Best Mini Excavator Shredder: Direct Mini Crawlers

Choosing a mini excavator crusher for your business is like trying to choose your life partner without meeting them. They all look good and sound good, but in reality, some are fake and some are gems.

In this article I will help you choose the best mini excavator crusher. Not only the best quality shredder, but also the best shredder for your machine. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll be on the right path to lasting love with your next Mini Excavator Mulching Head.

key points

• Promac Equipment manufactures the best crushers for mini excavators.
• LSM 30 is the best crusher for mini excavators between 4 and 10 tons.
• LDM 30 is the best crusher for mini excavators between 6 and 10 tons that want to maximize performance.
• LDM 50 is the best all-round crusher for mini excavators between 8 and 15 tons.

Promac Equipment – Offering the best excavator crushers

Promac Equipment, without a doubt, offers the best mulching heads on the market. The design, build quality and performance are unmatched by any other manufacturer.

Promac is located on Vancouver Island in Canada, in the heart of the Canadian forest industry. The company has been in the manufacturing business since the 1970s. In the early 1990s, they focused on forest shredders and brush cutters for skid steers and excavators.

Given Promac’s North American location, they have access to skilled labor, which they take advantage of to manufacture almost all mulching head components in-house. This “quality over quantity” approach has given them 50 years of success.

LSM series mini excavator crusher

Many shredders are too heavy and require too much power to be used safely and comfortably with a mini excavator. However, Promac solved this problem with the introduction of the LSM 30.

LSM 30 drum – perfect for big jobs with small excavators

The first problem, that the mini diggers were too heavy, was solved by reducing the drum size to the LSM 30. By reducing the cutting width of the drum to 30″, the weight of the mulching attachment dropped to 630 free.

The reduced weight of the mulching head reduces the tendency to tip on smaller excavators and reduces the overall power requirements of the machine – mini excavators as light as 4 tonnes can operate the LSM 30.

LSM power

A direct-drive, bent-shaft, fixed-displacement hydraulic motor powers the LSM. That’s a complicated way of saying it’s powerful and efficient.

A direct drive motor eliminates the need for the drive system’s gears, chains, and other moving parts. The hydraulic motor rotates the drum directly, eliminating additional wear parts, failure points, friction and maintenance.

Bent shaft hydraulic motors are built for high speed operation and often produce more torque than inline hydraulic motors.

A fixed displacement motor provides constant torque to the drive system. Given the lightweight drum, there is little benefit to adding the complication and cost of a variable displacement motor to the LSM 30.

Overall, the LSM 30’s hydraulic drive system exceeds the needs of its light drum while allowing most compact excavators to easily handle it.

Mini excavator recommendations

The LSM 30 is the best crusher for mini excavators between 4 and 10 tons in weight, with an auxiliary hydraulic flow of 13 to 23 GPM and pressure up to 3,500 PSI. Examples include Kubota KX057, Kubota KX080, Bobcat E50, Bobcat E60 and Bobcat E88.

Having an excavator in the 4 to 10 ton range helps ensure you can safely extend the boom fully while mulching, even in difficult terrain. Excavators over 10 tons may consider upgrading to a larger mulching head.

Most modern mini excavators can pre-program specified auxiliary hydraulic flows. This makes the adjustment and balancing of the hydraulic needs of the excavator and crusher precise.

The LSM 30 can be fitted with any modern wedge lock, pin grab or X-Changer mount to meet the needs of all mini excavator brands.

LDM Excavator Crusher

What do you do if you want larger cutting widths and variable displacement hydraulic motors with twice the displacement? Check out the LDM 30 and LDM 50 excavator mulchers. The LDM series of excavator mulching heads is Promac’s answer to the customer looking for more aggressive mulching to get the job done faster.

LDM Mini Excavator Forestry Shredder – 30″ and 50″ Models.

There are two types of customers that the LDM series shredder is perfect for. Those with “lighter” mini diggers who want more performance and those with “heavier mini diggers” who want extreme performance. The LDM 30 is designed for the former, while the LDM 50 is designed for the latter.

LDM 30 – Get the most out of excavators between 6 and 15 tonnes

If you’ve read this entire article, you’ll remember that the LSM crusher model was the perfect match for 4 to 10 ton excavators. But what if you are a member of this group and want to ensure maximum performance, less drum recovery time, high power and more torque? Get the LDM 30.

The LDM 30 is designed for mini excavators between 6 and 10 tons in weight. The mulching head weighs approximately 1200 pounds and has a large 55cc variable displacement hydraulic motor.

LDM 50 – For larger mini excavators looking for maximum output

Putting too small a crusher on top of too big an excavator can not only be laughable, but also not a good way to maximize potential. Enter the LDM 50. This larger forestry chipper offers a 50″ cutting width, 28 teeth on the drum and a 55cc variable displacement piston engine.

The LDM 50 is designed for excavators weighing 8 to 15 tons and producing 15 to 30 gallons per minute of auxiliary hydraulic flow up to 4,000 PSI.

LDM Variable Displacement Piston Motors – What’s in?

One feature that makes the LDM series crushers the best is their variable displacement piston motors with Promac’s Automatic Torque Controller (ATC). But what is this and why does it matter?

A hydraulic piston motor is a hydraulic drive system often used in high-end attachments. Compared to other hydraulic motor designs, it offers high torque, high hydraulic efficiency (up to 97%) and smooth operation even at low flows. These features make it perfect for the forestry shredder.

But what is variable offset and why does it matter?

But what about a variable displacement piston engine? Variable displacement means that the piston motor can change its operation on the fly. When Promac’s automatic controller detects that the drum is working hard, it can dial the torque automatically. It can reduce torque to increase speed when it is not working hard.

This affects mulching performance in two ways. Increasing the torque while pushing into the vegetation helps keep the drum from slowing down, and reducing the torque while pulling away from the vegetation helps the drum pick up speed again. Overall, this reduced recovery time increases productivity and efficiency.

LDM drum and tooling options

Your choice of piston engine is not the only variable in recovery time. Having a drum with the right teeth and choosing the right type of knife tools for your shredder is also an important factor.

Going into vegetation with an under-equipped drum or worn mulching tines results in slow production times. The LDM series crushers solve this problem by having 16 cutting teeth on the 30″ drum and 28″ on the 50″ drum. Several different types of crushing teeth are available.

Chipper teeth

The shredder teeth are standard on the LDM series shredders. They are efficient at shredding wood, but will not withstand accidental contact with rocks. They are double-sided and can be sharpened. Some customers can get up to 100 hours of use per side.

Tooth chart

Quad, meaning four, describes these teeth pretty well. They have four sharp corners and combine performance and cost perfectly.

Double carbide teeth

Double carbide teeth are the solution to rocky terrain. They don’t wet wood as efficiently as chipper teeth and can’t be sharpened, but they are durable and will often last up to 500 hours.

rounding it off

An investor does not buy a stock simply because it is cheap; buy for its intrinsic value and the expected future cash flow it will provide. The purchase of a business asset, such as an excavator crusher, should be considered in the same way.

The intrinsic value of LSM and LDM engineering and designs is unmistakable. The cash flow they will provide in the future can be invaluable.

Can I finance my mini excavator crusher?

Yes! We offer business financing through our partner bank CIT. Applying is easy and only takes a minute. Click here to get started.