Civilquip fleet, Willing was initially attracted to the OEM’s equipment – offered by Northern Heavy Machinery North Queensland with Cobra – due to the affordability of its equipment.
“The Shantui dozer was not much more than a third of the price of one of the top brands,” he says.
While this is the eighth dozer he has owned, the Shantui is the first brand-new dozer Willing has ever had, which he says is a testament to its price point.
This is because he was originally looking to buy a second-hand machine but was intrigued when he came across Shantui and some of its brand-new dozers.
Willing had made an inquiry for an alternative brand of dozer, but it wasn’t offered with a PAT blade, so the customisation ability offered by Northern Heavy Machinery Sales and Service sealed the deal. When the standard PAT blade was re-manufactured to less than 3.5m, he was able to move the machine without an escort.
With the cost and attachments being important to Willing, along with Shantui’s reputation, he was confident its machinery would thrive in his work.
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“Shantui has been around for over 40 years, and they actually make more bulldozers than anyone else in the world,” he says.
“I owned a Chinese machine 20 years ago when they were first on the market, and it was a very profitable proposition. Equipment tends to get even better as time goes on, so I wasn’t shy on going for another Chinese make.”
Since obtaining the Shantui dozer, it has clocked up 100 hours on its first job in the Cardwell Rainforest, with Willing thrilled with its performance and fuel economy, thanks to the 204hp (152kW) Weichai engine.
“It has more than enough power and the fuel economy is great,” he says.
“The dozer is doing medium weight work at the moment, and I appear to be running at 18 litres per hour.”
Some of the dozer’s features Willing has found useful include joystick speed regulation for determining the speed of his pushing and trimming, as well as a decelerator pedal on the same pedal as the brake – reducing the need to use two separate pedals.
He has also been happy with the air-conditioning and the radio, which he says has been able to pick up Townsville signals, even when working as far as 150km away.
“The dozer has done harsh work, but it has stood up,” Willing says.
“There’s been no problems with it and the features are quite nice.”
For more information on the Shantui DH17-C3 dozer, visit cobraequipmentsales.com.au or call 07 3379 9419. Northern Heavy Machinery Sales and Service for Central, North, Far North & Western Queensland can also be reached by calling 0427 244 577 or 0411 744 333.
