Kunz & Co. GmbH from Todtnau in the Black Forest region of Germany has purchased a new Doosan DX190W-5 wheeled excavator, specially modified for forestry work.
Already in its first few weeks, the Doosan excavator has impressed in the timber harvesting, logging and excavation work carried out by Kunz & Co.
The use of powerful excavators in forestry operations has increased significantly in recent years. This is because when they are appropriately equipped, they can be used not only in timber harvesting and processing, but also in road construction. These excavators can be used for a wide range of applications, thus ensuring high utilisation of the machines.
In this environment, the external conditions place high demands on the machines. So the correct selection of the carrier machine, which is to be adapted to meet the individual customer's needs through appropriate conversion measures, is of great importance.
The Doosan DX190W-5 wheeled excavator has a powerful and reliable Doosan DL06P six-cylinder engine with an output of 129 kW. This is complemented by a high hydraulic output of 2 x 200 l/min as standard, which can be combined via pump summation. This means that an attachment with a high flow requirement can also be operated. This hydraulic output also meets the high performance requirements of processor-aggregate operations. The dozer blade and claw attachments also increase the stability.
Forestry excavators work in a wide variety of areas at Kunz & Co. GmbH. One of the main tasks is as process excavators. Here, logs are measured, delimbed and cut to length in one step and thus prepared for further use. In addition, the machines are used for forest road construction.
A number of conversion measures were necessary for this. In addition to the safety modifications required for a forestry excavator, such as the forestry protection shoring, a frame-mounted protective roof and the chain-shot-proof windscreen, a number of additional works were carried out in order to adapt the excavator individually to its future uses. These included an Oil-Quick quick coupler to change the various attachments needed, a conversion to bio-oil and 700 mm wide tyres. The core of the conversion was the P60 processor unit including Koller Forsttechnik controls. This weighs 1.6 tonne and delivers its optimum performance at a hydraulic output of 280-300 l/min. After the conversion, the excavator had a total weight of 24 tonne and can thus be transported on the low-loader.
