Starhill discussed the timing issue with Paladin Brands, the attachment company that manufactures the JAWZ. Starhill said Paladin concluded there was no acceptable fix that would allow the price of the JAWZ attachment to remain competitive. One way to improve synchronization of the arms would be to replace the current spool-type hydraulic flow divider with a gear-type hydraulic flow divider. KLS Hydraulics, Inc., (Missoula, MT) suggested installing a specially paired set of cylinders and plumbing them in series. The outlet flow of the first cylinder in the series would become the inlet flow of the second. The cylinders would be sized so their rods travel at the same speed. KLS Hydraulics said this approach is used in farming equipment to raise loads equally and would be less expensive than a gear-type flow divider. Neither synchronization scheme was pursued. Cimarron National Grassland employees conducted the study using the JAWZ hydraulic system as originally designed.

Starhill determined that it did not have the resources to design or fabricate the brush bar for use only when the JAWZ attachment is mounted on a skid steer. The Cimarron National Grassland had a local fabricator make a custom brush bar for the JAWZ attachment.

Starhill located a manufacturer, Attach-All, that makes an adapter plate that will allow any skid-steer attachment to be mounted on a Komatsu PC50MR excavator (39.4 horsepower, operating weight 11,110 pounds).

The PC50MR compact excavator can apply force of 5,120 pounds at ground level (10 feet in front with standard arm length and blade down) or 2,740 pounds at ground level (10 feet to the side with standard arm length and blade down).

The PC50MR was the largest compact excavator within reasonable renting distance that was suited for the adapter. This compact excavator was thought to be an acceptable compromise considering equipment size, pulling capability, and general rental availability (figure 7).

Figure 7—A Komatsu compact excavator.
(Photo courtesy of Komatsu America).

MTDC purchased one JAWZ unit for the Cimarron National Grassland and one adapter plate. The JAWZ cost $3,895 with no shipping because it was already in Elkhart. The adapter plate cost $2,100 (after a $300 discount) plus $100 shipping. The JAWZ attachment had never before been used on the PC50MR compact excavator, according to the attachment's manufacturer.