Show us your Arb Diggers please.

[Matthew Storrs]

I've taken it as Px against my CAT 307, it wasn't doing much and shifting it about was a pain!

I'm going to play about on this and if it works get a new 1!

It's the Grey Cab Turbo, old school guys claim it's the best 1 they ever made, it's on normal JCB controls so will take a bit of getting used to but I'll stick at it!

It's piped up for a grab and rotator with electro hydraulic switches on the levers!

She isn't pretty paint wise and has a few scuffs as you can expect from a 29 year old machine. They say they still dig better than the new ones.

If she works out I might just keep her for my village work and not bother with a lump of finance

 

Sounds like a good plan- I,m particularly interested to see how you find it in the wet- thats my main concern at the moment. I,m sure you will get a hang of the controls soon enough once the muscle memory kicks in! I had a go in a 1994 JCB the other day and no word of a lie it took me about 20 mins to get a coherant operation out of it:laugh1: I honestly think someone who had never driven a digger before would have been better than me cos my hands kept trying to use a normal digger.

 

I,m wondering how easy it would be to have a quich hitch on the 4 in 1 bucket with quick hoses so i could use other attachments on the front- in my case a post knocker- but all sorts really- log grabs etc.

[Breezeblock]

I've taken it as Px against my CAT 307, it wasn't doing much and shifting it about was a pain!

I'm going to play about on this and if it works get a new 1!

It's the Grey Cab Turbo, old school guys claim it's the best 1 they ever made, it's on normal JCB controls so will take a bit of getting used to but I'll stick at it!

It's piped up for a grab and rotator with electro hydraulic switches on the levers!

She isn't pretty paint wise and has a few scuffs as you can expect from a 29 year old machine. They say they still dig better than the new ones.

If she works out I might just keep her for my village work and not bother with a lump of finance

 

i served my time on these they are the best ones ever produced simple to fix and very productive machine not stifled with emissions crap the new ones are as flat as a fart and burn more diesel

[Ferguson system]

Does this count as a arb digger? It's on my wish list.

 

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[IVECOKID]

I've taken it as Px against my CAT 307, it wasn't doing much and shifting it about was a pain!

I'm going to play about on this and if it works get a new 1!

It's the Grey Cab Turbo, old school guys claim it's the best 1 they ever made, it's on normal JCB controls so will take a bit of getting used to but I'll stick at it!

It's piped up for a grab and rotator with electro hydraulic switches on the levers!

She isn't pretty paint wise and has a few scuffs as you can expect from a 29 year old machine. They say they still dig better than the new ones.

If she works out I might just keep her for my village work and not bother with a lump of finance

 

That old dear will earn its keep all day long if its a straight machine , my first experience in the digger world was the grey cab on a Council job loading 8 wheeler's with waste from fly tipping .

 

Ste

[LGP Eddie]

Did my original CPCS 10 day Training Course on Grey Cab Turbo's at OTS JCB, which was JCB's training centre back in the day.

I went on to operate Black and Grey Cab version's and the F, G and H reg versions have a fully deserved legendary status.

 

The best backhoe JCB have ever made in my opinion was the Sitemaster Turbo Plus Powershift in around 1996 vintage.

It was produced as the Jubilee limited edition with a bit of bling, or the standard yellow version. If you can find a tidy one they are straightforward and extremely productive machines with great build quality.

I Operated one for 3 Years from new on front line duties and it was simply fantastic.

 

 

 

Eddie.

[IVECOKID]

Fresh out of Reasthheath college of agriculture in 1988 onto Grey cab ,loved every minute.

 

Ste

[Billy]

don't think a grab is the right tool for you by the sounds of it- you can't grab loose material unless you had some sort of add on plates made up to make it more clamshell like- fairly sure you can buy clamshell grabs in the same format as the fixed grabs....

 

Yes, I think if i was you Id look at getting a fabricator to make me a thumb to suit your application- ie wide as you say but with the tine filled in to assist grabing loose material- or rather keeping it in the bucket.

 

 

I'd disagree there, a demo grab sounds perfect for what he describes from he few days I spent on one last week. Pulled out lots of things roots and all, and grabbed up plenty of earth to bury embedded metal that I couldn't pull out, it held the soil nicely once the stuff that was obviously going to fall out had.

[SteveA]

I'd disagree there, a demo grab sounds perfect for what he describes from he few days I spent on one last week. Pulled out lots of things roots and all, and grabbed up plenty of earth to bury embedded metal that I couldn't pull out, it held the soil nicely once the stuff that was obviously going to fall out had.

 

Cheers. I've not found any videos of people using hydraulic thumbs for picking up soil/ compost so good to hear your thoughts on that.

 

Only downside I can think of is that good compost tends to be quite friable so may be more likely to fall through any gaps (compared with moving a stickier top soil).

 

I've sent RSL an email so hopefully will get suggestions from them.... have also asked them about doing a progressive link version as nobody seems to be making them in the UK.

cheers, Steve

[Matthew Storrs]

I'd disagree there, a demo grab sounds perfect for what he describes from he few days I spent on one last week. Pulled out lots of things roots and all, and grabbed up plenty of earth to bury embedded metal that I couldn't pull out, it held the soil nicely once the stuff that was obviously going to fall out had.

 

Yes, sure. but a demo grab like you had on that Neuson or that Stephen Blair has on his Cat are £££. I think SteveA is after something rather more cost effective? I still think a Thumb made to suit his application ie wide and almost like an opposing side of a clamshell would work very well and not cost too much either.

[Matthew Storrs]

Yes, sure. but a demo grab like you had on that Neuson or that Stephen Blair has on his Cat are £££. I think SteveA is after something rather more cost effective? I still think a Thumb made to suit his application ie wide and almost like an opposing side of a clamshell would work very well and not cost too much either.

 

Steve,If you did go down this route then if it was too wide it might require some bracing/gusset on the thumb to avoid the twisting when the force is on the outer edge- Im sure RSL will come up with a solution. If you look at that thumb on the Neuson i mentioned above- the profile of the tines are quite curved/as opposed to the normal straight ones on a lot of thumbs, something like this but wider and with filled in gaps would work well Id have thought for your application