Which excavator?

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
So,
I’m thinking of getting a tracked excavator, got quite a few jobs need sorting, drains (there’s always drains to look at?), ditches to clean, tracks to repair, possibly some muck loading, shed project in the next couple of years, etc etc.........
Looking at something around the 13/14 ton mark with a budget of 20-25k
Is there any breed to avoid/ anything I should look out for when viewing/testing?
I’ve seen some ex hire Doosan‘s dX14 around the 6k hour mark, look tidy and there’s a few to choose from. Anyone any experience with Doosan? Reliability ok?/parts ok to get hold of?

Thank for your advice.
 

ste stuart

Member
Location
bolton
you’d be better hiring me in ?
The earlier dx140s weren’t great from what can gather, a mate of mine had one.
the dash 3s are better but far from perfect. The older solars were properly bullet proof tho.
but the dealer is only in pem so handy for us.
personally I’d get a hitachi, they hold they’re money like nothing else, ultra reliable and really easy to drive.
pm me if you want some numbers of local second hand dealers
 

Fast Farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
We got one of the last daewoo but first doosan 13ton great machines nothing wrong with it at all except heater unit packed in but bought a new one from China for £200, bit heavy on diesel and abit smokey, ours had done 600 hours not 6k, personally wouldn't buy any digger over 2k on the hour clock but depends on your budget... Komatsu also very good, kobelco seems good or maybe look a smaller terex something like 7 ton rubber track
 

Fast Farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Also worth mentioning for things to look for, drive sprocket should have plenty of meat on it, if it's shiny and pointed then it's done a lot of track work, look at the paint on the tracks has any flacked off, check the under carriage for grease and oil leaks, while operating the boom check for looseness in the linkages, put boom at full stretch and move up and down you'll feel play in the undercarriage, shake the handles all ways and see how loud she is in the linkages, check for wear on the handles and the seat depending on the hours on the clock.
 

ILovebaling

Member
Location
Co Durham
I've a 2005 Hitachi 13 tonne. Had 6k hours on when I bought it and put 2.5k hours on in 3.5 years and never had a problem, apart from the air con belt just snapped (and new chains and sprockets on undercarriage but that's just inevitable wear) Was 22k then. (just looked it up and actually was 20400 Inc vat. So not as much as I thought)

Can't see a 13 tonner being less than 30k looking at prices now,i may be wrong.

I'd agree a blade would be a handy tool but I've not got 1 on, how much extra would that add to a digger these days?
 
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DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
We were look for a similar machine, 14t, blade and offset boom. Hen's teeth is right. We managed to find an older Takeuchi with all those things for relatively cheap money. We struck gold as it had been looked after superbly by one operator and another potential buyer pulled out. I don't drive it but the lads love it.
 

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
I've a 2005 Hitachi 13 tonne. Had 6k hours on when I bought it and put 2.5k hours on in 3.5 years and never had a problem, apart from the air con belt just snapped (and new chains and sprockets on undercarriage but that's just inevitable wear) Was 22k then.

Can't see a 13 tonner being less than 30k looking at prices now,i may be wrong.

I'd agree a blade would be a handy tool but I've not got 1 on, how much extra would that add to a digger these days?

seems to be plenty of ex hire machines about in the 20-30k range at the moment, think a lot of companies will be cutting excess stock with the current financial climate.
 

ILovebaling

Member
Location
Co Durham
seems to be plenty of ex hire machines about in the 20-30k range at the moment, think a lot of companies will be cutting excess stock with the current financial climate.
Maybe. But what hours they got on and track condition? You need to take that into account as its another 2.5k roughly for chain and sprockets.

Don't know where in the country you are but mine came out of the paper from a guy called M. J. Wilkinson, Blackpool area and he had A LOT of gear so could he worth looking up.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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