Best 7 or 8 ton excavator for forestry work ??

[difflock]

Takeuchi TB 175's are very thin on the ground over here, & every one I found on tinternet, advertised at £ 20 k ish or less, was long sold.

So I drove to Newry yesterday to view a couple of TB 175's, which were outside my self-imposed price bracket,  but I wanted to see why they were so highly rated.

Yer salesman was very keen (& perhaps too keen) to sell me a FR 180, he had a dog rough 4000 hr model and a much cleaner 6000 hr model.

I tried the nominal 6000 hr model, but after letting her warm up at min revs while I sussed the various controls, I attempted to lift the tracks off the ground, first tried at middling revs, then at full revs, no dice and black reek galore.

But!

Apparently a service will sort that out.

regards

mth

 

[Matthew Storrs]

That sounds like an awful machine. It should have no trouble lifting its self of the ground even with the blade down so your pivoting the machine off the blade.

of course there are always going to be dogs out there but having owned 3 Takeuchis now they have all been more or less faultless. One did 5000hrs with barely a spanner to it. I can’t help thinking though if your not planning on transporting the machine and have the space would a 13tonner not be a better option?

[difflock]

Well it ud ease the front of the tracks off the ground, with the blade up.

But, with the blade down, NOT a MISSION!!.

PS

Went to look at the Case CX 80 again this morning, tried out for reach on an on-site sheaugh and it was lacking for  my sprawling moss based sheaughs, especially if I wish to cast the scourings onto the back brew.

 

Looked at a 14 tonne 6 pot Deawoo, very very tight for a 7700 hr machine, and OMG! was it responsive, but just plain too big.

 

So waiting to see a 2003 13 tonne zero tail swing Kolbeco with 14,000 careful owner operator hrs, coming in this week.

 

I will get there yet, but better invest soon or otherwise all the impoverished farmers will be looking to blow end-of-year money on plant, rather than see the tax man get it.

sigh.

Edited January 13, 2018 by difflock