Get FinancingBobcat Comfort Features Allow Chronic Pain Sufferer To Keep On Excavating
Paralysis was a very real danger for Riverton, Utah, contractor Todd Sharp, medical experts said. Without surgery to fuse damaged vertebrae in his spine, which have kept him racked with chronic neck pain for years, even a minor vehicle accident could be catastrophic.
Sharp knew he had to make a change to protect not only his body, but his very livelihood. His business, Sharp Excavating, depended on finding a solution that would keep his neck protected from physical shocks on the job.
Enter The Bobcat
That solution, as it turned out, was Bobcat’s T650 tracked skid loader—or more specifically, its user comfort features.
“Comfort was the whole point—period,” Sharp said. “I sat on the other manufacturer’s loader for about a half hour, and that was all I could handle.
“I loved running the Bobcat T650 loader,” he continued. “It was a soft ride, and [yet] it’s a powerhouse and can really move the dirt.”
With the M2 Series’ T650 loader, Sharp was able to continue to run his 15-year-old business, which specializes in utility installation site prep for commercial projects such as parking lots.
“Some people are stuck in a place that they don’t want to be,” he said. “I’m not getting rich doing this, but I love it and I make a comfortable living.”
T650 Comfort
Sharp’s appreciation for the Bobcat T650’s comfort features start as soon as he climbs inside. The loader has an extra-large door and ample headroom and legroom.
“The door opens all the way, and that’s nice when you’re six-foot-one with long arms,” Todd says. “When I sit down in that cab, I can pull the seat all the way forward, and I’m just as comfortable.”
Sharp opted for the available air ride seat for maximum shock absorbance.
“I can get such a fine adjustment with the air suspension seat. It seems to float, and that’s very helpful on this big jobsite,” Sharp said. His T650 also has Bobcat’s exclusive Selectable Joystick Controls (SJC), which are mounted on the seat and move with the user.
Sharp also ordered the loader’s two-speed option, which ups its top travel speed to 10 mph (16 km/h). The T650’s new automatic ride control option, besides reducing material spillage from the bucket at such high speed, also smooths out the journey.
“I can haul butt as I’m traveling across a jobsite, and when I start hitting bumps, [the automatic ride control] cushions the boom so the machine is not hopping and beating up on me,” Sharp said. “There’s less fatigue on the operator.”
Lift cylinder cushioning also acts to reduce jarring motions in the T650. It automatically slows down the lift arms before they hit their stops. It’s easy for Sharp to see what’s going on with the bucket raised without having to crane his neck, too, thanks to a top window with more than 30% better visibility.
The T650’s sound dampening is also important to Sharp’s comfort level on the job. The loader has bigger front and rear rubber cab isolators and an improved, one-piece door seal.
Additional T650 comfort features include dust-minimizing cab pressurization, automotive-style HVAC vents, and a redesigned hydrostatic pump that requires up to 25% less effort to move the drive lever.
The 9,113-pound (4,134-kilogram) T650 has a 2,570-pound (1,165-kilogram) operating capacity rating and a tipping load of 7,343 pounds (3,331 kilograms). It’s propelled by a 74-horsepower (55.2-kilowatt) Tier 4 turbo diesel.
Bobcat’s E42
Sharp also uses a Bobcat E42 compact excavator in his business. It shares many comfort features with the T650 and comes with a few of its own, such as soft grip joysticks, one-hand travel control, and fold-away travel pedals for extra legroom. Also, its blade float feature exerts a bit of down-pressure on the blade, so it can still do work without requiring the operator to apply any force manually.
“The E42 has great reach,” Sharp says. “It gets way the heck out there, and that means fewer cuts.” Depending on configuration, the mini excavator has a reach of up to 19.1 feet (5.8 meters).
The E42 is powered by a 42.7-horsepower (31.8-kilowatt) Tier 4 turbo diesel. It has an operating weight of up to 9,976 pounds (4,525 kilograms), a digging depth of as much as 12.5 feet (3.8 meters), and a maximum dump height of up to 13.3 feet (5.8 meters).
Source: Bobcat
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