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"A good rule of thumb," he continues, "is if you would take your BHL (backhoe-loader) on the site, you can take your wheel excavator. If flotation or steep inclines are present, a track excavator may be a better choice."

Project-specific needs
Ultimately, the decision to use a wheel excavator comes down to the particular circumstances on the project.

For example, Fouty cites a tight urban environment where equipment must be removed each night. "Just think about if you had to move all your equipment back to a yard every night and get it off the street. With a tracked excavator, that would be a huge burden - in the morning to get it out to the job, and at the end of the shift to get it off the street and back to the yard," he points out. A wheel excavator eliminates this burden. "Mobility is a pretty big factor with these things."

For K-Five Construction, the choice boils down to which machine can be most productive and cost effective for a specific task. "Everything is about production - how quick can it get done... and what is an inexpensive route to get there," Gorski comments.

"If you have a tracked excavator on site moving large amounts of dirt or material, it will outperform our Gradalls hands down," he admits. "But when you need to have the ability to go from job A to B to C in one day and maybe do some light excavation, some curb removal, light concrete or asphalt pavement removal or grading of ditches, then your tracked excavator can't compare."