TOWNSHIP BUILDS WHEEL LOADER AT A FRACTION OF THE COST
Incorporated in 1796, the Town of Roxbury is located in the Litchfield Hills of western Connecticut. With rural ambience spread over 26 square miles, the town is home to several historic sites. A granite memorial in the Town Green commemorates Revolutionary War hero Seth Warner, the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, along with his Roxbury-born cousins Ethan Allen and Remember Baker.
The town has a reputation for providing excellent municipal services to its 2,669 residents.
Faced with finite financial resources, last year the Roxbury Public Works department opted to rebuild its Cat® IT28G Wheel Loader. Rather than buying a new machine, Roxbury took on the project in its own shop, including sandblasting and replacing rusted parts.
“Initially, we considered buying a new machine,” said first selectman Patrick Roy, who is the town’s chief elected official. “We have some old Mack trucks, and a lot of neighboring towns have been rebuilding some of their older trucks instead of buying new. So that sparked the idea that we could possibly do this on our own.
“Also, the cost of a new wheel loader was much higher than when the machine was originally purchased 22 years ago, and we still had a machine in good working condition with approximately 4,000 hours on it,” Roy said. “Other than a lot of rust, it really just needed to be fixed up. Since we have qualified service personnel in our shop, we decided to handle the restoration ourselves.”
Knocking the rust off
The work commenced at Roxbury’s public works department in January. The machine was partially disassembled, the body of the machine was sandblasted and re-painted, while any severely rusted parts were replaced, said town crew member Mike Foreman.
“We encountered some unexpected things, including the brakes and some assorted old parts that we needed to replace such as a step platform that cost $2,000, but we were able to put it together quite successfully,” Foreman said.
Done at a cost of $30,000, Roy said the town realized substantial savings over what it would have cost to outsource the job.
“We were able to use our own resources and our own talent, which was impressive,” Roy said. “The cost of a comparable new machine was close to $300,000. With the talent that we have here in our public works department, it was a great decision to do the rebuild ourselves.”
Dealer support
Cat dealer H.O. Penn played a critical role, supplying needed replacement parts on a timely basis and providing technical support as needed.
“Mike and I spoke two to three times a week, looking up and placing parts orders while providing updates on shipments,” said Dennis Ryan, a product support and sales representative for H.O. Penn Machinery. “We really had to dig to find some of the parts.”
“Mark Baranski at the H.O. Penn parts counter was a great help in searching for a hood door, and Roxbury’s equipment rep, Bernadette McLaren, assisted with parts as needed. She didn’t hesitate to help outside of her normal responsibilities.”
Foreman appreciated the timely support as they restored the Cat Wheel Loader.
“H.O. Penn was phenomenal. We took things apart and discovered that they were rusted and realized that we needed new parts. They were right on the ball in answering our questions and providing the parts that we needed,” Foreman said.
In its shiny new incarnation, the machine currently serves the town’s transfer station, where it compacts and loads recyclable materials in an outdoor setting. The rust resulted from the primary function the wheel loader formerly served when the machine was used to haul and load road salt during the winter months.
With the money saved, Roxbury can use the funds for other needs, Roy says.
“In order to do this rebuild, we bought some specialty tools that we needed, and now we have them for future use,” he said. “Last year we redid our public works facility with a new sheetrock ceiling and also repainted. Doing this IT28G rebuild has given us the confidence that we can do others, which will save the town more money going forward.”