Show us your Arb Diggers please.

[Michael C]

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.

If I remember right, 1995 was the jubilee year. I never drove a powershift 3cx, but a standard Project 8 from 1993. A great machine IMO and very little to go wrong.

[richy_B]

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

 

RSL have an 'opposing rake' to be used in combination with their landscaping rake. If you welded on a mesh panel on each you could grab and handle some pretty fine stuff.

[LGP Eddie]

If I remember right, 1995 was the jubilee year. I never drove a powershift 3cx, but a standard Project 8 from 1993. A great machine IMO and very little to go wrong.

 

Yes 1995 was the anniversary, but the company I was operating for got both a Jubilee and standard Turbo Plus Powershift version in the early part of 96 so that always sticks in my mind.

JCB by then really had things sorted on them, and apart from a new swivel on the seat base it never let me down or had anything done to it.

I always wanted the 4cx version at the time, they just looked fantastic, but you always get mixed reviews from operators on them, with a lot finding them clumsy.

 

The guy I was operating for was CAT mad, and we ended up with a string of top spec CAT Backhoes, but I never really took to them.

 

A friend went on his own with the Volvo version, and to be honest Volvo were crazy to stop building them as it really was getting to be the best on the market.

 

Interesting times as I think if priced correctly the new JCB Hydradig will have a real impact on their own Backhoe market.

 

 

 

Eddie.

Edited March 23, 2016 by LGP Eddie

[Matthew Storrs]

I went to look at this old beast the other day- took me a while to get hang of the JCB controls but opened my mind to the backhoe route, This is going for just under £14k with new tyres basically needed all round. so probs another 2.5k..

 

Seems alot for an over 20 year old machine, but perhaps for good reason.

 

http://devonplant.co.uk/detail.asp?ID=1234

[LGP Eddie]

I went to look at this old beast the other day- took me a while to get hang of the JCB controls but opened my mind to the backhoe route, This is going for just under £14k with new tyres basically needed all round. so probs another 2.5k..

 

Seems alot for an over 20 year old machine, but perhaps for good reason.

[ATTACH]201471[/ATTACH]

 

Devon Plant Services Ltd.

 

Hard to find a good one now, but a great all round machines that are easy enough to work on. Try and find the Turbo Plus Powershift or Jubilee version if you can, as they are on another level to the standard machine.

 

JCB control is not mastered in minutes, but once it is, it really does just all flow together. Same with the front bucket and two levers setup. No need to use the other hand for the 4 in 1 it just all flows together on the other lever.

 

 

 

 

Eddie.

[Michael C]

I went to look at this old beast the other day- took me a while to get hang of the JCB controls but opened my mind to the backhoe route, This is going for just under £14k with new tyres basically needed all round. so probs another 2.5k..

 

Seems alot for an over 20 year old machine, but perhaps for good reason.

[ATTACH]201471[/ATTACH]

 

Devon Plant Services Ltd.

 

She looks a tidy machine, and if the hours are genuine, she is probably worth it.

If you intend doing roadwork, the non turbo models (as she is) were very dead and could smell a hill.

[LGP Eddie]

Just to throw another in the mix, as these caused much debate at the time?

 

Basically an attempt at a poor mans 4cx with only one steering mode and smaller wheels. With the all important Turbo and power shift, and a local Owner Operator still runs his from brand new even now!

 

Could just help you stay afloat a bit if using the front loader a lot off road.

 

This looks a tidy example, and Clements do seem to find a constant stream of straight looking Backhoes.

 

JCB 3CX Super 1997 : Clements Plant

 

 

 

 

Eddie.

[Matthew Storrs]

That looks great Eddie, far more convincing looking for real world field situations i undoubtably would find myself.

 

The dealer selling the JCB i posted said it was possible to switch the controls anyway (??) if i really did find JCB to hard to get on with but i'd be determined to persist with them much like Stephen will with his:lol:

 

I actually kind of relish the thought of learning on something new to me alltogether!

 

i assume though with all these extra dig models that the idea of a fixed grab or even a thumb is not possible as your bracing back on to the staionary part of the dipper? In all fairness id probably look at demo grabs anyway.

[Breezeblock]

That looks great Eddie, far more convincing looking for real world field situations i undoubtably would find myself.

 

The dealer selling the JCB i posted said it was possible to switch the controls anyway (??) if i really did find JCB to hard to get on with but i'd be determined to persist with them much like Stephen will with his:lol:

 

I actually kind of relish the thought of learning on something new to me alltogether!

 

i assume though with all these extra dig models that the idea of a fixed grab or even a thumb is not possible as your bracing back on to the staionary part of the dipper? In all fairness id probably look at demo grabs anyway.

our 3cx had a fixed grab and it worked well with the extra dig the good thing was you could change the angle of the grab by extending in or out

[LGP Eddie]

our 3cx had a fixed grab and it worked well with the extra dig the good thing was you could change the angle of the grab by extending in or out

 

Yes a traditional effective way was to utilise the extending action to actually rotate the thumb around to the desired position, and is a very strong simple solution.

 

Things have progressed somewhat and people are now running Selector Grabs on the newer machines with the extender function still operable.

 

This is another way altogether and tidy!:thumb up:

 

 

[ame]

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Eddie.