Roger wrote:
The message
from Bruce contains these words:
You have not said what you want it for. Surely the type of work to
which you will put the machine will define which machine you need? And
if you don't even say what it is, how can anyone advise you?
My original draft included details of what I wanted to do but on reading
it through I came to the conclusion that I had made the case for a mini
digger rather than a full size JCB so I deleted the detail. For some of
the work a JCB would be a better bet or just as good but with 2 of the
jobs lined up - excavations for a ground based heat pump in the narrow
confines of my garden and rescuing a trampled flat drainage ditch among
mature trees a full size JCB would make the job much more difficult.
First job to be done is to reroute a troublesome land drain. This really
needs to be done this year. I need to dig a trench about 80 yards long
and I am now too old to do that by hand.
The most sensible choice in backhoe loaders is a JCB for easy
availability of spares. Obviously get the newest and best condition
that you can afford. The earlier ones were not especially reliable
even when new. Anything less than 15 years old is a better bet if you
can find one within your price range. Try to get one with a 4-in-1
front bucket as it will doze, load, pick up (clamshell) and act as a
forklift, hence 4-in-1. Incredibly versatile.
If I do revert to searching for a JCB I think I would need to up my
budget a bit more to get one less than 15 years old.
The most sensible choice in backhoe loaders is (probably) a Kubota for
sheer reliability. Make sure you get one that hasn't been used in
heavy civil engineering - tunnelling contractors buy them new and use
them until they break, after which they end up on the used market. The
mini-excavator can only do two things, one of them badly. It will dig
well, with the obvious limitations of shallower maximum digging depth,
lower power and smaller bucket size when compared to a JCB. If is
fitted with a dozer blade, it will doze extremely badly. Those blades
are tiny, and there is very little control - you cannot see what you
are doing. But they do add a lot of stability when digging.
The tracks are not made for travelling long distances, more for moving
around in a small, confined area. Tracking long distances will wear
out the tracks very quickly. The tracks are tiny and the bearings are
just too small for arduous travel. Track repairs are expensive - it
is usually cheaper to fit a service exchange pair of tracks than
repair your own but you will get whacked for any damage to the pair
you exchange. Wear and tear is accepted but not damage. So a trailer
is indicated in order to reduce the distance travelled.
That is one of the points that was bothering me and in the end may well
make me switch back to a big machine. Mini digger plus trailer is likely
to push the budget up to £4000.
As I said before, without any idea of what you want the machine for,
it is impossible to recommend one type over the other. But in
general, farm/smallholding use would suggest a tractor-based JCB, and
work on confined urban sites (or shaft and tunnel digging) would
suggest a mini-excavator.
I live on a steep hillside and the track down the hill on my neighbours
farm was originally made for horse and cart (as are some of the original
gateways). The track has already been widened but it may need further
work to get a JCB down it and at one point it might need re-routing as I
am not convinced the shelf cut into the hillside would stand 7 tons and
have no wish to go tumbling down a 1 in 1 slope.
In another post you asked what was the difference between a JCB 3C and
a 3D. Here's a page that tells you:
http://www.classic-combines.com/jcb.html
I don't recommend you buy from this company as, while the machines may
be within your budget, they sill probably be slightly too small for
your needs. ;-)
Perhaps not. :-)
For the size and number of jobs that you need doing, would it not be
cheaper to hire a machine as and when you need it? Or even hire a
machine and operator, because (with all due respect) a skilled
operator will do the job in a quarter of the time that you and I
could.
Alternatively, perhaps it might be worth hiring a mini excavator just
to see how well it works for the jobs that you intend to do?
Here's a hire centre in Leeds, not too far away, but there are bound
to be some closer:
http://tinyurl.com/5o2frj
There are also trackless machines that - apparently - are quite good
once you get used to them. Some are towable and might suit your
requirement for moving around:
http://tinyurl.com/5zyn76
http://tinyurl.com/6kopgy
And finally. here is something of a "wild card" entry:
http://tinyurl.com/62ajf8
I quite like that one!