Diggers

[nick...]

I’ve used both and no preference really.rubber is a lot cheaper as mentioned and a lot quieter too.as mentioned you will have a job to find an 8tonner on steel
Nick...

 

[Derky]

Steel for the work you are talking about. Rubber for more on road work and extensions etc. Dont go for city pads its eye watering to replace them. Jaybee plant or JMJ plant are both reputable dealers.

 

[Oscar]

Steel for general work everytime.
Depending what you re doing but my local guy does wetland restoration work for SW Water/ National Parks etc over winter and has bought a set of plastic tracks ,800 mm wide and swaps to these in autumn and back in spring, only takes an hour or so. They came from a Irish company.

 

[holywell farmer]

Compromise ,,steel tracks with bolt on street pads ,civils boys use them on road upgrades

I was on road job on a55, in 2017' all 360s on that job came with rubber tracks Conwy council insisted on this to the contractor carrying out the works,

 

[exmoor dave]

Steel for general work everytime.
Depending what you re doing but my local guy does wetland restoration work for SW Water/ National Parks etc over winter and has bought a set of plastic tracks ,800 mm wide and swaps to these in autumn and back in spring, only takes an hour or so. They came from a Irish company.

He had them on when he was here shearing gorse off...... plastic tracks looked uber cool

 

[milkloss]

Have a 7.5t of a mates round here at the moment that is on steel.

Very, very hard on old concrete that was once acceptable (it’s fecked it) and also equally hard on a tarmac road.

I would go rubber.

 

[Matt L]

Steel every time for me. Hate rubber tracks with a passion. Road pads make them ok for use on tarmac but didn’t use to bother on concrete.

 

[Grouse]

I prefer steel, just try to keep off any tarmac - on sound concrete steel just skates on it. Steel is far better on wet ground and in fields - leaves far less damage.

For your budget I’d look for a nice 13 tonner - you will get far more for your money and a more capable machine

 

[Finn farmer]

Steel every time for me. Hate rubber tracks with a passion. Road pads make them ok for use on tarmac but didn’t use to bother on concrete.

We use rubber mats for crossing the tarmac roads. They're intented for tracked forestry machines but will do with a digger too. No need for us to drive along tarmac.

If you weld two hooks or steel rings to both ends of tracks, you'll be able to secure the digger on to the low loader very fast, in under 5 minutes. Just run the chain alongside the tracks rather than through them, if you catch my drift.

 

[McD]

I went looking for a 8 ton. Ended up with a 13. I bought a 13 and a low loader for the price of a 8. I would buget on 18 to 20k unless you are willing to buy a rough one n take the chance it's not a total bag o bolts

 

[Thomas5060]

Got this 2 and a half years ago for £15,500. Year 2000 with 5200 hours, long dipper, blade, quick hitch, 3 buckets, 450mm steel pads. Coming up to 8000 hours now. If you look around you will get something decent in your budget. Better with this style of 6/8 tonner as they are a 13 tonner scaled down, whereas others like your TB175 etc are just a glorified mini digger.

 

[davedb]

We put steel tracks on our 5t kubouta got them shop soiled of eBay for the price of one new rubber track didn’t need any changes to rollers to suit but some machines will would never go back to rubber tracks now, also got a old jcb 814 on steel tracks which is a beast to track rubble in, as the others have said you may find a 13tonner is cheeper than a 7-8t machine and they really arnt that much bigger, I’d hire a 13tonner and see how you go with it before deciding what to buy I think you’d be suprised just what a 13tonner will do in a Day ditching ect

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

We put steel tracks on our 5t kubouta got them shop soiled of eBay for the price of one new rubber track didn’t need any changes to rollers to suit but some machines will would never go back to rubber tracks now, also got a old jcb 814 on steel tracks which is a beast to track rubble in, as the others have said you may find a 13tonner is cheeper than a 7-8t machine and they really arnt that much bigger, I’d hire a 13tonner and see how you go with it before deciding what to buy I think you’d be suprised just what a 13tonner will doin a Day ditching ect

Good advice. You can listen to a million “opinions” but the best way if you want to buy one, is hire one first, especially if you have no clue on what weight and reach machine you need.

There is no one size fits all when it comes to 360s. They are horses for courses.

 

[Thomas5060]

Depending on your sheughs, a 13tonner isn’t handy for cleaning them out, you have to sit further back which means you can’t see the bottom of the sheugh. It’s this reason that most of the sheughs we clean, we use the three tonner for, just put the 180 on and sit nice and close. Also useful below trees. But as has been said everyone’s circumstances are different

 

[miniconnect]

Whatever you buy, make sure it's not some foreign import... That runs on 24v... Pain in the arse when you've not moved it for a few months and the bloody thing won't start trying to find 2 good battery's, 2 sets of jump leads. Etc.

Also unless your doing a lot of building work don't buy a zero swing machine, great in tight spaces, but absolute nightmare when a hose bursts or something breaks.

 

[sawdust]

Whatever you buy, make sure it's not some foreign import... That runs on 24v... Pain in the arse when you've not moved it for a few months and the bloody thing won't start trying to find 2 good battery's, 2 sets of jump leads. Etc.

Also unless your doing a lot of building work don't buy a zero swing machine, great in tight spaces, but absolute nightmare when a hose bursts or something breaks.

There's not much plant that doesn't run on 24v, it's tractors that need to catch up
Plus you only need 1 set of jump leads and a small patch lead to connect the 2 batteries.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Also unless your doing a lot of building work don't buy a zero swing machine, great in tight spaces, but absolute nightmare when a hose bursts or something breaks.

A lot more new machines, especially in the 13 ton class, are now zero / or very short swing.

Possibly due to their popularity on roadworks and civils and ever tighter building/redevelopment sites. Guess that will filter down in a few years to second hand machines.

 

[miniconnect]

There's not much plant that doesn't run on 24v, it's tractors that need to catch up
Plus you only need 1 set of jump leads and a small patch lead to connect the 2 batteries.

old man?! [emoji12]

I wasn't aware that much more than trucks or big engine machines are on 24v.
Having said that, the chopper runs on a 24v system and a 12v system just to confuse things.

Your very fancy with your patch lead! Us poor farmers can't afford fancy things like that!

 

[sawdust]

old man?! [emoji12]

I wasn't aware that much more than trucks or big engine machines are on 24v.
Having said that, the chopper runs on a 24v system and a 12v system just to confuse things.

Your very fancy with your patch lead! Us poor farmers can't afford fancy things like that!

 

[John boy]

Any of you got good website to look for diggers? Not having much luck