The Diggers
Three excavators that cover everything from a 15-ton foundation dig to a 14-inch tile trench to a tight backyard where the gate is the limit.
Komatsu PC150LC-6
The workhorse of the fleet. A 15-ton-class excavator with the reach, breakout force, and dig depth for foundations, ponds, demolition, and commercial site prep. The long-track LC undercarriage gives it stability on soft Illinois ground where shorter machines struggle.
- Make
- Komatsu
- Model
- PC150LC-6
- Class
- 15-ton excavator
- Undercarriage
- Long-track (LC)
- Best For
- Heavy excavation
- Basement and foundation excavation
- Pond digging, expansion, and cleanout
- Demolition — barns, foundations, slabs
- Commercial pad prep and site work
- Heavy land clearing and stump pulls
- Culvert installs in deep drainage cuts
Develon DX89R-7
The drainage machine. A 2023 9.5-ton reduced-tail-swing excavator that carries a 14-inch trench bucket — the narrow tooth bucket that cuts a tile trench barely wider than the pipe, so there's less spoil to handle, less backfill to compact, and less lawn or standing crop torn up getting the line in. It's the only machine in the fleet that will cut a 14-inch trench, which is why it's the one that shows up on a tile repair, a french drain, or any trenching job in Mattoon, Champaign or Decatur.
It also finishes behind itself. The quick hitch swaps the 14-inch trench bucket for a 24-inch dig bucket or a 54-inch grading bucket without a second machine coming to site, so the same excavator that cuts the trench dresses the topsoil back over it and shapes the outlet.
- Make
- Develon (Doosan)
- Model
- DX89R-7 (2023)
- Class
- 9.5-ton, reduced tail swing
- Buckets
- 14″ trench · 24″ dig · 54″ grading
- Attachments
- Quick hitch, hydraulic thumb
- Best For
- Tile lines, french drains, trench work
- Field tile repair — digging up a crushed or collapsed line
- French drain and yard drainage trenching
- Targeted single drainage lines through a wet field
- Tile outlets, surface inlets, and riser work
- Culvert crossings where the big Komatsu is more machine than the job needs
What it isn't: we don't run a tile plow, so full-field pattern tile systems are a tiling outfit's trade and we'll tell you that instead of taking the job. What this machine does is repair and replacement of existing tile, plus targeted lines trenched where the water actually is.
JCB 8040ZTS
The machine that goes where the Komatsu can't. Through standard fence gates, around landscaping, between tight outbuildings. Same dig precision in a footprint a fraction of the size. Zero-tail-swing means no boom whacking the fence when it pivots.
- Make
- JCB
- Model
- 8040ZTS
- Class
- 4-ton mini excavator (zero tail swing)
- Best For
- Tight access, yard work
- Backyard drainage trenches
- Stump removal in landscaped areas
- Utility trenching close to existing buildings
- Small foundation repairs
- Driveway culvert work where access is tight
