The Huddig is like nothing you’ve ever operated.
It can do so much more than a backhoe, which it resembles.
“It’s a super-diverse machine,” says our guest on this episode of The Dirt, Joel Marreel, strategic accounts manager for Huddig dealer Vancer Rail Systems.
It articulates and oscillates. It can be a 13-ton excavator with no need for stabilizers. It can be a wheel loader, a skid loader, a backhoe. You can even operate a manlift on it.
Any attachment you can run on a 13-ton excavator can be operated on it, and you can travel as you operate. You can even run it by remote control.
“You literally learn something new on the Huddig every single day,” Marreel says.
Host and professional operator Bryan Furnace was blown away by what it could do, including the in-cab functions and ergonomics. “It’s the most comfortable machine I’ve ever operated,” he says.
So to learn more about this unique machine, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
00:00 - The Huddig – Excavator, Loader and More
00:33 - What is a Huddig?
01:57 - Not Just a Backhoe or a Loader
04:48 - Learning Curve, Training and Driving
06:37 - Cab and Operator Controls
08:46 - Remote Control
10:05 - Hydraulic Flow Control
11:20 - Customization
11:58 - Attachments
17:19 - Adding Tracks and Tire Customization
18:19 - Modularity
19:57 - What “Sold” Bryan on the Huddig
23:16 - Final Thoughts

Video Transcript:
Bryan Furnace:
Today we are here to talk about a very strange looking machine. We are here to talk about the Huddig. What is a Huddig, and what do you use it for? Well, that's why we brought in Joel, the expert on Huddig. He is joining us from Vancer, which is one of Huddig's primary dealers, and he's going to let us know what this thing is and why it's so awesome.
Well, Joel, thank you so much for taking your time to be on the show today. I really appreciate it.
Joel Marreel:
Man, it's good to be on the show. I've been following you since you first started tracking the Huddigs and enjoy your show.
Bryan Furnace:
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I got to be honest, I think to date in my entire operating career, the Huddig is my most favorite machine I have ever run. For the sake of the audience, will you clue them in as to what this goofy looking machine is? What is a Huddig?
Joel Marreel:
Well, I'll tell you what, a Huddig is all about diversity. It is about five, six machines in one machine. That's exactly what we always talk about with all of our customers is we get into this machine and in a sense, I always revert to a CAT machine if I'm referring it because everybody knows a CAT machine.
Bryan Furnace:
Sure.
Joel Marreel:
I tell them it's a 930, maybe a hair smaller on the wheel loader side on the front. It's a 313 on the back. It's jointed on the top of that boom and stick as you have seen and operated, so it's just like a mini excavator. It's a skid loader, it's a backhoe, it's everything. It's literally five machines in one and it's just super diverse in what we use it for and what our other companies use it for that we sell to. It's just super diverse machine.
Bryan Furnace:
I will come back to that, but it's also going to play into my next question. Most people in the American market are going to look at this machine and go, "My God, that is a giant backhoe" or "It's a backhoe and a front loader that got together and had a kid." Can you explain to me why it is not a backhoe, and it is not a loader?
Joel Marreel:
You bet. It's the furthest thing from either one actually. But in Sweden they do refer to them as the backhoe and I'm always telling them, "Hey, we get into the states, we just can't do it" because it's just totally different. It's more of a robust. Now, it does do the same functions as the backhoe, only it's on steroids. Only it's way more. It's got more hydraulics. It's got more lift capacity. Like I say, it's the back end of that. I call it the work end. It's the equivalent of a 13-ton excavator where you don't have that in a backhoe. It does the backhoe plus more. People do look at it that way and it is quick to look at it, Bryan, when you're taking a look at it in the pictures. Yeah, it kind of does. Until you see that thing in person, which you've seen and you've operated, then all of a sudden it's like, "Holy cow. This is a huge machine."
Not only articulated but oscillated. Like I say, a 13 ton on the back. Got a wheel loader on the front. You can do so much with these and I just sold one just the other day up to Anchorage, Alaska. It's headed that way. They're going to run everything from blades on the front to snowblowers on the front to a bucket on the front and then the back...