January 2003
BID LIST
Improving the Grind
by Kirk Landers, V.P./Editorial Director

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Manufacturers listed in this feature responded to a special mailing by Better Roads and do not necessarily represent the entire market for this product. 

New models and updates abound in 
large and small milling machines.

Whether you call them planers, profilers, or milling machines, they are the workhorses of pavement maintenance in North America and the relatively small circle of manufacturers who supply the market have steadily improved the breed.

Among suppliers of full-size milling machines, five new or substantially updated models have been brought to market in the past two years.

Suppliers of milling and planing attachments have also maintained a rapid rate of product development.

The most unique of these products are the high-powered Asphalt Zipper models, designed to mount on the buckets of wheel loaders or backhoe loaders. Powered by their own 125- to 185-horsepower engines, these units are designed for production milling.

Most planer attachments are designed for the skid-steer loader market, and evolution has been brisk. Much of the development has stemmed from improvements in skid-steer loader hydraulic systems, specifically, the evolution of high-flow hydraulic systems. High-flow systems use extra pumping capacity to substantially increase the flow of hydraulic fluid through the system, often with higher pressure, too. This produces far more hydraulic horsepower for attachments than standard flow systems, and that opens up the possibilities for power attachments like planers.

As skid-steer-mounted planer designs have evolved, these machines have become more precise and easier to operate effectively, as well as more powerful. With the improvements have come a wider range of applications.

Today’s models are deployed for full-depth utility cuts, pothole repair, close-cut work around manhole covers and along curbs, scarifing asphalt and concrete surfaces for improved traction, and repairing uneven surfaces and joints.

Bobcat attachment product manager Rae Dell Braaten says the planer attachment has become a versatile performer in pavement management. “It is used to clean up and do trimming work after a paving job, as well as for performing road repair work like potholes and overlays,” she says. But it has many other uses today, as well. “It is also used for projects like adding stoplight sensors to existing pavement, making rumble strips in pavement to alert sleepy drivers of danger, and fixing concrete eroded by sand and water,” she says.

Asphalt Zipper
High-powered milling with a wheel loader

Asphalt Zipper makes milling attachments designed to mount on loader buckets and turn a wheel loader or backhoe loader into “a brutally powerful milling machine.”

Powered by its own 185-horsepower engine, the AZ-480 is the company’s largest model. It fits on the bucket of a wheel loader and offers six cutting drums in widths from 18 to 48 inches; it has a maximum cutting depth of 12 inches. Asphalt Zipper says the unit can pulverize up to 4,000 square feet of asphalt per hour working in 5- to 6-inch deep asphalt. It produces 1-inch minus material.

The unit weighs about 5,600 pounds and is transported on its own trailer behind most pickups and attaches quickly to the loader bucket.

The AZ-360 is a 125-horsepower version of the AZ-480. The 4,700-pound unit is designed to work on most backhoe loaders. Its has four cutting drums in widths ranging from 18 to 36 inches.

Wirtgen
Make rumble strips three times faster

A new rumble strip attachment from Wirtgen creates rumble strips three times faster than the model it replaces. Fitted to the Wirtgen 600DC cold-milling machine, the new Rumbler II can cut safety rumble-strips into asphalt shoulders at a rate of up to 180 feet per minute, triple the production rate of the Rumbler I attached to a W500 milling machine.

Wirtgen says the Rumbler II is also more versatile, having the ability to cut rumble strips on the left or right side of the machine.

“The state-of-the-art today is milled-in strips,” says Stu Murray, president of Wirtgen America. “In some states doze-off accidents have been reduced by 80% with milled-in strips.” Federal Highway Administration studies have also found that milled-in strips outperform formed strips, according to Wirtgen.

Roadtec
Clean-cutting, multi-width planer

Roadtec describes its RX-60C as a high-horsepower, high-production cold planer that easily converts to any of four cutterhead widths: 7 feet, 2 inches; 8 feet, 2 inches; 10 feet; and 12 feet, 6 inches. The cutterheads can be changed out in about six hours.

According to Roadtec, the RX-60C provides a clean cut that requires less cleanup than any other cold planer on the market. It is available with a choice of 800 horsepower or higher Cummins or Cat engine, and has a maximum cutting depth of 12 inches.

The company says it can also be used for excavating, fine grading, mining rock, removing concrete, stabilizing base crushing RAP, trenching, and performing cold-in-place asphalt recycling.

Caterpillar Paving Products
Updates make cold planer more productive

Caterpillar’s PM-465 Update cold planer has 8% more horsepower and 4 inches more milling width than the PM-465 it replaced last year. The 500-horsepower machine also has long-life polyurethane track pads and an improved grade and slope control system.

The 57,000-pound, half-lane machine is sized for urban applications, but is recommended for high production work, too. The rear tracks are inset so the machine has a tight, 11-foot, 10-inch turning radius.

The 79-inch-wide rotor has a maximum cutting depth of 12 inches. The machine’s overall width remains 98 inches.

Simplification is the theme of the grade and slope control system which electronically controls the depth of cut to within 0.025 inch. Three operating menus have been condensed to one, giving the operator more precise and efficient control.

Also, in the Caterpillar line of half-lane cold planers, a B-series version of the 83,600-pound, front-discharge PM-565 was introduced in late 2001 with a higher powered, 625-horsepower engine, new elevation controls, a new control console layout, and modifications to the hydraulic system. The four-track unit has an 83-inch-wide rotor set up for flush cutting on the right side of the machine and high curb clearance on the left.

Bobcat
For removing lines and paint

Bobcat designed its skid-steer-mounted surface planer to remove roadway lines, paint stripes, and very fine surfaces on projects involving highways, parking lots, and airports. The combination of a high-speed motor, and a 16-inch drum with 217 teeth produces a very smooth surface finish.

The unit has a top access panel for easy bit service and maintenance. Its side-cutting bits decrease drum binding in the cut and produce a vertical edge that improves the bond between a new layer of asphalt and the existing layer. The planer’s hydraulic sideshift feature enhances working flush to walls and curbs, and it helps the operator reposition the drum for another pass.

An oscillating planer housing design enhances the unit’s performance on sloping surfaces, and in matching two uneven surfaces. Rear frame wheels provide support and reduce tire bounce while planing.

In addition to the 16-inch surface planer, the Bobcat line of planer attachments includes a 14-inch standard-flow planer, 18- and 24-inch-high flow planers, and a 40-inch-high flow planer. The standard-flow unit is designed for milling potholes and cracks in roads and parking lots. The high-flow units can take on a wider range of tasks, including matching uneven pavement surfaces, cutting drainage in parking lots, and cleanup around larger milling machines.

Wirtgen

Wirtgen says the 2200 CR offers road agencies and contractors the best of both worlds in that it is both a cold-in-place recycler and a milling machine in one robust unit. It performs in-situ processing of pavements with an integral paving unit, and also serves as a high-performance cold-milling machine which can remove asphalt courses to a depth of nearly 14 inches.

The 2200 CR can be used as a cold recycler without time-consuming conversions. It is capable of mixing water-cement slurry, asphalt emulsion, or foamed asphalt base materials to a depth of 10 inches.

It has a working width of 7.2 feet and an engine output of 800 horsepower. Its operating weight is over 109,000 pounds which is distributed over four crawlers. It has a mechanical milling-drum drive, while the travel system is all hydraulic.

FFC Attachments
Delivers more horsepower per bit

Introduced early last year, the new FFC Cold Planer is designed to produce a faster cut by delivering more horsepower per bit. FFC recommends it for milling frost heaves and around manholes, restoring proper drainage to pavement, texturing pavement for skid resistance, removing traffic lane stripes, and making full-depth utility cuts. It can also scarify concrete and plane street joints and sidewalks, according to the company.

Designed specifically for skid-steer loaders, it is available in 12- and 16-inch widths for standard-flow units, and in six widths ranging from 16 to 36 inches for high-flow models.

Features include a 24-inch sideshift left or right for cutting next to curbs and obstacles, an adjustable 0- to 6-inch cutting depth, and an efficient solid-drum design that pushes milled material to the back as it cuts to avoid re-milling the same material.

Easy maintenance features include a larger access door for servicing bits, and an externally mounted bearing to make lubrication quicker and easier.

Options for the Cold Planer include a water kit, two slot-cutter drums, and a guide-wheel kit.

CMI Terex
From 525 to 1,200 horsepower

The 525-horsepower PRT-525 is one of the two smallest models in the six-model line of CMI Terex cold planers. The 58,250-pound half-lane machine cuts 75-inches wide and as much as 12-inches deep. Its grade-control system features two hydro-mechanical control units, each operator-selectable for manual or automatic operation. Mounted on three wheels, its operating speeds range from 0 to 185 feet per minute; it can reach travel speeds of up to 6 miles per hour.

Other models include the PR-500C, PR-650, PR800-7, PR-1050, and PR-1200.

At the other end of the size spectrum, the PR-1050 weighs 120,500 pounds and has rotor cutting widths of either 12.5 feet or 10 feet. The three-track machine has two engines: an 800-horsepower unit to run the cutter, and a 230-horsepower unit for auxiliary power. Two hydro-mechanical elevation control units are standard and can be individually controlled by the operator. Operating speeds range up to 80 feet per minute; travel speeds top out at 2.3 miles per hour.

WoodsAlitec
High-flow models cut asphalt and concrete

All five standard models in WoodsAlitec’s line of cold-planer attachments are designed for high-flow skid-steer loaders. Cutting widths range from 16 to 36 inches, though the company also custom-manufactures 40-inch and larger widths. WoodsAlitec recommends its standard models for asphalt applications ranging from pothole repairs and full-depth utility cuts to texturing pavement and removing lane stripes. Concrete applications include scarifying, milling prior to an overlay, and planing uneven street and sidewalk joints.

Features include top pivot design, which the company says self-levels the drum and creates higher downforces than other designs, and electro-hydraulic controls for tilt, depth, and sideshift control.