Most suitable farm digger

[marcusthehat]

Being now retired with some longtime neglected (& wilfully neglected by me) ground to lick into shape, & not concerned about transporting to the other wee bit of an outfarm.
For Mossy ground, cleaning sheaughs, fencing, loading & moving & levelling hardcore to pave roddens (being raised peat laneways) etc. etc.
And probably handling conifer trees in the process of being converted to firewood.
Plenty of room generally, or I can make room, unintentionally or otherwise!
I imagine steel tracks for sure, I think a long undercarriage and dipper arm would be preferred, guessing between 10 & 15 tonnes.
Dont need anything fancy or high tech or super fast, dont mind an unrecognised brand, i.e. Hyaundai, Sumitomi, Deawoo.
And it would not be subject to a heavy workload.
So what is out there?
At what sorta money.
Cheers
Marcus, the (mad as a ) Hatter

 

[wasted years]

You will get an old jcb 805 / 812 for 3 to 6k , they are fairly simple but the bit that I think is most important is the slew ring.
I'm not sure how you check them, the rest is just visual really.

 

[holywell farmer]

Being now retired with some longtime neglected (& wilfully neglected by me) ground to lick into shape, & not concerned about transporting to the other wee bit of an outfarm.
For Mossy ground, cleaning sheaughs, fencing, loading & moving & levelling hardcore to pave roddens (being raised peat laneways) etc. etc.
And probably handling conifer trees in the process of being converted to firewood.
Plenty of room generally, or I can make room, unintentionally or otherwise!
I imagine steel tracks for sure, I think a long undercarriage and dipper arm would be preferred, guessing between 10 & 15 tonnes.
Dont need anything fancy or high tech or super fast, dont mind an unrecognised brand, i.e. Hyaundai, Sumitomi, Deawoo.
And it would not be subject to a heavy workload.
So what is out there?
At what sorta money.
Cheers
Marcus, the (mad as a ) Hatter

Volvo

 

[Chae1]

We've a js130 jcb on our farm. Probably one of the most cost effective machines we have bought. Paid for itself quickly, going on hourly rates we were paying before. We have an ex Scott jcb mechanic who services it and looks after it if any problems.

 

[marcusthehat]

That and our fickle weather permed with unworkable when wet peat and the near impossibility of getting a digger when ground conditions are suitable, are all driving me in the notion of owning,

surprised, but well heartened, per wasted years, comment above, that one can get a suitable tool for well sub 10k.
10k being prob about what I spent this last 3 to 4 years on hire.
thanks
mth

 

[Thomas5060]

If it was my money for 10k or under I’d be looking at an older hitachi, a UHO 63 or 120-1. Or 10k would buy a bravin tidy EX60. Or if you could up the budget abit you could get a JCB JS130, one from around the year 2000. We missed out on one lately, we knew it well, just under 9000 hours, in quite good shape, the man sold it for £8800

 

[Bruce Almighty]

We have a 12 tonne Sumitomo, made in 2001
It's effectively a Japanese Case and has been very good, done about 5000 hours

 

[6290]

For less than 10k I would look for one of the last JCB 814s. Getting hard to find now, but simple machines with no fancy computer or electronic stuff to go wrong

 

[Smiffy101]

You could widen your search criteria to include smaller and larger
A 7.5 tonne machine i would think would cope well with what your after and if you go to a 20 tonner they are much cheaper as harder to transport

 

[Thomas5060]

You could widen your search criteria to include smaller and larger
A 7.5 tonne machine i would think would cope well with what your after and if you go to a 20 tonner they are much cheaper as harder to transport

20tonner on bog ground doesn’t mix

 

[marcusthehat]

If I wish to clean sheaughs alongside a rodden I will need to cast the spoil onto the back brew which will require some considerable reach & prob more than a 7-8 tonner?
I know the 20 tonne class to be cheaper 2nd hand, simply because of lack of demand, BUT, afraid the 20 tonne class be a bit too big for cleaning sheaughs, especially with trees and bushes all around, and I am determined to leave all, or most of the self seeded Oak, Beech, Ash i.e. decent hardwoods i.e. Birch/Conifer that I can.

but a 20 t would certainly have more reach for my planned pond digging earth moving works??

p.s.
As Thomas 5060 rightly points out the 20 tonner would be a tad difficult to unbog.

At near 60 I am prepared to accept that the 12 to 14 class are probably the most popular, for good all-round reasons.

 

[theboytheboy]

For less than 10k I would look for one of the last JCB 814s. Getting hard to find now, but simple machines with no fancy computer or electronic stuff to go wrong

There's an 816 on eBay at the moment

 

[theboytheboy]

When I asked a similar question a while back the general consensus appeared to be JCB 812/814 or a case poclain. (My budget was around half yours)
I couldn't find any of the recommendations at the time but there are quite a few for sale now.

 

[6290]

There's an 816 on eBay at the moment

Looks to be a fair machine for the money that one

 

[Smiffy101]

Some of the bigger 8 ton machines would match the reach of the smaller 10 tonne machines so it may be worth a look individually
As for a 13 tonner there is a daewoo solar on ebay atm

 

[How much]

if you have a lot of peat , I would stay off the JCB 800 series from my experience of working a few back in the day although the Perkins engine was good the boom had limited power , the siding part was a proper pain to use and somewhat point less but overall they had terrible tracking ability , where say a Hitachi EX120 would pull its self up just about anything an 814 super struggled. it would get there , eventfully but considering they are relatively heavy and slow and your wet conditions and peat you would be better with any similar era Japanese or Korean machine so Hitachi EX120 (simple) or Even a UHO 53 or 63 (very simple) or kobelco
here is uho 53 a one on bog tracks

https://plant.autotrader.co.uk/sear...?journey=Search&searchPosition=1&searchPage=1

 

[Thomas5060]

if you have a lot of peat , I would stay off the JCB 800 series from my experience of working a few back in the day although the Perkins engine was good the boom had limited power , the siding part was a proper pain to use and somewhat point less but overall they had terrible tracking ability , where say a Hitachi EX120 would pull its self up just about anything an 814 super struggled. it would get there , eventfully but considering they are relatively heavy and slow and your wet conditions and peat you would be better with any similar era Japanese or Korean machine so Hitachi EX120 (simple) or Even a UHO 53 or 63 (very simple) or kobelco
here is uho 53 a one on bog tracks

https://plant.autotrader.co.uk/sear...?journey=Search&searchPosition=1&searchPage=1

That would be a good buy, 10 tonner on them tracks will go anywhere. @marcusthehat the 53/63 where the newest Before the EX series, the 52/62 where good machine but the levers were and the front of the cab so definitely not as nice to drive as a 3 series. A jap Digger will outdig a JCB any day of the week, a komatsu PC120-3 or 120-5 would probably be in budget although the track motors are troublesome on them

 

[7600-four pilot]

The old man bought a 1998 Case 9013 back in 2010 for £11500 with 8100hrs on the clock, me using it 95% of the time on the weekends probably have saved him I reckon a bucket load of dosh as its now done nearly 9000 hrs. 900hrs x £35 ph is £31,500. great investment for the old codger considering he never paid a wage for the hrs I spent driving the machine in the last 7 years. Probably worth £8000 now me thinks. If a good honest machine comes up at reasonably money, snap it up.

 

[marcusthehat]

https://plant.autotrader.co.uk/sear...?journey=Search&searchPosition=1&searchPage=1

With thanks due to How much for the above link.

(i) I kept tripping over the above AB plant firm last night while searching, they have a shocking stock, at my kinda condition/price, I have never heard tell o them, but certainly worth a track-kicking visit.
Re the UH-053 in particular , looks "on the money", BUT I am a trifle timorous re the super-wide Bog tracks(which look in good condition, to my inexperienced eye) i.e. surely to easy to "pink" them off over a stone or forgotton stump?

(ii) Intending to pop up to Johnston Plant next week, they have a "wee" Case 8 tonner, which actually looks promising, except for the tracks?
AND I figure I could probably get a couple of days trial from them, for any likely machine.

Continuing thanks for all the very helpful comments above.
P.S.
Still gotta buy me a tipping trailer, & looking at/for a tandem axle 8 tonner on 400's

 

[PuG]

Have to admit we found our 4 ton komatsu digger, perfect for us, shes old and done hell of allot of hours (cut almost a mile of tracks through the woods) but good size for nearly all jobs, small enough to get into the sheds being 5ft wide and right size arm, but big enough to deal with everything else. Borrowed an 8 ton digger couple of years ago, though a nice machine and yes longer reach TBH it was an awkward size!