LGP Eddie

Always had a pair of decent bolt cutters as they never go flat and a nice thin chain with a hook each end long enough to reach back to the blade. Incredible the messes of wire etc I’ve had wrapped around the rotor, but a few moments finding the end and hooking it back to the blade and rolling it back out. Scariest thing I’ve ever had was losing a tooth tip with plenty of sparks and a hell of a bang!? Eddie.

Something wrong there as Approved turn Head Brackets around in a couple of days. Only Adam knows why you haven’t had it delivered yet and I’ll happily give him a bit of a prod for you even though I shouldn’t have to. Engcon have a habit of shipping a big chunk of stuff together, obviously makes commercial sense and a good media shot of a pile of shiny stuff being unloaded. Yours may be in the latest, and no it’s not in the slightest bit unusual for nobody to know where something is! Machines, you deal with a Salesperson, their knowledge is probably 50% of yours on the product, they haven’t a clue when it comes to anything out of the ordinary and this happens almost 100% of the time if you’re not all over it. Not their fault, they have to sell a huge range of kit into many different applications and that’s why things like this happen and most don’t even know what’s available on their machines from the Factory. I do loads of this for people, they message me on their arse having got all sorts of ideas on their wish list and having visited a few Dealers have their head in their hands! If it’s not a standard machine with a hitch and three buckets, you’re wading in treacle! This weeks I believe Eddie.

Use the logbullet for what it was intended for and put an Excavator with Shear and Collector in front to Shear/Stack and sort a path for the following Logbullet. Greg and myself used to do loads of this type of thing with myself on the Kubota 8 tonner and him on the Tracked Dumper Forwarder. Used to get laughed at, until a couple of days in with the stacks piling up and no ruts or damage anywhere. Couple of ideal Shears about now with Collector that size, you don’t want anything dangle mount really or you’ll have everything crashing about and anything with a Saw brings its own issues. Eddie.

Blatant advert, but might help someone out? I’ve got to rig the Felling Head onto a 22 metre Long Reach for a project starting shortly. If anyone has something they think this could be a solution for, shout up as if you can piggyback on you’ll save ££. Eddie.

I think some need a good dose of the reality of trying to get hold of kit, the nightmare of the annual shutdowns and knock on effect for months, plus the seemingly never decreasing lead times on what are absolute best sellers and should be in stock from manufacturers. We’re all the same and for good reason, doing the legwork on new kit/attachments, but often hovering over the button until a project has the go ahead, then needing it Now! Sadly the reality is far different, my last Felling Head took 11 months of slog to get sorted, I’m waiting on one Grab I’ve sold around 7 weeks and still no sign, I can order a Westtech and that will say six weeks for generally anything. This is all standard units, start throwing in specials and needing things like Ec-Oil tops adding, and you’re into three months sometimes. My latest project is built around one key component, it has taken 12 months to source and is due 17th of October, and that’s before it begins it’s conversion that’ll add another three months no doubt. When Adam at approved or Andrew at Engcon tell you they’re doing all they can, they almost certainly are. They don’t make them, they’re Dealers end of, and if what you’re after isn’t available, is awaiting more orders for a batch production or a special, you’ll have to wait. Things like the APF in September are deadly, everyone gets sight of shiny metal and wants it now, we need a straightforward Mechanised Arb/De-Veg show in April for guys to plan their next move from. Eddie.

Yes plenty use the Yanmar or Kubota for power. Both good units. Eddie.

Hitachi make them as far as I’m aware. Eddie.

Andrew Badham Engcon UK for a quote on S type Hitch and Buckets or Aaron at Pladett UK will get you anything SMP or EMA in S type. Eddie.

No Hitachi

Project for someone, this would have cost £££ new! Ever popular Hitachi 8 tonner with ultra rare in UK Two Piece Boom. Will tidy up nice and you can put any steel tracks you like up to about 900mm with no mods on these. Full Cab Guard off the shelf at Cabcare, will make a good Shear machine with the extra geometry. I hope it’s last job was to backfill whoever’s been sitting in the seat!? Hitachi ZX 85 US B-5 A Gloucester Midi excavators 7t - 12t, Year of manufacture: 2016 - Mascus UK WWW.MASCUS.CO.UK Hitachi ZX 85 US B-5 A - the United Kingdom - Full service history: Yes, Amount of previous owners: 1... Eddie

Sorry no idea, I’d have thought 5 or 6k, won’t be huge hours it’s never been used as a mobile heater and radio on sites. Eddie.

I think the original Kubota says it all really? 10 years on that’s the original Engcon SK10, and what’s more that base Kubota is able to put far more loadings through it than a standard base carrier, due to weighing more and having a wide platform that doesn’t give first. I’ve used them pretty much to their limits on all types of carriers, and the loadings the Liebherr dishes out are savage. Like anything it can and will break, but speccing it right in the first instance and getting a good install are the main priority for long trouble free service. Hard to explain, but that boulder, log or stump etc all of a sudden has a multitude more ways to attack it with a Tiltrotator, often just being able to dig underneath all round or get to that one tough root is enough. They’re not cheap, and spares are savage, certainly not for everyone, but credit to the manufacturers they really can’t try any harder with free dig days and demo’s etc to let people get a real taste of them. Anyone with the slightest interest will be most welcome at any of these events, and absolutely no sales pressure or atmosphere of trying to mock any first time users, quite the opposite, with everyone encouraged to have a go. Eddie.

I worked with a guy from up north who first explained it to me. He claimed his ex boss brought the first two over for a specific job for Balfour’s back in the day. He’d tried to get them onto Rail work with little success, but it inspired me to find out more. Saltax at Windsor Racecourse was my first real encounter and took the leap soon after. I’d guess Hugh Clixby must be one of the earliest adopters of the concept I’d know of. Totally different to today, where the information is readily available, Buckets and Attachments of all kinds ready to integrate with the systems, plus plenty of experienced users to pass on first hand knowledge. Eddie.

In my opinion No and I won’t sell them on a Grab or Shear. Quite simply if you want to Rotate a Grab or Shear reliably with a worm drive for consistent hold with all the shock loadings that can occur, then only a Tiltrotator, or the worm drive from one is able to do that. Utilising a lighter duty worm drive for what many describe as positioning an attachment and then trying to limit its use to lighter loadings is fraught with danger. The time it all goes wrong is when something is trying to get away from you, the loadings ramp up quickly, often with a bit of shock loading and the weakest link of an underspec worm drive is where the motor bolts on. Basically it’ll blow the motor off and an instant catastrophic failure with no control. The solution is to overspec a standard Rotator which will give in the event of shock loadings, and another route is to utilise a solution more often seen on selector grabs or the like with a slew ring Rotator. These are not known for solid hold, but by adding in additional motors they can have power and hold increased to a perfect balance of power/hold/give for such applications, and will give reliable operation without the worry of damage. This route is ideal for excavators, as the extra motors suck up the higher flows that if not properly regulated kill worm drives. Not unusual to have four motors sucking up around 80 ltr/min to give good hold/power with a nice controlled break away point. I’ll just leave this example of a genuine Rototilt worm here, it’s not the sort of thing you see on a Potato box tipper! Eddie

Bit of a Birthday/Milestone today as it’s exactly 10 years since I rounded the last corner at John Craig’s yard to see for the first time the results of sending a brand new Kubota Kx080-3 and some extra bits over the border and letting him put the gas axe to it! To say I was delighted with the results would be an understatement, he’d built something really special and I knew it from the off. The machines progress is well documented, it went on to do some fantastic projects on many sensitive sites, proving just what a combination these powerful Midi machines and Tiltrotators could be. I shared the trials and tribulations of living with such setups, was absolutely slaughtered on Forums and Social media for obviously being unable to Operate properly and needing a Tiltrotator to mask that fact. Happy to say 10 years on the Kubota despite having done a huge amount of solid graft and being on it’s fourth owner is in safe hands and working almost daily on the same good work. Goes without saying that this Original Wide Boy inspired a few more to tap into the potential of these machines and their chosen attachments, and yes I do enjoy the odd smile as guys who called me for everything back in the day, post up their latest setup complete with Tiltrotator!? I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank John Craig and All his Team at Jcc Group for the fantastic Machines/Attachments they’ve produced over 10 years and always having my back when I needed it most. Fair to say it was ahead of it’s time and would still be a great setup if I was collecting it today. Eddie.

The Scandinavian S type hitch gives a very low build height, generally lower weight as they’re made from top quality materials, rattle free design that takes up any wear automatically, and no hassles with anything fitting as everything is standardised. Buckets are generally lighter, made from better materials and last significantly longer than UK counterparts. The downside used to be that popular UK sizes weren’t available, and long lead times, but that’s all changed now. Obviously UK companies have jumped onto doing S type buckets, but take a look at something like an EMA bucket and you’d soon see the difference. Going S type at the initial purchase stage means adding a Tiltrotator later could be an easier option. Eddie.

Worm drives and Arb/De-Veg/Forestry work is a subject in itself and usually an expensive one!? Eddie.

Haven’t a clue why anyone persists on using UK style Quick Hitches and Buckets where they have a clean sheet of paper. Loads of options for the Scandinavian S type in the UK now even for the smaller machines. SMP in particular are well worth a look, doing both manual and hydraulic down to the S30/180 size. You won’t find many S type guys going back to conventional. Eddie.

Just a heads up if anyone has looked at this Takeuchi TB290 on e bay, it’s 100% genuine. Father and son outfit, I worked on the same estate as them for a couple of years, their work is first class and the kit always looked after as it should be. Takeuchi tb290 9 ton digger excavator WWW.EBAY.CO.UK .4 79.6. Big saving on new. No ad blue or dpf. Radio with aux. Air seat and heated. Eddie

That takes me back to when the job was good. That machine proved a great solution to the problem, and everyone played their part to get the project delivered. Inspired me a lot with my current Liebherr setup. Eddie.

Can’t find the video I’ve seen but this is the Thumb setup. Basically you extend the stick to open or close it against the bucket, nothing else required. Eddie.

One for the Backhoe minded, I can’t find the link I want, but will keep searching. However this Grapple on a Backhoe gives the principle I’m looking for. Basically instead of piping up a ram for a Thumb or Grapple, you use the Extender to change the geometry. This guy has it mastered and you can see the range of opening he has available. That setup could go on a quick hitch easy enough and just one extra pin for the stay arm. Eddie.

Sorry no Fords apart from a demo at the old SED show. Plenty of owner ops had them and I don’t foresee any issues if it’s all there. All depends on budget, but a Volvo BL71 are well worth finding if they haven’t all been exported. Eddie.

Where do you start with that as everyone will have a different take on it, and a lot depends on the actual build spec of the machine. The one in the image is pretty comprehensive spec, but the 4cx does have many many options. Obviously equal wheels brings traction and floatation, better balance and extra steering modes. Should have more engine hp, bigger pumps, longer reach if specced over a standard 3cx. They are popular in applications that demand a lot of off road use, will perform better as a loader, and generally provide a very stable platform. Trade off is obviously more cumbersome and cost. I did 8 years straight on Backhoe’s back when they were the main site machine and was never lucky enough to get a full shift in a 4cx. I have a massive soft spot for the new 3cx Compact, so much potential in that machine waiting to be unlocked. Eddie.

One for those that fancy following Stephen down the Backhoe route? 4cx with the fat tyres, apparently bi directional pipework which is obviously ideal for a Shear, plus the powered side shift which saves much messing about to slide the back actor across. Seller is Ross, top guy. JCB 4 CX AEC Northampton. Backhoe loaders, Price: £49,000, Year of manufacture: 2013 - Mascus UK WWW.MASCUS.CO.UK JCB 4 CX AEC - the United Kingdom - Jcb 4cx AEC Contractor 81kw engine 4 speed powershift... Eddie.