Matthew Storrs

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.

Sorry Paul, didn't realise you had mentioned this setup already:laugh1:

another though i have had was to buy an old 1.5 ton digger, remove the arm and fix a mast to the kingpost instead, all the hydraulic pipework is available for mast tilt etc, and you have the 360 slew for poking into awkward corners etc. With the digger arm removed it should be quite stable as you have the mast in close to the machine and the diggers counterweight would always be opposite the mast. Reckon you could get the whole machine to weigh around 2 ton with a 200kg weight.... so easily towable.

I started my buisness with a post knocker on a 1.5 ton digger, it was fantastic, i had and auger with it too and if i knew the ground was going to be hard i would pilot drill all the strainer with a 4" auger prior to knocking them in. It was a great set up really as i could tow the whole lot on the trailer behind my land rover, and on smaller jobs i could take enough materials for 200 meters of fencing in the pickup whilst taking the machine too. I could sneak it in through woodlands, reach over ditches walls etc and go up footpaths etc. 3 years later i decided to buy a tractor and postdriver- a pretty decent knocker with a rockspike and telescopic sideshift etc. I now have a 3 ton digger with a Protech on too. I miss my 1.5ton setup so much that i have now decided to sell the tractor and postdriver and get a new digger with all the fencing attachments. I can nip around and do all the small jobs with it and i will keep the 3 tonner for bigger/long term jobs (mainly because i have to transport the digger and postknocker seperately due to legal weight issues behind the truck. Also another pro for diggers, you have all the buckets with you for pre grading/pulling out old fences and i always get asked to do over jobs with the digger "whilst its there" like ditching etc. If i was doing 100% fencing day in day out pretty much, id get a tracked knocker, but they are heavy to tow around, and a definite one trick pony with no ability to load materials or prepare gound etc. I have also be told by people who have the 3 ton dumper converted one that they are not that stable if you have to fence sideways with the weight downhill, they don't have much of a counter balance as standard. I did like the idea of this little machine for small jobs http://www.wrag.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/gallery/IMG_20150703_121930.jpg

IMO, there isn't really a 'going rate', I recently installed 1200meters all in a bang straight line with good ground and access, I charged this at £1.80 per meter for installation cost, on the other hand a 50 meter length with a few turns and general awkwardness could be more like £5 per meter to install. So its a bit like the question whats the going rate to fell a tree? I tend to just charge small fencing jobs as a job rather than giving them a meter rate.

Can't help thinking i'd feel a little hard done by receiving this form of currency in return for a loan:laugh1:

Does this include professional doleies, that'll bring the averages up:laugh1:

Yes thats what i was thinking.

Tragic accident. I can't beleive that a tractor is actually allowed to tow travel at 31 tons GTW without some sort of fail safe brakes- crazy IMO, particularly given that they are not currentlu subjected to road worthiness tests either. Can't really see from the photos how its physically possible to fit a second digger on that trailer, media have a tendancy to distort stories so....

Maybe, but that statement is as generalizing as me saying all Japanese trucks (in this country at least) are designed purely for hairdressers and the like who are more concerened with Image, comfort and style than just an out an out purpose designed workhorse like the defender is. I have an 18 year old 110 180k on the clock and is used daily for towing my digger and trailer 3.5t plus tools round hilly Dartmoor. In the last 7 years, NO major parts have been replaced, it has not once let me down to the point that i couldn't go to work in it and in those 7 years have spent no more than 2k on repairs- which included the clutch/labour for at 130k. I could sell it now for the same i purchased it for 7 years ago- THATS cheap motoring. Landrover il admit have shocking comfort and fit and finish, however their reputation for lack of reliabilty- usually comes down to over abuse and the number of cheap after market parts fitted by DIY mechanics and other meddling and chopping and changing that goes on due to their modular design. I,ve fairly looked at other trucks- I can see their appeal as general all rounders/ doubling up as family wagons- but in my job they'd look banged up in no time at all- Defenders seem to absorb knocks and scapes much better- lack of plastic and the timeless aluminium just takes it better than steel panels.

My 2 bobs worth- for multi purpose a fixed grab (as opposed to rotating) is fine for general timber handling/scrub clearance, . I use mine for all sorts of things (grubbing out gorse bushes by the roots etc and piling up for burning and for the outlay its probably once of my most used bits of kit. RSL make well built grabs and thumbs- definiately reccomend

I have a tree motion i got at the APF a couple years ago- its been sat in my shed and have only used it a handful of times. I don't climb any more so its for sale if you want it. PM me for details if your interested. i went from a willans to this and it was a breath of fresh air