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Fall 2008

Problem property saved by Bobcat system

Compact loaders and excavator combine to preserve wooded site

Bobcat loaders and excavators

Bobcat loaders and a 335 compact excavator work in tandem to handle debris.

The Bobcat® System has proven to be a very valuable equipment combination for 3E Industries — a family-owned business from Roanoke, Ind. For one landowner near Cassopolis, Mich., 3E Industries and its Bobcat machines helped make a dream come true.

Background

The 40-acre property seemed to be ideal to the new owner when he bought it — a heavily wooded site with a pond and a creek. However, the property had been logged twice. When the leaves fell off the trees in the autumn, it was apparent that the logging had caused plenty of damage, including downed trees and piles of brush. Flooding began as the creek dammed up with tree debris. Several acres became wetlands, unusable except to breed mosquitoes and therefore disease. The owner was unable to enjoy his property.

Wrong solution

Several contractors who bid on the clean-up project told the owner that all the trees had to go in order to remove the downed trees in the back of the property. That would, of course, negate the reason the owner purchased the property in the first place.

Right solution

Trent Ehinger, who owns 3E Industries with his father Edward and his brother Erick, looked at the project with their Bobcat System in mind — an S185 skid-steer loader and 335 compact excavator, along with a friend’s A300 all-wheel steer loader.

“I told the owner we could complete the job without doing further damage,” Ehinger says. “We received the work because of our Bobcat machines. In fact, I don’t think he would have ever moved forward with the project if we had not identified this equipment as the answer.”

The first phase of the job was completed on time and within budget, despite a foot of snow and temperatures that reached minus 27 degrees F. All three pieces of Bobcat equipment had enclosed, heated cabs to keep operators warm and grapple buckets to clear debris from the site. The S185 was equipped with over-the-tire steel tracks to provide traction on slippery parts of the site. The A300 was invaluable for carrying heavier material, especially for long distances, because of its standard two-speed travel. With its four steerable axles, the A300 was able to do the job with less ground disturbance than a skid-steer loader.

“The 335 excavator was the key to our success on this job,” Ehinger says. “We used it with a clamp attachment to separate timber into easy-to-manage piles, carry trees out of the woods, excavate stumps, remove timber from creek beds, push over dead and leaning trees, take out sticker bushes, and do plenty of other jobs as well. The 335 was the perfect match for this project.

“Best of all, we did no further damage to the property,” Ehinger says. “We kept our promise to the owner.” Compact equipment obviously proved to be the best solution for this landowner, who avoided having to clear his entire property. Now the owner can enjoy the property as he had originally intended.

Attachments are dependable employees for 3E

Instead of hiring extra employees, 3E Industries relies on matching attachments to the job. “Bobcat attachments are a great investment,” Ehinger says. “Using them wisely allows us to consider each one of them a dependable employee.”

Combine the wide variety of Bobcat attachments with a loader and excavator and Ehinger says you’ll have “an unbeatable combination. With the Bobcat System, we can do more work in less time than a tractor loader backhoe.”

Read more about the many benefits of Bobcat compact excavators, including the 335, at www.bobcat.com/excavator.