Davey Jones did an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic before moving into earthmoving, so he’s in a good position to assess heavy equipment and to know what works. For his company, DTJ Contracting, it’s Caterpillar all the way.
“I’ve always been around machines,” said the youthful looking Jones. “Love burning diesel. Love operating the machines. Love the earthmoving part of things.
“I jumped into it full time when I was probably in my early 20s and a few years ago went out on my own. It’s just sort of just kept ticking along since then.”
Well capable
DTJ Contracting does most of its work for the dairy farmers in the Gippsland region of southeastern Victoria, and the machinery has to be versatile.
“We do works from dam construction to dam cleanout, rebuilds, a lot of tree work and a bit of vegetation management…drainage work, site cuts, bulk earthworks and detailed stuff, mainly in the rural sector. Most of my clients are farmers,” said Davey in a matter-of-fact tone.
To handle the big variety of tasks he tackles every day, Davey has a Cat® 330 excavator, and while it’s a hardworking unit, Davey makes the most of its capability.
“The 330’s my first machine,” he told The Australian Arbor Age, “I bought it off Belly (Stuart Bell – William Adams Product Specialist Forestry and Paving – ed) three years ago and it’s been great. It’s got a little over 3500 hours on it. I paired it up with the Cat mulcher. Being a Cat machine with a Cat implement, it runs with the Next Gen technology.”
“It’s all integrated and the power’s fantastic,” he continued. “This digger has a fair bit of oomph, so when it’s paired with the Cat HM5515 it can chew through some material.
“Having the manoeuvrability and tiltage allows doing batter work and cleaning drains. When I’m doing larger vegetation, like taller trees, I can manoeuvre them how I want to, and that’s a big bonus.”
He jumped in the cab and proceeded to give a very impressive demonstration, as you’ll see on the video.
A good connection
While Davey reduced some sizable trees to mulch and cleared an access road, clearly enjoying his 330’s performance, Stuart Bell chimed in with a few thoughts on why DTJ Contracting was enjoying so much success with the 330 and his new HM5515 mulcher.
“We got Davey away on his 330, and we’ve since added a D5 Next Gen dozer,” explained Bell. “Of late, he’s taken delivery of the Cat mulcher.
“The Cat 330’s a Tier 3 2D machine, and the mulcher’s an HM5515, matched to the 330, and the best thing about the combination is Cat has done all the engineering and set up. We just put a heap of numbers in the computer and pretty much dial in the hydraulic flow and the drum speed and away we go.”
“Davey has a tilt hitch and a thumb with the mulcher, so he can pin on the mulcher and do jobs like we’ve seen today. He can then put on a bucket and dig dams. He’s also got a ripper. It’s a very versatile tool that can do numerous roles and work alongside his dozer and keep all the dairy farmers in south Gippsland happy,” he smiled.
“William Adams is happy to grow alongside Davey and his business and help him where needed.”
Made for it
It didn’t look like Davey or the Cat equipment needed a lot of help. His control of the machinery and the machinery itself was smooth and surprisingly low-volume.
Davey certainly looked to be an owner/operator who was very comfortable with his equipment and the work it could do, and even one who enjoyed his and his machinery’s performance.
He pretty much summed things up when he climbed down from the cab.
“I think, growing up, every kid looks at a Cat machine and goes: ‘They’re the top of the range’.
“I think they’re at the top of the tree, and Belly’s always been on the end of the phone if I had any questions, and so has the service department. The back up, service and support I’ve had from William Adams over at Traralgon has been second to none.”
Any wonder he looks so comfortable in the cabin.
Log on to cat.com to see the entire range of Caterpillar equipment, and to watch the video, go to arborage.com.au.