Show us your Arb Diggers please.

[the village idiot]

3 hours ago, Matthew Storrs said:

Grapple definitely, nice secure hold on it. screw splitter would be a nightmare trying to get into smaller diameter stuff enough to hold it whilst you saw. My grapple is 2ft wide which always means I’m left with a 2ft log at the end which is a bit of a pain!

Excellent. Thank you

[Matthew Storrs]

I reckon I’d use a wheeled digger a lot- my only reservations are I do a lot of stone walling- big lumps of granite so all needs a digger to do it- 3 tonner struggles with a lot of the rocks but is easy to jump on and off- which needs doing for almost every large rock placed,a wheeled digger- got to swing the seat around- climb down the steps and then get back in again! I guess soft ground could be a problem too- but then it’s just a case of putting the right machine on the job and id still have a tracked digger anyway. 

 

[Matthew Storrs]

38 minutes ago, dig-dug-dan said:

Had an ideal job to price up for a jcb. Dig out a soakaway, cart the soil using front bucket, cart tonne bag of gravel. Phoned a local guy, but he refused to use his front bucket for soil as 'it puts too much strain on the front axle'. I did it myself in the end with a 360 and a dumper. It worked out cheaper too!

Swings and roundabouts I think for a job like that- 360 and dumper means the soil only needs to be in a bucket once. Whereas backhoe is just one machine in the job- no trailers to get it there and could pretty much do the whole job without getting out of the seat, this appeals to me- My knees are getting pretty bad these days from 14 years working on my own jumping on and off machines etc. When I used to do a lot of fencing I’d be in and out the tractor 300 times a day sometimes-it’s a killer!

[Conor Wright]

Excellent. Thank you

My hydraulic thumb on a tb125. Narrower than a proper hydraulic grapple. it's easy to cut the log between the tines once you are careful not to cut right through and hit the bucket. Drop the last two logs three quarters cut and finish on the ground.. its welded to mine but cant see why it couldn't be clamped on with bolts. might work for you.
It's all about matching the geometry of the bucket/hitch to the grab. That same grab possibly wouldn't work so well on another machine.

[the village idiot]

What are people's thoughts on an ideal size machine for woodland work?

 

I personally don't need to move the machine off site.

 

Most common job would be log handling, rarely anything huge. Would also be good to have the option to power a flail/brushcutter head and the capacity to grade over some rutted rides.

 

All thoughts gratefully received!

[Matthew Storrs]

5 ton would do all that comfortably whilst still not being too big. Don’t think I’d want to go any bigger really. Even a 3 ton would be fine but may struggle a bit with larger timber (2ft plus dia). Somewhere in between the 2 if you can find one.

[the village idiot]

16 minutes ago, Matthew Storrs said:

5 ton would do all that comfortably whilst still not being too big. Don’t think I’d want to go any bigger really. Even a 3 ton would be fine but may struggle a bit with larger timber (2ft plus dia). Somewhere in between the 2 if you can find one.

Steel or rubber tracks?

 

Are there any brands particularly noted for good auxiliary oil flow?

[Conor Wright]

As Matthew says, something around the 5 ton mark, capability to handle heavy logs but tidy enough to not damage surrounding trees and cause unnecessary compaction. A 3 ton will do a lot on level ground but slopes will challenge it, as will uneven ground.

Tb145 is a good machine, but I'm biased towards takeuchi. 

Whatever you get, if you're in forestry the whole time do seriously consider marguard or some sort of guarding over the glass. 

[Conor Wright]

1 hour ago, the village idiot said:

Steel or rubber tracks?

 

Are there any brands particularly noted for good auxiliary oil flow?

I think newer kubota and wacker neusons have good flow. Lgp Eddie is your man for such questions! He has the experience.

If you're never going to use it on roads or paved areas I'd say steel.. 

If you're going for an older machine check it has two way flow for a grab, not just single flow and return for a breaker.

[LGP Eddie]

Can’t say I didn’t give you a heads up.

 

Dealer snapped it up, now on Mascus.

 

https://www.mascus.co.uk/construction/used-mini-diggers-excavators-7/kubota-u-48-4/0ish0dxd.html

 

 

Eddie.