West Dundee, IL-based Iron Horse Grading and Excavating’s production is up 40 percent. The company manages this task with the help of a Hitachi EX1200 excavator with a 12-cu.-yd. (9.2 cu m) bucket and five Hitachi AH400 haulers purchased from Howell Tractor, as well as a Hitachi ex550 with a 6-cu.-yd backhoe. On any given day, with both backhoes and 13 articulated trucks working, Iron Horse can move as much as 27,000 yds. 24,689 m) at the Vulcan Materials pit in McCook, IL. "We run quantities between half a million and 3 million yds. That seems to be the bracket we fall in," said Dave Hansen, president and general manager of of Iron Horse. The cycle times for the Hitachi EX1200s are running between 30-40 seconds, according to Hansen. "We’ve been very pleased with the performance of the Hitachi equipment, especially these new trucks," said Hansen. Frank R. Sapyta, salesman area manager of Howell, responsible for both the Iron Horse and Vulcan Material accounts said, "There were 12 trucks originally brought into the U.S. this calendar year and these are the first five trucks …in North America." Iron Horse is currently responsible for three projects at the McCook pit. "[Dave is] doing some shale stripping, some overburden stripping and he’s hauling stone in certain areas at the McCook pit," said Sapyta. "As far as the Vulcan pit goes…Iron Horse is basically a subcontractor working for Vulcan Material at various facilities depending on where they want him to go for various types of work. "Dave was lucky enough to get the stone project out at the Arsenal at Joliet. What that entails is there are about 10 or 12 contractors out there…,” said Sapyta. “Vulcan is in charge of shipping material in by rail, and Dave is responsible for hauling it on articulated trucks and dumping it in certain customer areas at that," added Sapyta. Material is actually hauled to a designated dump site and smoothed over by Iron Horse crews. Iron Horse Grading and Excavating was started in 1993. Hansen, a former Vietnam Combat Marine veteran, said the company could take on excavations as large as 20 acres (8 ha). "[We will] drop it say a depth of 60 ft. so operators at these quarries and gravel pits can get at the item to be mined, either gravel or limestone," he said. For the past three years it has been predominantly limestone that Iron Horse has been doing the overburden stripping on, according to Hansen. The Hitachi EX1200 features a 12-cu.-yd. (9.2 cu m) bucket by Central Fabricators of Schofield, WI. The EX1200 also features a Hitachi S6R-Y1TAA1 water-cooled, 16-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine. The backhoe has a reach of 56.9 ft. (17.3 m) and a digging depth of 37.5 ft.(11.4 m). The AH400 is a 40-ton (36 t) articulated truck with a 410-hp (305.6 kW) Mercedes Benz OM442LA V-8 engine. The hauler also is capable of fully loaded high speeds of 33 mph (53 kph) in five forward gears and 10 mph (16 kph) in one reverse gear. Hitachi has always been involved in the excavating business, said Sapyta. "[They] ended up purchasing the Bell Truck line with Deere. Hitachi-Deer went in on this project and they both handle the same truck,” he added. Additionally, a year or so ago Hitachi bought 80 percent of Euclid. As of today, according to Sapyta, the company owns 100 percent of it. Hitachi has excavators, articulated trucks and rigid haul trucks. Vulcan Materials’ Midwest division owns and operates Euclid Rigid Trucks. “We are delivering a new 90 ton Euclid model 1600 to its facility this week,” said Sapyta. Howell Tractor also carries Kawasaki, Euclid, Dynapac, Waldon and Rammer, and has locations in Elk Grove, IL; Gary, IN; Lasalle-Peru, IL; and South Bend, IN.This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.
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