What mini digger?

[zaffy]

I'm thinking of buying a mini/micro digger. Second hand? New? Manufacturer?
18 acres Dorset sloping ground lots of ditches.
Want to turn/shift manure pile and flatten lumpy ground and dig out the ditches and flatten the track.
Thanks

 

[le bon paysan]

I would not go micro, 2 or 3 tonner. Would be on top of most jobs. Make, most of the big names. Budget is up to you, more the better I would think.

 

[james ds]

Forget about a small micro digger, get a 5 ton and you will do far more work with it a lot quicker.

 

[Kidds]

A micro digger isn't enough for those jobs.
Around here you can hire a good mini digger for £70/day, probably £300/week.
Even at day rate that is 170 days of hire before you get to the price of a good second hand mini digger. Buying one doesn't add up and if you have that much work you already need a bigger digger.

 

[goldeneagle]

Forget about a small micro digger, get a 5 ton and you will do far more work with it a lot quicker.

And get a tilt grader bucket for it.

 

[David.]

I'd hire a good man with a 13 tonner and tilt rotator for £500/day, personally.
Be a proper job and done in couple of days.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

I have a micro digger. It is good for digging inside a house renovation and burying dead animals along with garden work. It is easily transported too. It was bought to do the digging in a house renovation.
I would suggest that for ditch work a micro is too small and a three ton machine would be much better suited.
Mine is for sale though if any one is interested.
SS

 

[Wesley]

I have a micro digger. It is good for digging inside a house renovation and burying dead animals along with garden work. It is easily transported too. It was bought to do the digging in a house renovation.
I would suggest that for ditch work a micro is too small and a three ton machine would be much better suited.
Mine is for sale though if any one is interested.
SS

“One careful owner. Genuine reason for sale, buried all the dead animals”

 

[Tubbylew]

Bought a 5 ton for the same money as a 3 ton, glad I didn't buy smaller, depends if you need to move it about.

 

[Bobthebuilder]

Euro auctions, a vast array of all sizes/makes and everything from brand new to wrecked

 

[Fendt516profi]

Bought a 5 ton for the same money as a 3 ton, glad I didn't buy smaller, depends if you need to move it about.

That's why a 5s same money as a 3

 

[essexpete]

Micro, no, but a small mini can be capable of a lot of work but if not going off site, then 3 to 5 ton might be better. Have a look at the spec of different machines for reach. All sorts of views on different makes but buy the cleanest, least worn you can afford.

 

[Tubbylew]

That's why a 5s same money as a 3

Yeah, much more cabable machine and not much difference in size, attachments are dearer though, which is understandable.

 

[coniser]

I hire when have needed some digging doing always had Wacker Nusson seem a good digger

 

[hendrebc]

Curveball..... you can buy a very good 3cx type thing very reasonably now because no one wants tjem everyone wants one on tracks. That's fair but a jcb is a lot of machine for the money now.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Curveball..... you can buy a very good 3cx type thing very reasonably now because no one wants tjem everyone wants one on tracks. That's fair but a jcb is a lot of machine for the money now.

If you can operate the star controls….
I had to send one back as I simply couldn’t get the hang of them
SS

 

[hendrebc]

If you can operate the star controls….
I had to send one back as I simply couldn’t get the hang of them
SS

I've not driven one since I was 17 I probably won't remember how either

 

[mobileweld]

Sloping ground I would go for steel tracks

 

[Red Fred]

I got fed up with sitting up on the PowerArm all winter so I bought a 3 ton Volvo from McLeans at Semley near Shaftesbury. They were very helpful and had a huge variety of different sizes. As said, you can get a bigger one for the same money but I move mine between here and Mrs Fred's stables 10 miles away so it is ideal. After 12 years with it, I find I use it all the time

 

[Dman2]

If you can operate the star controls….
I had to send one back as I simply couldn’t get the hang of them
SS

i`m the opposite
All I`ve ever driven is a 3cx
Now have the use of a mini digger whenever I want, I try and use it where no one else can see me.
If it was mine I would swap a couple of pipes around so it was the same as my 3cx