Avant loader

[josharb87]

The 2 we use occasionally, the little ones great, only limited by how heavy the user is to how much it will lift, little one even has full difflocks

 

[armchairarborist]

we have this avant tracked dumper, its brilliant for extracting big rings and tipping them into the trailer, moving trailers around (even loaded right up), general yard work and is pretty economical now its got a diesel engine instead of petrol. today we had 600 block paving bricks on it and it didn't seem to notice [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-i2TsO4C8Y]YouTube - Dumpy[/ame]

edit. i think avant stopped making tracked machines in favour of wheeled ones

Edited May 15, 2011 by armchairarborist

[RichardT]

They're very useful machines, I run a CSF (smaller model in same range pictured at top of thread). Good lift, very manoevrable, strong pumps, lots of attachments available. One major issue: the small CSF models and all the Avants have frames that turn but don't twist, which means that on broken ground you can relatively easily find yourself rocking on two vainly spinning wheels. The bigger CSFs and all the Weidemann type machines oscillate so you're much less likely to lose grip. Mine has an optional 3pl at the back with a DA spool, very handy for small splitter etc.

[josharb87]

Another avant from this week

 

 

[kimtree]

schaffer loaders oscillate too.Also with the seat on the back part nothing sticks out when you go round a tight corner unlike an Avant

get a branch manager grapple(BMG) and a log like the one in the previous post could be carried out inline with the loader,fantastic for feeding a chipper,placing logs into the truck,i could go on and on how great they are:thumbup1:

[hazzygawa]

I used to have an avant 520 the older metal bodied one and it was bloody brilliant. Used to run a fair bit of kit of it.

[RichardT]

"Also with the seat on the back part nothing sticks out when you go round a tight corner unlike an Avant"

 

Yes, although I've never found this a problem day to day, and I prefer being 'in line' with the bucket/forks etc in terms of feel for weight, balance, etc. And I think (with precisely zero evidence to back it up) that the CoG is a bit lower than when sitting directly over the engine. More irritating is the daft use of hard plastics for the engine cover, softer polyprop material (eg quad bike mudguards) would be less prone to breakages, but also less shiny.....

 

Unfortunately CSF have recently gone a bit doolally on the design front, their current models are all curves, swooping coach lines and complex mouldings like something out of a poundshop Judge Dredd movie.

[caledonian bob]

Hired this one before and hired it again for a job last week. 3 Horse Chestnuts and 1 Sycamore to remove in a large garden with limited access. Furthest tree was about 100yds from where I could get the chipper to and all timber had to be processed into logs and left where we chipped. FANTASTIC MACHINE is my impression. Cost £70 /day and if I'd had an extra 3 men on site there's no way they they could have done what it did. It also made a very handy saw bench for logging

[kimtree]

Thats the grapple i'm refering to though i welded a slightly longer curved plate on the bottom so as to trap logs better also allows you to grab logs and keep the weight closer at the loader end:thumbup1:

the BMG's great for dragging brush piles too and a great labour saving tool