Which digger?

[Macsky]

Might be looking for a digger to have on farm for general duties - ditching/tracks etc.
Probably looking for something minimum 4t, £10-20k price bracket.

Are there any older makes/models that are worth looking out for, and also maybe some to definitely avoid?

 

[Amund]

Buy kubota

 

[miniconnect]

I'd go 6 or 8t machine, have just replaced our old Hitachi ex75 with a Doosan dx80. Hitachi served us well but was past it's best, havnt done much with the doosan but seems a good machine, plenty about and quite a few for sale, one in central Scotland maybe worth a look on Facebook.

 

[Macsky]

I heard the old Hitachi EX models were hard to beat, but I suppose they’ll be getting on now

 

[miniconnect]

I heard the old Hitachi EX models were hard to beat, but I suppose they’ll be getting on now

Aye, they are, (were) the youngest will be heading for 20 years old soon, if you can find a tidy, well looked after ex60 that would do you well. But theyr in big demand for export with good ones making £10k.
For not much more than that you'd probably get something 10 years old with a few more comforts.
Our old machine did get us on the digger ladder and proved it's a handy machine to have about, we just decided it was time to upgrade.

 

[MF565]

Drive a 4,5 ton volvo where I work for draining and ditching work, impressive little machine with plenty of reach and poke about it, is a early to mid 2000s so getting on for 15 years old but still goes well.

 

[Macsky]

Drive a 4,5 ton volvo where I work for draining and ditching work, impressive little machine with plenty of reach and poke about it, is a early to mid 2000s so getting on for 15 years old but still goes well.

What’s that, an ec45? My mate has an ec55c, it’s a nice machine, just under 6t, could do with wider tracks tho and not sure how much wider you can go on them.

 

[Digester Man]

I recently bought a 2007 Cat 308C CR, cost me 18k plus had to buy buckets and spent money on servicing and tidying so all in close to 20k. Wouldn’t like anything much smaller for farm work. 6-8t machines are hard to buy but they hold their money

A good EX60-5 will make 15-18k all day long if it has steel tracks, blade and long dipper etc, they are in hot demand

I have to say I didn’t want a compact/zero tail machine but now that I have one I wouldn’t go back.So bloody handy knowing you can work away without hitting anything.

 

[MF565]

Yeah EC 45 Pro, done about 500 hrs on it over the last 3 years ditching and repairing land drains, find it a handy size to load onto a little low loader and take down the field for odd little jobs about compared to the 13t machine we have. Although if only running one digger would go to a 6-8t on decent sized steel tracks personally.

 

[Macsky]

What superseded the hitachi ex, was it the zx? Are they as good?

 

[Digester Man]

What superseded the hitachi ex, was it the zx? Are they as good?

ZX70 is the direct replacement to the EX60. I went to see 5 or 6 different ones and they all suffered from the same three major faults - engines blowing out the oil cap, whining hydraulic pump (£8k to replace) and worn pivot for the main pin requiring line boring to fix. The machines I was looking at were ZX70-1 and ZX70-3 ranging from £20-35k and they all suffered from at least 1 and usually 2 of the above faults. I wasn’t impressed at all

 

[AndrewG]

I’d go for an 8t too, recently got a 2008 Volvo ecr88 for £19k, it’s replacing an old 4t komatsu.
Far more scope with an 8t, better reach into trailers too and easy trailered about.

 

[Digester Man]

Mines on 400mm steel pads with rubber blocks bolted to them. Great on hard surfaces but not great in soft ground, it would carry a lot better on 600mm pads

Make sure whatever you get has a long dipper arm; they don’t all have and it’ll limit what ditches you can reach down into.

I also find a blade handy for certain things (can scrape your pile against it, level the digger up a bit etc) but if you were in soft ground it can act like an anchor if you get stuck!

 

[Macsky]

I’d go for an 8t too, recently got a 2008 Volvo ecr88 for £19k, it’s replacing an old 4t komatsu.
Far more scope with an 8t, better reach into trailers too and easy trailered about.

I have driven one, was nice but are they a bit more ‘noddy’ with the shorter tail? Thought the ec55 seemed, realatively, more stable. I am in no way an operator by any stretch of the imagination tho!

 

[Macsky]

Mines on 400mm steel pads with rubber blocks bolted to them. Great on hard surfaces but not great in soft ground, it would carry a lot better on 600mm pads

Make sure whatever you get has a long dipper arm; they don’t all have and it’ll limit what ditches you can reach down into.

I also find a blade handy for certain things (can scrape your pile against it, level the digger up a bit etc) but if you were in soft ground it can act like an anchor if you get stuck!

Yeah 600mm steel would be good, and a blade has come in very handy when clearing out ditches on slopes, trying to keep the ditch bottom gradient even-ish ?

 

[Tomr10]

8 tone seam to hold there money like said easier to move around our 14t is a bit of a pain

There this volvo on ebay bit out of your range but includes buckets

Volvo Ecr 88 Plus Digger Excavator 2013 4800 Hrs 8 Ton | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Volvo Ecr 88 Plus Digger Excavator 2013 4800 Hrs 8 Ton at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[miniconnect]

I have driven one, was nice but are they a bit more ‘noddy’ with the shorter tail? Thought the ec55 seemed, realatively, more stable. I am in no way an operator by any stretch of the imagination tho!

Our ex 75 was a UR, so zero swing with knuckle boom, zero swing really handy and I'm sure I'll hit a few things with it, but yeah, it was light on the back and would nose dive into a wet hole. The doosan even with a fair bit longer Dipper feels far more stable.

 

[Digester Man]

Another couple of things; if you are buying Hitachi they come in both standard carriage and long carriage; the latter having an extra couple of track pads and being a bit wider too so carries better on soft ground. Think standard is 38 pads and LC is 40; have seen some chancers stick an LC sticker onto a standard machine to make it appear more saleable.

If you need to buy buckets, I got a 9” tile bucket, 3ft toothed digging bucket and 5” sheugh bucket from Brian Scott Engineering for not much over a grand.

I haven’t heard of a bad digger in that class, all brands seem to be good. Just a matter of narrowing down your spec and finding something in good condition and within budget

I personally didn’t want a boom mounted at the front so that narrowed my choices a lot, also wanted long carriage, long dipper, steel tracks and blade With a standard centre mounted boom (beside the cab rather than in front) so really the only 2 models I could go for was a Hitachi or a Cat. Everything else has a front mounted knuckle boom

 

[Salt'n'Pepper]

We bought a Takeuchi tb260 (6t)as a first step into diy digger work-would recommend it,but in hindsight I would put steel tracks rather than rubber on,as it can slide too easily if on greasy ground
Would spend your max to get a fresh/low houred machine-will be worth it in the long run

 

[Macsky]

Another couple of things; if you are buying Hitachi they come in both standard carriage and long carriage; the latter having an extra couple of track pads and being a bit wider too so carries better on soft ground. Think standard is 38 pads and LC is 40; have seen some chancers stick an LC sticker onto a standard machine to make it appear more saleable.

If you need to buy buckets, I got a 9” tile bucket, 3ft toothed digging bucket and 5” sheugh bucket from Brian Scott Engineering for not much over a grand.

I haven’t heard of a bad digger in that class, all brands seem to be good. Just a matter of narrowing down your spec and finding something in good condition and within budget

I personally didn’t want a boom mounted at the front so that narrowed my choices a lot, also wanted long carriage, long dipper, steel tracks and blade With a standard centre mounted boom (beside the cab rather than in front) so really the only 2 models I could go for was a Hitachi or a Cat. Everything else has a front mounted knuckle boom

What are the pros and cons of a knuckle boom/side mounted?