Hitachi UH restored to its former glory

by Nick Drew | Tue 16 Aug 2016

Hitachi UH restored to its former glory

Our Finnish friend Arto Turpeinen who writes for plant and machinery publication Koneviesti has kindly shared some photos of a fantastic restoration job of a 1983 Hitachi UH081 courtesy of Finnish Hitachi importer Rotator Oy.

There’s a bit of a restoration theme going on the blog this week, following on from my visit to see Dean and Jim Davies Hymac 580C which will be featured later this week. But in this blog post attention turns to a slightly younger but nevertheless a classic Hitachi model the UH081. This machine was purchased and fully restored to as new condition to celebrate Rotator Oy’s 30^th year as the main Hitachi importer and dealer in Finland. Incredibly and a testament to Hitachi’s enduring quality, when the old machine was first purchased a few years ago, there was very little that needed to be done to the hydraulic pumps or the Hino engine which in those days was the standard fitment on many Hitachi excavators.

Coincidently the very first Hitachi was sold into Finland by Rotator Oy in 1983 and that is why they decided to track down and restore one of these models. In the main all that was needed to be done was cosmetic touches to the exterior as considering the machines age it was still in pretty good condition. hitachi_0011

They decided to change the head gasket on the engine and fitted a new water pump so it ran better. One of the biggest problems the team faced was the restoration of the cabin, which was in a bad way as it had been subject to a small fire at some point in the past. Many of the parts required were no longer available, so these had to be ordered and in some cases specially made to order. But I think you will agree they have done a cracking job inside. hitachi_9950

Around 100 litres of paint was used to respray the machine which was specially made to be an almost exact replica of the paint colour back in those days. In addition to the orange it’s worth noting that the machine has been painted with the familiar Scandinavian black boom that used to be a common feature on machines in those regions.

Of course the machine in its original form did not have any of today’s CE- certifications, so local authorities were brought in to check the machine over and issue the necessary documentation. The 19.4 tonne UH081 was powered by the aforementioned Hino EL100 engine which offered a power output rating of 81kw (110hp), while the latest 21 tonne class ZX210LC-5B takes its power from an Isuzu AM-4HKIX which offers a power output of 122kw (165hp). hitachi_9906

Last spring Arto’s magazine compared the old Hitachi UH081 with the manufacturer’s latest equivalent model the ZX210LC-5B for an in depth article and produced the following video on the machines. [youtube width="725" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYH7ljui78[/youtube] Arto commented that the difference in ergonomics was huge with the cab on the old machine feeling very claustrophobic and cramped and of course those of us that have operated the UH models in the past will recall that the control layout was totally different to the standard models today. On the UH models the slew and dipper function was still on the left hand lever/joystick but not in the traditional layout we are used to today, with the dipper movement being left and right and the slew being actuated by a forward and back movement on the lever. It used to cause some head scratching to start with but like most things, you soon got used to it!.

We would like to thank the copyright owner of these photos Rotator Oy and Koneviesti for sharing them with us on the Digger Man Blog.

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