HILL/027 

Hill's Tefra couplers leave Bow and Arrow all a quiver

Bow Plant Sales and Arrow Plant and Tool Hire turn only to Tefra.

Plant and tool hire companies are benefiting from the ever-increasing demand for flexible machines, and none more so than Bow Plant Sales and sister company Arrow Plant and Tool Hire.

The companies, which are based in the Arrow Valley in Herefordshire, have recorded a record number of sales to date this year of tilt couplers, each one of which has been a Tefra Tilt from Northern Ireland-based Hill Engineering.

The businesses, which have sites in Leominster, Kington and Bromyard, have sold seven Tefra Tilts so far (three for Takeuchi's TB290 compact nine-tonne excavator), and are currently waiting for an eighth to arrive. This is four times as many as usual.

Ollie Hughes, who 10 years ago joined the company his father Martin founded with Peter Jones 35 years ago, said: "Tilt hitches have become increasingly popular this year and we have sold seven up until now, and have regular enquiries.

"I think there is an ever-increasing demand for machines to be more versatile and these Tefra Tilt hitches certainly fit the bill, especially with operators running tree shears - they really seem to like them. I suppose they are a "halfway house" to a full tilt rotator but are a fraction of the price."

Hill's Tefra Tilt combines the award-winning Tefra coupler with the HKS Extra Tilt Power Actuator for excavators up to 20 tonnes. Its simple and robust design comprises just three moving parts while the actuator is self-lubricating and essentially maintenance free.

Its range of motion (up to 180°) makes it more productive, while changing a bucket takes about 10 seconds and is all done by the operator from the cab, compared to traditional couplers which take a couple of people a couple of minutes.

Unless otherwise requested by customers due to specialist configurations, Bow Plant Sales and Arrow Plant and Tool Hire have only ever fitted Hill's Tefra quick hitches.

"There were a couple of Takeuchi machines that Hill didn't offer hitches for but I think now they have it all pretty well covered. As to why, I would guess this was something to do with Takeuchi running them as their OEM hitches. We haven't looked anywhere else since," said Ollie.

"In fact, we have just had a Takeuchi TB180 nine-tonne machine come back as a part exchange, with over 9,000 hours on the clock, and the hitch still works like the day it was fitted!"

All machines above two tonnes in Arrow's hire fleet are fitted with Hill's Tefra hitches. The company uses a few itself and the rest are all for sale, whether they are fitted to a new Takeuchi excavator or for upgrading a customer's used machine.

"We are always happy to fit these hitches but as mentioned Hill's Tilt hitches are a real hit with people running tree shears on machines. They allow the tree shear to be properly aligned with the tree which increases safety and efficiency.

"The design of the tilt motor on these hitches also means there is no sag in the tilt whilst working under load, which is a major benefit over some of its rivals. It means the operator can trust the hitch not to move whilst carrying out some precise jobs," said Ollie.

Most of Arrow's hitches are the standard Tefra model from Hill, which five years ago were probably fitted to 50% of the machines they sold. Now it is getting on towards 90% of machines sold.

Ollie said: "I think this is mainly down to their ease of use and customers wanting to maximise efficiency and be able to change attachments in seconds without leaving the seat. But we do also have customers that work on sites that insist on hydraulic hitches for Health and Safety reasons."

He added: "Our customers are always happy when we tell them their machine will be fitted with a Hill hitch. I think they just know the brand to be reliable and simple. We do also get the comment that they're just easier to hitch onto buckets, and when you're doing that at various times throughout the day, I suppose that is pretty much what it boils down to, being user friendly.

"When a customer goes ahead with a Hill hitch it gives us peace of mind that it won't give any issues and we won't be out to site many times to sort small problems, which all costs us time and money. On the very rare occasion we have had a problem, Hill have been great - giving us advice, getting us parts or even sending complete hitches overnight to keep the customer's machine working. This is why when it comes to hydraulic hitches, Hill are the only people we turn to. Their service really is second to none."

ENDS