Show us your Arb Diggers please.

[Marc Lewis]

I'm starting to get the hang of ours now after having other people on it for a couple of years, biggest advantage for us has actually been having it on a postknocker but it's mostly been on a grab or tmk tree shear.

What size machine is that gdh?

[Stephen Blair]

20 hours ago, Matthew Storrs said:

I’m in a real dilemma at the moment. Money is useless in the bank and I want to invest in another machine- my choices as it stands are between a Kubota KX080-3 very tidy on 600mm steels OR a Case 590 Super backhoe in servo controls. Obviously totally different machine but that’s half the trouble. I’d sooner the Kubota any day on the job- but no getting away that the logistics and expense of getting it moved to a job which may only be a few days work whereas backhoe just turns up under its own steam but limited when it’s gets there. main works is dry stone walking with big rocks, erosion/bridleways, ditching and usual rural groundwork’s like ponds, landscaping, scrub clearance etc...
 

can’t make my mind up!

I was sitting in a new 5 toner the other day thinking ‘ this will do !’

  Then I thought about moving it, relying on a haulier, no flexibility with customers juggling jobs around or having to invest in a big tractor and low loader then constantly worrying about being stopped.

 

All I can say is I’ve never been stuck in the 3cx or thrown a track!?

  the back actor has more power than my old 9 toner.

[doobin]

I wouldn't mind a go in your machine Steve, but I can't imagine doing arb work and not being able to spin round with a grab full of brash, or relying upon wheels to get me in and out again. Then again, it must be lovely to grab a proper full bundle with a grab on the front of the machine.

 

[Matthew Storrs]

2 hours ago, Stephen Blair said:

I was sitting in a new 5 toner the other day thinking ‘ this will do !’

  Then I thought about moving it, relying on a haulier, no flexibility with customers juggling jobs around or having to invest in a big tractor and low loader then constantly worrying about being stopped.

 

All I can say is I’ve never been stuck in the 3cx or thrown a track!?

  the back actor has more power than my old 9 toner.

It’s a hard one for sure- I can see real advantages of the backhoe route for all the reasons you mention. I’ve just sold my tractor and it’s not really a route I want to go down again simply to move a machine from A to B. Tracked machine would be splendid for jobs longer than a week or two. But to add £300 or so in haulage for a few days work I can see will kill many of the smaller jobs off... and that is a fair proportion of my workload. Is it greedy to have both!

The backhoe as well has hellish lift power on the front bucket Plus pallet forks etc which will come in handy a lot I reckon plus will save hiring small dumpers in on many jobs...

If only my thought process wasn’t 360 I’d have made a decision by now!

how many hrs is your JCB on Stephen? I have a budget of around £25-30k but most backhoes have done over 5000hrs at this price range if I want servo controls..

 

 

[Matthew Storrs]

44 minutes ago, doobin said:

I wouldn't mind a go in your machine Steve, but I can't imagine doing arb work and not being able to spin round with a grab full of brash, or relying upon wheels to get me in and out again. Then again, it must be lovely to grab a proper full bundle with a grab on the front of the machine.

 

Agree, and same when your digging out a banking and want to swing it round into a dumper etc- but I guess you just have to think r he job out differently. Plus having a 3 tonner already kind of gives you best of both worlds when coupled with Backhoe. 3 tonner for intricate space restricted stuff- fast and nimble, backhoe for brute force speed moving material accross sites etc. 

[gdh]

3 hours ago, Marc Lewis said:

On 05/11/2019 at 12:56, gdh said:

I'm starting to get the hang of ours now after having other people on it for a couple of years, biggest advantage for us has actually been having it on a postknocker but it's mostly been on a grab or tmk tree shear.

Read more  

What size machine is that gdh?

It's an 8 ton tb285.

[donnk]

On 05/11/2019 at 19:29, Matthew Storrs said:

I’m in a real dilemma at the moment. Money is useless in the bank and I want to invest in another machine- my choices as it stands are between a Kubota KX080-3 very tidy on 600mm steels OR a Case 590 Super backhoe in servo controls. Obviously totally different machine but that’s half the trouble. I’d sooner the Kubota any day on the job- but no getting away that the logistics and expense of getting it moved to a job which may only be a few days work whereas backhoe just turns up under its own steam but limited when it’s gets there. main works is dry stone walking with big rocks, erosion/bridleways, ditching and usual rural groundwork’s like ponds, landscaping, scrub clearance etc...
 

can’t make my mind up!

how about a small duck - best of both worlds.

[richy_B]

There is a decent looking kx080 on steels near me. Been up for sale for a good few months. 

[Gray git]

Spotted on insta so thought I'd share [emoji7][emoji7]

[Stephen Blair]

Very very cool!  An Urban harvester and trailer, can’t get much better I reckon.

 

thats 6 years tomorrow since I ordered my Cat, time flies.

  Just heading out to work with her after my bacon roll.  She runs as good as the day day I got her.