Matthew Storrs

Yes,, I agree, i think this would be the ideal, with the telescopic leg etc. Its like anything the bigger parent machine you have the more you can add in terms of adjustments and additional hammer weight. Anything on a sub 3 ton machine needs a bit of compromise to reduce the overall weight of the knocker.

If you have it so the mast is offset from the digger arm, the post knocker weight raising arm won't bang against the diggers, Also means you can bring it in a fair bit closer. Some pics of mine, the one where the leg down is how i don't like it but show you an example

You can have side tilt, but the knocker needs to be offset from the arm by quite alot else when you tilt it sideways the mast comes into contact with the digger arm, TBH you can go along way using the blade to level the machine. I think really to be efficient with a full length mast you really want to be working as a team of two so that one person can stay in the cab and make adjustments as required and the other can give guidance to the opertaor and get the next post ready.

Having a full length post knocker mast can be a right faff on a digger, its great on a tractor because you have hydraulic adjustment in all angles to keep the post in line/plumb with the mast. However with a digger you don't have such adjustment and if you are on awkward or steep terrain it can be a fiddle or should i say unprofitable to have to faff around so much for every post, this is why IMO the best post knockers for diggers are these Model 6: Mini-Excavator Post Driver | Vector PowerDrive You can press down on the post whilst hammering which makes it more effective, steadys the digger and it doesnit matter if the mast is not quite straight as the post cap does not follow the mast but you just follow it down with the digger whilst hammering (watch the video, explains it better than me!) I converted my Protech on my 3 Tonner to work in exactly the same way and I find it easy to either work on your own or with someone else 'feeding the machine' so to speak. Another advantage is that you always get maximum drop on the hammer and its easy to reach over walls/obstacles/between trees etc. If you insist on the full length mast then if your on your own you certainly want a control for the hammer on the mast itsself, this way you can activate the chains on the postcap and hold the post whilst you lower the postcap on to it prior to hammering. It just means if the post wanders of line or hits a root or something its back to the cab to make re-adjustments. You could hang a plumb line from the mast to give you an idea that you have it vertical before getting out of the cab to start post driving.

How do you find the P10, do you use it on your own? I had one for a while but found the mid mast hitch position meant that it had to be nearly always at full reach, I think it would be lot better if it was hitched to the digger at the bottom of the mast so you can bring it in closer. I have the P18 on a 3 tonner and it is like this. I also think a control valve for the hammer next to the mast could be a usefull thing if working on your own.

sounds sensible:001_smile: I get pretty fed up with fencing myself- and would much prefer to be using my digger more for what it was designed for:laugh1:

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/53360-mini-diggers-anybody-using-them-tree-work-3.html Link to a picture of my old tb016 with its postknocker with the 85kg weight.

With an assistant we had 600 meters of intermediates as 3m centers knocked in in 4 hours, so 50 stakes an hour and using the top line wire all the stakes were in straight as a di, does depend on ground conditions though.

Yes mate, Started my buisness on the back of a takeuchi tb016 and postknocker, it had an 85kg weight and then i put a 110kg weight on it, which was about as heavy as i would have wanted to go (i work on some quite steep ground at times. Mine was one i converted from one that went on a compact tractor, I did try a Protech P10 but didn't get on with it at all. If you have an auger anyway you can always predrill all the strainer holes with a 4" bit then knock them in. Once the strainers are in I then tended to strain a line wire at waist height for the intermediate stakes, stab all the stakes in and then when i'm in the cab i just pulled the stake untill it was touching the line whilst knocking them in, did a really tidy job and could do it quicker than a full spec tractor mounted model, Strainers were quite a bit slower though unless predrilled. I'l try and find the pic i had of it.

Another follow on note from my above post, and i say this as i assume you do a fair bit of fencing too, a 2.5-2.8t will handle a post knocker with a 180kg-200kg hammer on it. A 1.5t by comparison feels on its limit with a post knocker with a 100kg hammer. big diffeance really, trouble is with the larger machine I have to transport the post knocker seperately as it becomes over weigth to have it all on the trailer. Faff for 1 day type jobs if your on your own. I usually have 2 of us one transporting the digger and the other trailer with the post knocker and materials, so no differance than standard to tractor and postknocker/truck and trailer setup really. If you don't do fencing just tell me to shutup!

That kx61 does look tidy, To the OP- I notice you offer fencing, so i assume you will run a post knocker attachment of it? Just from my experiance of using post knockers on them, you have to use the blade to level the machine and thus level the knocker mast. The takeuchi blade on the TB016 lifts the machine up nice and high so you can still get the machine level on some pretty steep ground (with the blade down hill of course). I nearly purchased a Kubota kx61 in the past but the blade (being close in) didn't lift the machine nearly as high so was harder to get the mast as upright, this put me off the machine actually as i do alot of fencing with diggers. Obviously you could get a side tilt put on the Knocker in which case the blade becomes irrelevant- but probably becomes a bit weighty for a 1.5t machine.

Iv got a Same dorado 86 which i find a great tractor, its quite a wide squat thing and feels really comfortable on steep ground, it also has disc brakes on all 4 wheels so good braking. Fairly light tractor but got some poke.

Actually, not sure if i like the Wacker VDS system or not! I haven't tried it so can't comment, It only tilts on one side and i wondered what the system would be like after 3000 or so hours and wear had crept into it.... From what i have seen though Wacker make good minis but don't see many around here

Beat me to it Eddie

How about getting a demo on the wacker neuson 2503 (2.6t) can be towed comfortably at that weight without having to make sure you get all the dirt out of the tracks like you do with 2.8t models. I've just ordered a new Takeuchi tb216 (1.8t) but the Wacker i compared it against was a pretty hi spec machine as standard, more so than the Tak but more pricey.

This is generally my approach too. I,m pretty cautious towing heavy trailers, I rarely go much over 40mph towing the full 3.5t, that way should a snake start to appear it can easily be rectified, fortunately I have never had an accident or even much more than a wobble of a snake, as i'm mostly towing diggers i know exactly the best placement on the trailer to reduce snaking, although with the 3 tonner even 10cm to far or behind can make a big differance. I,d also prefer a short trailer with caged sides to increase capacity of logs etc then have a longer trailer, rarely get a wobble form a 10ft trailer IMO.

Ordered my new Takeuchi tb216 this afternoon, 8 week waiting list though:laugh1: I got 3 quotes for Volvo, Wacker Neuson and Takeuchi and Takeuchi was the cheapest and on paper had the best reach and biggest hydraulic flow. The new dipper arm is all cast/no welds so like the sound of that. Wacker was considerably higher price but had more creature comforts i guess.

Sorry to keep going on about them! but the Takeuchis have many feature as standard that are extras on other manufacturers such as long dipper arm and the dozer blade sticks out further which helps cleaning up contact with the bucket etc. The blade is also 10cm taller than most other brands, you can push more earth without it spilling over the top of the blade. The only thing i don't much like about them is a)not a great paint job and b) it doesn't have proper footpedals on the tracking. i use the pedals alot particularly if i pick up the front of the machine with the arm and spin the tracks 90 deg on their backs with the pedals- avoids making mess on grass etc.

Yes, couldn't agree more, the differance between 1.5t and 2.5t is night and day. I have a 2.8t which i tow with my Landy, its great when you get it to the job but its an effort to tow it around particularly if your doing small jobs. The 1.5t is just so handy and to be fair i did some pretty impressive sized jobs with my old 1.5 Tak. A new cabbed Takeuchi is 16k plus VAT, sounds alot but if you think that you could do 4000hrs on it then still sell it for 8k (assuming you keep it tidy) works out at £3 an hour. £3 an hour to do the work of 10 men, its a no brainer, as they say!

Get yourself a tidy digger, and build up a collection of attachments, postdriver/auger/grab/rake/etc etc. and you can offer such a vast range of services all from 1 machine that i doubt you will ever be short of work for it. Personally having done the calculations recently i'm convinced that diggers hold their value so well that it actually works out cheaper over the long term to buy new and get the good half of its life rather than the second half. Appriciate this its a new venture for you though so less output if you rjust finding out if it works for you

Been running Takeuchis for 6 years now, I don't give them an easy life at all and they take all the stick i give them.Truly the best mini diggers out there. Volvo and kubota are nice machines too- they have nicer 'comfort' features over the Takeuchi and the newer ones have more complex hydraulic features over the Taks eg the auxilliarys and boom swings are on the joystick buttons whereas the Tak has 2 manual pedals to do the same job. Tak dozer blade is much bigger and better built than competitors and all the panels are metal as opposed to plastic. Just in the process of ordering myself the new Takeuchi tb216 (1.7ton) which i think will compliment my tb125 nicely.

Not at all, I'm well aware of the ground conditions in Scotland having lived there for a while. However i still maintain if you are managing to get stakes in 2ft by hand to depth then you are on good ground. Getting a post into 'growan' is no easy feat and near on impossible by hand. Plus I always find doing it by hand damages the tops of the posts more than a knocker with a postcap . I put in a load of clipex a while back, very pleasantly surprised how good it was and went into hard ground quite well really.

Any one telling me they knock in the intermediates by hand regularly, is just saying they're on boys ground! I can't stand it myself, we have awful ground here on Dartmoor with granite lurking below the surface mostly and its a job sometimes just to get the rockspike in let alone do anything by hand. I get very happy if i manage to get a strainer into full depth 4ft. With a decent machine at least you can push/pull the post into position to an extent,

£25 is pretty cheap really I couldn't afford to run my tractor and post knocker for that and expect to make much off it but i guess being ultra local helps. A new post knocker for a 360 is about £2500, probably only worth it if you either owned the 360 or had more projects line up.

Timber bear, You mentioned getting in a farmer with a post knocker, Seeing as you have a machine on site why not just buy a postknocker to go on the digger, You on the machine and your missis 'feeding the machine' so to speak you will soon rattle through that lot, looks like the kind of terrain a digger will excel in. Me and my colleague knocked in 550 meters worth of stakes (inc gateposts) the other day in 1 day and all the stakes were in nice and straight You could then sell on the knocker once you have finished and i doubt you'd loose much... just a thought. Lovely patch of land.