A V-belt power-band drive transfers the engine’s available 600 hp (448 kW) to the rotor. The machine’s cutter transmission offers four rotor speeds to match cutter speed to the application. A low/high speed work range delivers up to a 210 ft/min (64 m/min) operating speed. To properly reclaim the severely deteriorated road with the 8-ft (2.4-m) cutter, Suit Kote’s crews made three to four passes over the 22-ft (6.7-m) wide road. “We need to maintain the road’s proper grade and slope and not invert the road (by doing too few passes),” Suits said. Following closely behind the reclaimer/stabilizer, a padfoot roller provided preliminary compaction. This was followed by a grader, which began to establish grade for the new road surface. “The grade at some points of the previous road surface was as high as 12 percent, and the new road spec calls for a maximum final 6 percent grade,” McMaster said. A smooth drum roller was used for finish rolling prior to the stabilizing step. Some counties, such as Bradford County, specified an additional slotmill step in front of the reclaimer/stabilizer. According to a Pennsylvania DOT engineer, slot milling is done so the new layer of asphalt doesn’t add too much height to the road. Suit-Kote’s crews milled a 4-ft (1.2 m) shoulder section on one side of SR 1007.
making overlap passes, we need the ability to shut off the nozzles individually,” O’Shea explained. Water system operation is controlled at the operator’s station using the machine’s new 6.5-in (16.5 cm) color display panel. This display allows the operator to set and monitor cutter depth, travel speed, steering mode, load control, and engine and fluid parameters. It also helps the operator with fault monitoring, trouble-shooting and system calibrations. Similar to Suit-Kote’s RS600, the 950 hp (730 kW) machine has a centermount rotor design. The housing is fix-mounted to the machine’s frame, and a parallelogram leg design offers up to 36 in (91.4 cm) of elevation to lower/raise the rotor into and out of the cut. Four-wheel drive helps to power the machine through difficult cuts and slippery operating conditions, such as blending cement and water with the road base. Directly following the RS950B, crews again compacted and graded the road base to final slope and grade in preparation for the asphalt overlay. “Taking care of final grade during the reclamation process uses less asphalt, which can save the customer tens- if not hundreds-of-thousands of dollars,” McMaster said. The RS950B’s performance made an impression on Suit-Kote’s crews. While primarily blending cement to stabilize the road base, the machine was also used to make the first dry-grind pass on occasion. After adding the 950 hp (730 kW) machine with 10-ft (3.0 m) rotor to the job, Suit-Kote was able to reclaim 2 lane miles (3.2 km) of the 22-ft (6.7-m) wide SR 1007 road each day or nearly 5,400 cubic yards (4,121 m3). “The first day we had the RS950 on the job, I called and asked the foreman (O’Shea) how it was doing,” Suits recalled. “He replied, ‘It’s a beast…a night and day difference with the higher horsepower.’ So the crew nicknamed the RS950B ‘The Beast.’”
Production
Early in the season, Suit-Kote used a fleet of Terex reclaimer/stabilizers for the FDR jobs in Pennsylvania. In addition to the RS600, crews used older RS650 and RS800 machines equipped with 10-ft (3.0-m) rotors. “An 8-ft (2.4-m) rotor is nice, but a 10-ft machine is better,” O’Shea said. “The 10-ft rotor saves us passes,” which saves Suit-Kote and the customer time and money. While working on SR 1007, the company took delivery of a new, 950 hp (730 kW) Terex® RS950B Reclaimer/Stabilizer, and it was put to work on the project. Initially, the machine followed the 600 hp (448 kW) machine to mix portland cement and water with the road base. Specifications called for 88 lb/yd (43.7 kg/m) of cement to be mixed with the pulverized material. Capable of stabilizing with asphalt emulsions and calcium chlorides, the RS950B pushed a water tanker to add water to the cement at a rate ranging from 3 to 5 gal/ft. With its maximum 500 gpm (2,273 lpm) water spray system, the RS950B’s independently controlled spray nozzles helped Suit-Kote’s crew ensure the correct percentage of water was added across the entire road width. “If we get into wet areas on the shoulder or are 28 november 2011
ABOVE TOP: Hundreds of miles of Pennsylvania county highways and secondary roads are being upgraded for the equipment used in fracture drilling. To date, Suit-Kote alone has upgraded approximately 45 miles. ABOVE: On State Route 1007, asphalt depths averaged 6 inches, but there were pockets of asphalt reaching 10 inches deep.