One man band - mini digger and attachments

[biscovey]

Advice please, I am starting afresh again, looking for advice for best mini digger, whether to go for 1.8 tonne are max out on a 2.7, pulling behind a D4 also what attachments do you reccommend, grabs, flails, grinders etc. I want to do private work, not interested in sites but want to have the right attachments that pay, just me and the machine, advice greatly apprecited. Im in the South West.

Edited August 27, 2022 by biscovey

[dumper]

Pay your money take your pick, whatever you buy will be wrong and you will always need the attachment you haven’t bought yet. 1.8 don’t really run attachments. Some have enough trouble pulling themselves around, plus a lot of 1.5/1.8 in hire shops I would go 2.7, if pulling with d4 where will you put attachments / fuel / buckets etc

[dan blocker]

50 minutes ago, dumper said:

Pay your money take your pick, whatever you buy will be wrong and you will always need the attachment you haven’t bought yet. 1.8 don’t really run attachments. Some have enough trouble pulling themselves around, plus a lot of 1.5/1.8 in hire shops I would go 2.7, if pulling with d4 where will you put attachments / fuel / buckets etc

Surely if using a D4 the buckets, spare fuel etc can go in the pickup. One thing for sure as you’ve alluded to if using a 2.6/ 2.7 ton and a built to last Ifor type trailer you’ll probably be overweight with just the quick hitch?

[dumper]

Couldn’t work out if disco 4 or d4 either would overload

[doobin]

This is my bag.

 

For tree work, a grab and rotator etc, 2.7t. The 1.9t machines will handle it (and I do run one) but even with a short dipper the stack height of the rotator/grab/hitch means that you have very little lift height before the boom ram tops out. They are also less stable and don't lift nearly as much as a 2.7t. Flip side, they can fit into a garden.

 

For towing a 2.7t machine, the Ifor GH1054 is pretty much perfect. The digger will fit like a glove, and it'll be legal behind a truck with 3.5t tow ratings.

 

Stump grinders- waste of time IMHO unless all your work is expensive stumps halfway up a bank.

 

Flails- a bit marmite. Sort of work, but unless all your work is tricky to reach banks (again!) then a compact tractor or even pedestrian flail will be quicker. Basically, 50l/min hydraulic flow (all you will get from a 2.7t machine) is not really enough to be efficient with either flails or grinders.

 

If you buy a 2.7t machine, get the model in the range with a 26hp engine (biggest you can get these days). You will never regret the extra power with attachments of any kind. If wanting to run a rotator, you want it with twin aux services with proportional rockers on the joysticks. Anything else is a bodge in this day and age. I'd avoid zero tail swing too, you want counterbalance for tree works.

 

I like the Bobcat E27, it can be ordered with twin services as described, extrea counterweight, full fat engine and for lifting and shifting timber it's been brilliant.

 

Other attachments that pay- a post knocker, auger with drill bits and a cone splitter for breaking big rounds, ripper tooth (essential), maybe a tilting grading bucket and grading beam? I run a tilting quick hitch sometimes, not convinced on tilt rotators cost vs benefit for that size machine. A v bucket is cheap and makes a lovely easy job of creating ditches, same with a v profile pipe laying bucket for drainage etc where you are on meterage rate- saves a lot of money in stone etc. You can get all the attachments above for less than the cost of a tilt rotator setup, and they will make you a lot more money/versastile.

 

 

The Hooka didn't work out for you then?

Edited August 28, 2022 by doobin

[biscovey]

11 hours ago, dan blocker said:

Surely if using a D4 the buckets, spare fuel etc can go in the pickup. One thing for sure as you’ve alluded to if using a 2.6/ 2.7 ton and a built to last Ifor type trailer you’ll probably be overweight with just the quick hitch?

Disco 4 witha 3.5 tonne ifor trailer

[biscovey]

58 minutes ago, doobin said:

This is my bag.

 

For tree work, a grab and rotator etc, 2.7t. The 1.9t machines will handle it (and I do run one) but even with a short dipper the stack height of the rotator/grab/hitch means that you have very little lift height before the boom ram tops out. They are also less stable and don't lift nearly as much as a 2.7t. Flip side, they can fit into a garden.

 

For towing a 2.7t machine, the Ifor GH1054 is pretty much perfect. The digger will fit like a glove, and it'll be legal behind a truck with 3.5t tow ratings.

 

Stump grinders- waste of time IMHO unless all your work is expensive stumps halfway up a bank.

 

Flails- a bit marmite. Sort of work, but unless all your work is tricky to reach banks (again!) then a compact tractor or even pedestrian flail will be quicker. Basically, 50l/min hydraulic flow (all you will get from a 2.7t machine) is not really enough to be efficient with either flails or grinders.

 

If you buy a 2.7t machine, get the model in the range with a 26hp engine (biggest you can get these days). You will never regret the extra power with attachments of any kind. If wanting to run a rotator, you want it with twin aux services with proportional rockers on the joysticks. Anything else is a bodge in this day and age. I'd avoid zero tail swing too, you want counterbalance for tree works.

 

I like the Bobcat E27, it can be ordered with twin services as described, extrea counterweight, full fat engine and for lifting and shifting timber it's been brilliant.

 

Other attachments that pay- a post knocker, auger with drill bits and a cone splitter for breaking big rounds, ripper tooth (essential), maybe a tilting grading bucket and grading beam? I run a tilting quick hitch sometimes, not convinced on tilt rotators cost vs benefit for that size machine. A v bucket is cheap and makes a lovely easy job of creating ditches, same with a v profile pipe laying bucket for drainage etc where you are on meterage rate- saves a lot of money in stone etc. You can get all the attachments above for less than the cost of a tilt rotator setup, and they will make you a lot more money/versastile.

 

 

The Hooka didn't work out for you then?

 

[biscovey]

Really appreciate the response there Doobin, a great help and will definately take all that on board. Its early days for the Hooka, its a cracking machine and pushing it hard, just don,t know as yet if it will keep me going full time, so need to run something else alongside it to create an income. 

[dumper]

If your thinking of buying new look at the new case maybe best mini on market at moment lots of machine not cheap but well built designed for owner driver rather than hire companies 

[biscovey]

1 minute ago, dumper said:

If your thinking of buying new look at the new case maybe best mini on market at moment lots of machine not cheap but well built designed for owner driver rather than hire companies 

Will do thankyou