JOHN Hamilton was born and bred in trucks and years of viewing different equipment operating in the agricultural industry has allowed confident fleet decisions for his family’s business.
John has been behind the wheel for about 50 years in the Hamilton Transport business, which is based at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, and his father, Bill, aged 84, is still driving.
John also runs the business with his brother, Andrew, and his sons are now getting involved as well, including Miles (18), Mitchell (16) and Maxwell (13).
Hamilton Transport carts bulk materials including grain and fertiliser, as well as hay, and it operates a grain receival site and storage depot for a grain trader. There are now three 32-metre by 70m sheds at the Minlaton site, also providing storage for about 1500 large hay bales.
The hay is carted to loyal clients in Queensland, up to Alice Springs and over to the Riverland in SA.
The business has five prime movers and, in recent years, it has upgraded to two LiuGong wheel loaders to cater for larger material volumes after chalking-up more than 1000 hours in an older LiuGong 842 wheel loader.
Their journey with LiuGong commenced after viewing the manufacturer’s loaders in operation at various sites, including by grain handler, Viterra Australia.
“We have done a lot of grain work in and out of Viterra, and they had a lot of LiuGong loaders,” John said.
“We saw a lot of them working and they were never broken-down. We didn’t hear anything bad about them.
“The older 842 was our first articulated loader we got second-hand with about 600 hours when we were getting into hay properly, and after previously using a John Deere loader. We had no problems with the 842.”
The family upgraded to two high-spec 848H LiuGong wheel loaders, purchased through Lewis Ag and Construction, and they have since also added a LiuGong forklift.
The 15-tonne, 160-horsepower 848H loader features a 3m3 bucket and offers a 10.2t tipping load. Its Cummins QSB7 engine with Stage IIIA emissions and well respected ZF200 automatic transmission offers more comfortable operations and reduced gear reduction. When in second gear, and if the speed is lower than the maximum speed for second gear, at the touch of a key, the gears will automatically shift to first gear in the current direction of operation. If the operator changes the driving direction, the gearbox automatically shifts to the reverse direction of two gears.
LiuGong’s high-spec loader models also offer extra machine options including reversing fans, variable hydraulic transmissions, radial tyres, ride control, rear view cameras, extra counter weights, air suspension seats and auto lubrication.
The Hamiltons also use a 4t high-lift grain bucket purchased second-hand from Viterra Australia, as well as a set of custom-made forklifts that can carry five hay bales weighing about 750 kilograms each.
“We can load a B-double in about 30 minutes with the hay forks,” John said.
He said LiuGong had become “the CAT of China”, with well-built, “value for money” loaders that offered operators an affordable, “happy medium” option.
“We looked at CAT before we got the 848s, but the same size CAT with 15,000-16,000 hours on the clock is the same price as these new. I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.”
John said the LiuGong wheel loaders were user-friendly and easy to operate, they offered good visibility and the air-conditioning in the cabs was excellent in hot conditions.
“They have the power for what we need and having the Cummins engines in them gives peace of mind.”
He said with the auto-lubrication, there was little required for them to do and with Lewis Ag and Construction carrying out the major scheduled servicing, they only performed simple motor services.
The Hamilton’s LiuGong wheel loaders have attracted the attention of some local farmers and several growers throughout the region already are using them.
John said he decided to add the LiuGong forklift because he had faith and trust in the brand.
“I’m also happy to keep all our birds in the one cage.”
The family plans to build a cage for the forklift, which is user-friendly like the loaders, and one of its tasks is helping to wash tarps on top of their tippers.
John also praised the relationship they had developed with Lewis Ag and Construction and its LiuGong sales representative, Dan Brookes.
Dan said LiuGong equipment was now working in various parts of the State, including in the demolition and timber industries, in addition to agriculture.
He said affordability was a key attraction for operators, particularly considering many machines featured Cummins engines, ZF transmissions and axles, Kawasaki hydraulic pumps, other high quality components plus all the creature comforts associated with European styling.
“Operators can get a machine with four years warranty at a similar price to a CAT that is 10 years old. The standard warranty period is two years and 3000 hours, but we encourage four years and 6000 hours,” Dan said.
He said the arrival of the LiuGong T Series wheel loaders soon was the next exciting step for its wheel loader range.
JOHN Hamilton was born and bred in trucks and years of viewing different equipment operating in the agricultural industry has allowed confident fleet decisions for his family’s business.
John has been behind the wheel for about 50 years in the Hamilton Transport business, which is based at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, and his father, Bill, aged 84, is still driving.
John also runs the business with his brother, Andrew, and his sons are now getting involved as well, including Miles (18), Mitchell (16) and Maxwell (13).
Hamilton Transport carts bulk materials including grain and fertiliser, as well as hay, and it operates a grain receival site and storage depot for a grain trader. There are now three 32-metre by 70m sheds at the Minlaton site, also providing storage for about 1500 large hay bales.
The hay is carted to loyal clients in Queensland, up to Alice Springs and over to the Riverland in SA.
The business has five prime movers and, in recent years, it has upgraded to two LiuGong wheel loaders to cater for larger material volumes after chalking-up more than 1000 hours in an older LiuGong 842 wheel loader.
Their journey with LiuGong commenced after viewing the manufacturer’s loaders in operation at various sites, including by grain handler, Viterra Australia.
“We have done a lot of grain work in and out of Viterra, and they had a lot of LiuGong loaders,” John said.
“We saw a lot of them working and they were never broken-down. We didn’t hear anything bad about them.
“The older 842 was our first articulated loader we got second-hand with about 600 hours when we were getting into hay properly, and after previously using a John Deere loader. We had no problems with the 842.”
The family upgraded to two high-spec 848H LiuGong wheel loaders, purchased through Lewis Ag and Construction, and they have since also added a LiuGong forklift.
The 15-tonne, 160-horsepower 848H loader features a 3m3 bucket and offers a 10.2t tipping load. Its Cummins QSB7 engine with Stage IIIA emissions and well respected ZF200 automatic transmission offers more comfortable operations and reduced gear reduction. When in second gear, and if the speed is lower than the maximum speed for second gear, at the touch of a key, the gears will automatically shift to first gear in the current direction of operation. If the operator changes the driving direction, the gearbox automatically shifts to the reverse direction of two gears.
LiuGong’s high-spec loader models also offer extra machine options including reversing fans, variable hydraulic transmissions, radial tyres, ride control, rear view cameras, extra counter weights, air suspension seats and auto lubrication.
The Hamiltons also use a 4t high-lift grain bucket purchased second-hand from Viterra Australia, as well as a set of custom-made forklifts that can carry five hay bales weighing about 750 kilograms each.
“We can load a B-double in about 30 minutes with the hay forks,” John said.
He said LiuGong had become “the CAT of China”, with well-built, “value for money” loaders that offered operators an affordable, “happy medium” option.
“We looked at CAT before we got the 848s, but the same size CAT with 15,000-16,000 hours on the clock is the same price as these new. I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.”
John said the LiuGong wheel loaders were user-friendly and easy to operate, they offered good visibility and the air-conditioning in the cabs was excellent in hot conditions.
“They have the power for what we need and having the Cummins engines in them gives peace of mind.”
He said with the auto-lubrication, there was little required for them to do and with Lewis Ag and Construction carrying out the major scheduled servicing, they only performed simple motor services.
The Hamilton’s LiuGong wheel loaders have attracted the attention of some local farmers and several growers throughout the region already are using them.
John said he decided to add the LiuGong forklift because he had faith and trust in the brand.
“I’m also happy to keep all our birds in the one cage.”
The family plans to build a cage for the forklift, which is user-friendly like the loaders, and one of its tasks is helping to wash tarps on top of their tippers.
John also praised the relationship they had developed with Lewis Ag and Construction and its LiuGong sales representative, Dan Brookes.
Dan said LiuGong equipment was now working in various parts of the State, including in the demolition and timber industries, in addition to agriculture.
He said affordability was a key attraction for operators, particularly considering many machines featured Cummins engines, ZF transmissions and axles, Kawasaki hydraulic pumps, other high quality components plus all the creature comforts associated with European styling.
“Operators can get a machine with four years warranty at a similar price to a CAT that is 10 years old. The standard warranty period is two years and 3000 hours, but we encourage four years and 6000 hours,” Dan said.
He said the arrival of the LiuGong T Series wheel loaders soon was the next exciting step for its wheel loader range.
