It’s been almost nine years since Queensland-based Landscaping & Water Cartage (LWC) bought its Remu Screening Bucket, and it’s fair to say that the business has had no regrets with the purchase.
Operating out of Toowoomba since 1991, LWC specialises in landscaping, earthmoving, bulk soil and water deliveries, and processes bulk material at its yard for resale.
Material for recycling is generally sourced from LWC’s own cartage contracts, with suitable material diverted to the recycling yard rather than being dumped.
The business was started back in 1991 by Rob and Andrea Smallmon, with son Logan taking on the reins as Earthmoving and Workshop Manager after completing his mechanical trade.
“We specialise in general earthmoving and excavation projects for house and shed pads, country driveways, soil supplies and tipper hire along with anything else we may have a client request for,” Logan said.
“Our area that we serve is mainly the Toowoomba Region but do travel in to the Southern Downs and Lockyer Valley as well.”
Currently, the inventory includes a number of tippers and trucks, a 15t wheel loader, a 14t padfoot roller, a 5t large tracked skid steer, and one 1.6t mini-tracked skid steer.
While they all play their part, perhaps one of the most valued pieces of equipment is LWC’s 21t Case CX210 excavator, with an indispensable Remu Screening Bucket.
The implement uses a rotary screening blade to size material, with the blade spacing determining the size of material. LWC has its bucket set up to produce 18mm minus material, which places it in a niche for high-quality soils and gravels suitable for commercial use.
Logan said that LWC initially used a vibrating screen to process the soil, but this had high maintenance costs.
The company switched to sieve buckets which had grids welded to it to produce the required size of material. But while it was more effective than the previous design, it also had high running costs and, like the screen, it struggled with sticky material.
Then the business came upon the Remu bucket: an EP3150 HD, bought in 2016.
“We searched around at the time and there were only two companies that actually did machine-mounted screening buckets,” he said.
“We had contacted both companies at the time and the Remu dealer was in contact with us straight away, while the other company didn’t contact us until about a month later.”
Perhaps it was just as well, because that bucket has continued to perform impeccably for LWC.
“The Remu bucket is very low maintenance, the blades are hard wearing and the overall build of the machine is high end,” Logan said.
“The beauty of this bucket is that we can load up the machine at minimal cost and move it to another site or stockpile without having to get larger trailers or long, unnecessary tracking of mobile screens, for example.
“The bucket is so versatile. Currently we are using it for excavation, material handling, cleaning, etc.
“We can screen several different types of materials. We screen red clay topsoils, red clay subsoil and road profilings.
“With our topsoil screening, we get the material down to 18mm in size, with screening times varying, depending on how wet the material is. Dry material will funnel through at around 60-70m3 an hour and when the material is wet, it is reduced down to around 20m3 an hour.
“We look at the times when it is wet and ask, what other screen will do that amount with that much moisture? Most mobile vibrating screens just clog up and don’t produce.”
Logan said the Remu was more robust than the sieved product and required significantly less routine servicing, such as daily greasing of pins and bushes, and oiling the chain used to drive the rotor.
“We work it for up to 40 hours per month in the low season, ramping up to around 60 hours per month when there is a greater supply of material for processing,” he said.
The Remu’s robust construction also meant that there are no breakage concerns if there is some rock in the soil.
But more importantly, there has been very little need for major repairs or parts replacements.
“The service from our dealer was great, but generally the only parts we needed were just small items, which were sourced from most suppliers in Toowoomba. We did not need to get specialised parts,” Logan said.
“The repairs and maintenance is very low, basically we just grease and oil it daily. Over the past eight years of having the bucket, we have only had to replace a few drive chains and hardface the rotor blades once in its lifespan with us.
“Because our operations revolve around working for builders to carry out their projects, having a reliable, low maintenance fleet is a necessity.”
The bucket has performed so well, LWC has had little need to replace it.
“If the need arises for another screening bucket, there is no doubt that we will contact Remu for another,” Logan said.
In Australia, Remu has a distribution collaboration with the BA Equipment Group, a leading Australian supplier of excavator hydraulic attachments, with offices in Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia, and Onis Equipment Group based in NSW.
For more information on Remu products, email australia@remu.fi or call 0488 877 785.