Excavator Hydraulic Compactors for Sale at Van-Ed Equipment
From road building to landscaping, an excavator-mounted compactor gets soil and backfill to spec faster than walk-behind equipment. Van-Ed Equipment sells hoe pack plate compactors from VC Series, Rammer and Epiroc for 1–68 tonne excavators, and keeps compactors in our rental fleet for shorter jobs. We serve the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, BC and Western Canada from Surrey.
VC Series or Rammer Ho-Pac?
On the job, both perform very well. A hoe pack is a simple machine: rubber mounts, a hydraulic motor and an off-balance shaft. Size for size, a VC Series unit does the same work as the name brand. The difference is price. To buy, a Rammer Ho-Pac typically runs 30–35% more than the equivalent VC unit, and in some sizes close to double. If you want the name brand, we stock it. If you want the same compaction for less money, look at the VC Series. Either way, compare units of the same size and weight.
Plate compactor or compaction wheel?
For most excavator compaction in the Lower Mainland, we recommend a plate compactor. Compaction wheels do work well in trenching, but they’re very machine-size specific and expensive: for the price of a wheel you can nearly buy a hydraulic plate compactor. They’re also uncommon in this market, so a plate is easier to find, rent and service. If a wheel suits your job, see our compaction wheels.
Where you can’t put a worker in the trench and don’t have machine access, a remote-controlled compactor is another option.
Lift depth and density testing
Lift thickness and compaction targets come from your project’s engineering spec, not from the attachment. The result depends on aggregate type, moisture content, compactor size and carrier weight. We’ll help you size the hoe pack to your excavator and share the manufacturer’s compaction data. Your engineer or superintendent sets the lift depth and the density test.
Working near pipe and utilities
Know what’s in the ground before you compact, just as you would before you dig. That means proximity to foundations and pipelines, and pipe type: wood, cement, PVC or iron. Call BC One Call first. When you’re close to something sensitive, many crews drop to a smaller compactor for less force and less risk.
Hoe pack maintenance: what brings them back to the shop
Set up properly, a hoe pack is one of the lowest-maintenance attachments you can own. We have units out there, sold 10 years ago, that have needed nothing but rubber mounts. What does bring them back:
- Rubber mounts. They’re the main wear item. They dry out and crack with age, and they tear if the operator pushes down too hard. Look for surface cracking, dried-out rubber, or rubber pulling away from the mounting plates. Mounts run from about $120 to $700 each depending on compactor size. Units have four, and some large ones have eight. If one is failing, the rest are close behind, so replace them together or at least in pairs.
- Hoses. They get blown, rubbed through or snagged in the trench.
- Motors and seals. These usually fail from incorrect setup: the wrong work mode, or too much oil or pressure. Make sure your couplers are fully seated. We recently saw one job lose three motors because the return-side coupler kept backing off.
Attachments don’t have hour meters, so make a visual check part of your daily start-up.
Rent or buy a hoe pack from Van-Ed Equipment
Tell us your excavator make and model and the job, and we’ll match the right compactor. Call 604-888-9020, browse compactor rentals, or stock up on compactor rubber mounts.
Call 604-888-9020