Your Komatsu PC88MR

Common jobs for the Komatsu PC88

The Komatsu PC88 sits at 8.8 tonnes with a short tail and suits built-up civil jobs. On Swedish sites it runs municipal utility and street work where the machine has to stay inside the barriers. The short tail keeps the rear from sticking out when you slew, so you dig in the middle of a street without blocking the traffic around you more than necessary.

On a utility job in the city the PC88 digs pipe trenches and lays services without slewing out toward traffic, on a street job it swaps culverts and exposes cables. It loads spoil into a container near the barrier. It is a self-contained tool carrier in the city, where the short tail is exactly what makes the job possible.

On the S45 hitch it drives a digging bucket, a sorting grapple and a medium breaker. At 8.8 tonnes the machine carries medium attachments steadily, even a fair way out. That makes the PC88 a complete machine for municipal utility where you need to dig, expose and load on the same tight job.

Buckets and attachments that fit the PC88

For an 8.8-tonne machine you choose a toothed bucket for excavation and pipe trench, a wide grading bucket for levelling and reinstatement, and a narrow cable bucket for tight trenches. On municipal utility jobs the narrow cable bucket is often as important as the wide grading bucket.

A sorting grapple belongs on the PC88 in material handling and lighter demolition on tight city jobs. It loads stone, pulls apart and sorts spoil without slewing into traffic. The short tail lets you load near the barrier, and at 8.8 tonnes the grapple sits steady.

All attachments run on the S45 hitch, the standard for the midi class. With the same hitch you swap quickly between bucket, grapple and breaker even on tight city jobs where you have no room to set out attachments around the machine.

Hydraulic breaker and heavy attachments for the PC88

An 8.8-tonne machine drives a medium hydraulic breaker for rock and concrete. On municipal utility and street jobs the breaker is often the attachment that gets you through rock in the pipe trench or old asphalt and concrete in the street without needing a bigger machine.

Check the oil flow against the breaker spec before you buy. The PC88 has the flow for a medium breaker, but it has to be matched to your machine hydraulics to hit right and last over time.

An auger drive is useful on the PC88 when you take post holes, footing piles and planting pits, for example for signs and lighting in a street setting. The drive rotates and the auger bit is the part that sits in it, and you choose the size by the hole.

S45 quick hitch and fit

The Komatsu PC88 runs an S45 hitch, the standard coupler for the midi class. Check the attachments are listed for S45 before you buy. With a common hitch you build a set of attachments that all fit and that you swap quickly between tasks.

On a short-swing machine like the PC88 a tiltrotator is extra worth it. It lets you angle and rotate the bucket so you work near a barrier, facade and edge without moving the machine in a narrow street, which is exactly what the short swing is built for.