Show us your Arb Diggers please.

[Matthew Storrs]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

Eddie, on reflection, despite my earlier determination to buy a steel tracked 10-13 tonner, it probably makes more sense for me to hire this machine for a week at a time, as per your hire comment, since sheaugh cleaning and maintenance works to the roddens(Moss access tracks) are easily quantifiable discrete chunks of work.

And with the other small holding(where a pond needs cleaning of a lifetime of dumping of household waste by the previous occupants, etc etc, etc etc) site clearance for a future log cabin etc etc,

being 6 miles away, no worries about moving the bigger digger.

So I shall focus on purchasing a (hopefully cheaper) nominal 6 tonne rubber tracked machine for "footering" about the house, yard and garden, including firewood duties.

Also presumably easier to sell on such a smaller rubber tracked machine, if needs be.

Thanks,

Marcus

Yes and no, the smaller the machine- generally I find the more they hold their value relatively speaking. You’ll get more ton for your money if you went for the 13 tonner. But then when it comes to selling it the same logic applies.

 

6 ton is a fantastic size IMO. Very capable, good reach, not too thirsty. Nice to have a blade too- most 13 tonners don’t.

[difflock]

Loads of jcb 8085's about, incl one at my very reputable local guy, any thoughts  re this model,

I do know the earlier 8080's were generally despised.

m

[donnk]

On 12/09/2018 at 14:29, Matthew Storrs said:

Yes and no, the smaller the machine- generally I find the more they hold their value relatively speaking. You’ll get more ton for your money if you went for the 13 tonner. But then when it comes to selling it the same logic applies.

 

6 ton is a fantastic size IMO. Very capable, good reach, not too thirsty. Nice to have a blade too- most 13 tonners don’t.

Why is this eddie ? Had to demo a house and borrowed the 13 tonner from the farm and bugger me i really missed the blade. I took the oppertunity to clean up some ditches where my 3 tonner didnt have the reach and it annoyed me no end I couldnt level the machine with the blade on a slope.

 

I couldnt live with it if it was mine, do blades come as an option ?

[donnk]

On 12/09/2018 at 20:28, difflock said:

Loads of jcb 8085's about, incl one at my very reputable local guy, any thoughts  re this model,

I do know the earlier 8080's were generally despised.

m

we have the 5 tonner JCB  ex hire (green paint you know the ones) we had it 4 years now and its still great. Daily abuse on site and no faults as yet.

 

Only call out we had, it wouldnt turn over one morning. Tried everything filters, fuel. The mechanic arrived on site and saw the hammer line was on in the cab so the engine was pushing against the pump when trying to start. Flicked this off and she started right up. Couple red faces that morning.

[LGP Eddie]

5 hours ago, donnk said:

Why is this eddie ? Had to demo a house and borrowed the 13 tonner from the farm and bugger me i really missed the blade. I took the oppertunity to clean up some ditches where my 3 tonner didnt have the reach and it annoyed me no end I couldnt level the machine with the blade on a slope.

 

I couldnt live with it if it was mine, do blades come as an option ?

Simple answer is we are the UK which has a total Sales cultute of cheapest spec possible, three buckets, quick hitch and out the door!

Blades are available, generally specced by Owner Operators and the odd Groundwork Company or Specialist that’s got with it a bit.

Exactly the same for Two Piece, Split, TAB booms, whichever you want to call it.

If you search abroad then much higher spec machines can be sourced, often at excellent value for money.

 

 

Eddie.

[LGP Eddie]

So for my sins and the fact that the much anticipated rush of work in September never materialised I ended up doing a rare bit of Bucket work to construct a road with of all things a JCB JS131 13 tonner this week.

 

It’s the machine itself that prompted me to post, basically because it’s perceived as the poor man’s 13 tonner, Plant Hire spec model of the range.

What JCB basically did was build a machine that eliminates the hassles associated with DPF and Ad Blue which can cause major headaches, especially with self drive machines.

To achieve this they took some larger pumps and matched them to an engine tuned to produce the perfect power/torque for them at low revs.

 

I tried one at a JCB event and jumped out pretty quick, I like my machines lightening quick and very sharp on the controls. This just felt slow and woolly, with no sparkle.

 

Fast forward to this week and one drops off the low loader for me when my hopes were on the latest Hitachi!?

 

After a few days on it, I now really get it! This machine has a soundtrack like an old three cylinder engine chugging away in the back, peak revs is only 1800 and you’ve already decided it’s not up to much?

First daily checks I was nodding to myself thinking everything is well placed, you can service this yourself in minutes, it’s actually got all the bits and bobs on , and is really quite a nice spec.

Under the bonnet it actually looks like an engine and probably something you’d tackle a few jobs on yourself.

Cab is a good place to be, has everything required and no complaints.

It’s beautifully piped up along the boom/dipper with twin dual acting auxiliary circuits and hydraulic hitch, so all good for a Grab or whatever and you can set the flow too.

 

Why post up about it? Well I think it could be a totally hidden classic in the making?

The fact it’s no DPF or Ad Blue, you can service it easily. It’s all the spec you need  without too many frills and the engine/pump combo means it’s almost certainly going to have longevity.

Combined with the fact it’s fuel consumption is on a par with the average 8 tonner, it’s an attractive package.

Anyone looking for a machine that may have multiple Operators, isn’t going to be flogged in a high production digging role such as loading Chippers etc then this could be a good choice.

 

However it’s also got larger pumps than a Js130 and this engine is good for 150hp and a lot more revs which would make it fly!??

 

Will it dig, yes, can you do the job with it? Well I muddled through.

 

 

Eddie.

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by LGP Eddie

[monkeybusiness]

A mate had one on demo and unfortunately dismissed it for being underpowered and having a really noisy slew ring (which is obviously not right in a new machine). He is a ‘Buy British’ stalwart but ended up keeping an old (but owned from new) New Holland (actually Kobelco I think) 13 tonne zero as he reckons it still digs better than the 131 he demo’d. He put a muck pit in with the demonstrator so gave it a decent workout, and was all set for having it before he drove it. 

On paper it looks great though, and hopefully he drove a duff machine. 

[LGP Eddie]

8 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

A mate had one on demo and unfortunately dismissed it for being underpowered and having a really noisy slew ring (which is obviously not right in a new machine). He is a ‘Buy British’ stalwart but ended up keeping an old (but owned from new) New Holland (actually Kobelco I think) 13 tonne zero as he reckons it still digs better than the 131 he demo’d. He put a muck pit in with the demonstrator so gave it a decent workout, and was all set for having it before he drove it. 

On paper it looks great though, and hopefully he drove a duff machine. 

Digging a new Muck Pit is exactly type of application you’d not take it on.

This one is fine and probably it’s that quiet he can just hear different things, it absolutely has a soundtrack like no other machine.

As I explained it’s like going back to 1990 machines you can just jump in, get on with, no scary bits under the bonnet to worry about and you can easily maintain it yourself for a lot of it.

Your mate needed a JS145 if he was taking it to proper production digging work.

 

One main point I forgot to add was I’m probably looking at this from a pick them up used after they come off the Hire fleets perspective.

They are perceived as the poor relation, when you could end up with a bargain machine that won’t cost hardly any more than an 8 tonner to run, but will give a lot more capacity with simplicity.

 

 

Eddie.

Edited September 16, 2018 by LGP Eddie

[LGP Eddie]

Hard to convey in words, but this is what you see when you open the side door and bonnet on a JCB JS131, the absence of all the DPF and AD Blue stuff really does make it look like a 90’s machine and full marks for service access on the filters.

 

Eddie.

 

[Stephen Blair]

Very nice- well done! Out of interest what made you go for the Doosan in the end?

My Cats the same, I upgraded my trailer like for like and when I got home the cat fitted on by a whiskers! Last trailer had 6-8” either side.