With dozers commonly seen on construction sites, Cobra Equipment Sales’ Shantui machines are also proving to be handy on-farm with their attachment and towing capabilities
Shantui’s DH Series dozers have been a highly popular machine at Cobra Equipment Sales, and it’s not hard to see why.
If you could describe these dozers in one word it would be versatile, as this type of machine is commonly used in earthmoving applications to push large quantities of materials, but the Shantui dozers are also thriving on-farm.
More than capable of towing farm machinery, Cobra, the authorised dealer and distributor of Shantui equipment, is seeing the dozers being used in a similar way to larger tractors.
With the use of the dozer blade, land clearing is made easier and the Shantui machines can perform jobs that tractors aren’t suited to.
“We’ve got customers who are towing farm machinery on the back of their dozers to clear regrowth,” Cobra Equipment Sales founder George Nason says.
“The dozers are much more suited to these tasks because they have tracks instead of wheels, and the tyres on a tractor would be damaged.”
Owen Lane, owner of earthmoving business Hiregrade, has a heavy-duty drawbar on the back of his Shantui DH17-C3 crawler dozer to tow an anchor chain.
This has enabled his 20-tonne and 204 horsepower (152kW) Shantui dozer to pull the attachment to clear brigalow scrub.
The anchor chain is hooked between the Shantui and Lane’s other branded dozer to knock over regrowth timber that gets in the way.
“This is the first major job I’ve done with the Shantui dozer, but I’m already impressed,” he says.
“It’s highly manoeuvrable and easy to operate.”
Fuel efficiency
Lane has also been pleased with the fuel-efficient Weichai engine, which he says is saving him a significant amount of money in fuel costs.
In comparison to equivalent dozers of other leading brands, he says the Shantui machine uses 30 to 40 litres less diesel fuel over a 12-hour shift.
Considering the high price of diesel fuel in the current market, Lane says the Shantui engine is making all the difference.
“Over a period of time, the fuel savings all add up,” Lane says.
Cobra founder Nason attributes the fuel-efficient engine to Shantui’s research and development.
“Shantui have acquired a wealth of knowledge from other machines over the years, and they’ve come up with their own engine,” he says.
“They’ve been building it for many years, and now you can see the benefits through fuel-efficiency and power.”
Another Cobra Equipment customer, Lachlan Smith, owner of H.L. Smith Earthworks, says his Shantui DH17-B2 dozer is also providing significant fuel savings.
“Shantui’s engine is much more fuel efficient compared to other dozers,” he says.
“It consumes half the amount.”
Based in Casino, New South Wales, Smith has attached a 4m wide disc plough to the back of his dozer for a land development project – involving rehabilitating scrub and improving pasture.
Impressed with the dozer’s power and towing capacity, Smith says the dozer is a perfect alternative to tractors when having to work in rough terrain.
“The regrowth I’m driving through would damage or even destroy a tractor, but my Shantui dozer isn’t affected when it runs over the top of the regrowth,” he says.
Performance, price and reliability were big selling points for Smith, a key factor in deciding to go with the Shantui brand over other dozer manufacturers.
Selling points
Reinforcing these reasons for going with Shantui, Lane also says the affordability of the dozers were a big standout.
“I think the quality is just as good as some of the other leading brands, but the Shantui machines are less than half the price,” Hiregrade’s owner says.
“I believe the Shantui brand is going to continue to become more popular in Australia, and the dozers will retain their resale value.”
In addition to his dozer, Lane also owns a Shantui grader which he finds highly affordable, and says that he hopes to add a Shantui excavator from Cobra Equipment to his fleet soon, to help with future work in the region.
Farmer Peter Campbell is also fond of the Shantui brand, and is using his DH24-C3 crawler dozer on his own rural property in Goondiwindi on the border of New South Wales and Queensland.
His dozer has been fitted with a variety of attachments, including a tree spear, stick rake, blade plough and heavy-duty forestry protection guards, to clear country for his cattle and prepare the ground for crop planting.
Another standout of the Shantui dozers for these customers has been the large cabin space, providing plenty of room to make sure that comfort is maximised throughout the day.
What Cobra’s founder finds most special about these dozers is the independent hydrostatic drive of each track, providing easy manoeuvrability of the machine.
“When you steer, it speeds one side up and slows the other down, but you never lose traction on both sides,” Nason says.
“Being hydrostatic drive, our customers are finding that the dozers are much easier to operate.”
Customers trust the Shantui machines, as Nason says the company is the world’s largest manufacturer of bulldozers – with the local machines in good company.
“Shantui is the number one seller of bulldozers in many countries, due to its affordability, reliability and ease of operation,” he says.
“At Cobra Equipment, we’ve been selling a lot of DH17s up to the DH24s, suitable to smaller contractors and farmers.
“Interest in larger models is also growing due to Shantui’s proven track record.”
For more information on the Shantui range of dozers, visit www.cobraequipmentsales.com.au or call (07) 3379 9419.