Which mini diggers do you recomend?

[Saddle-up]

Hi all. I'm brand new to this forum and THIS thread is a great help.

I have just managed to persuade my other half (he who holds the cheque book!) that I NEED a mini digger. I've given up trying to get 'a little man' in - the bu**ers never turn up!

Thanks for the Resale Weekly link Tony McC - a couple of prospects there!

I CAN hire one relatively locally for £50 a day - but I have to go and get it and I don't have suitable transport. Also don't want to spend the entire day digging (just to get moneysworth!)

I'm looking at a wide range of jobs - from trenches for water pipe - to clearing field ditches etc (have a 50 acre farm - heavy clay) I'm assuming that something like the Volvo 1.5 or JCB 801.4 would DO these jobs - if not at high speed? Any thoughts/advice would be MOST welcome.

[ABILITY]

For your type of project it would seem sensible to me to buy a machine to have on site as and when you require. You are not in the game of in and out of a job as quick as possible, thus if you need to do a bit of trenching in an evening or what ever its there to be used, also allow you to practice in your own time.

Also we find its not just the main digging that can be done, shifting materials about, clearing rubbish, loading skips etc, useful to have a machine available all the time.

Look at auto / plant trader for local sources, either private - but can be a gamble, or for the dealers with some back up.

If your not hot on mechanics then worth paying a bit more for a newer machine, thats more relaible. There is some decent stuff about at remarkably cheap money, for the work it will save you.

I would say to buy one as earliy as possible, no point in shovelling now, then forking out for something to do it for you later on, you'll only be saying wish I'd got this earlier

[Saddle-up]

It's a nice idea! But I can't count the hours I've wasted waiting for people to turn up! (And yes, I DO pay on time! ) The LAST bloke was going to come back in October - October 2003, that is!

[steve r]

Before starting my project I discussed with Tony the pros and cons of buying a mini digger and we decided if I could find one at the right price it would be a good idea and then sell it after the job was completed.
After looking around for a few months I found a 1.5t Gehlmax (forerunner of the Peljob) complete with 3 buckets and bought it for £3000.
Before using it I changed all the fluids, filters and regreased all the nipples (loads of em).
Then came the problem of learning how to operate it.
It goes something like this, I want to close the bucket, that’s that lever, whoops wrong way and so on.
After about a week of use it suddenly clicks and the operation becomes instinctive.
As well as constructing a new drive, I was also changing the whole front garden, so I had heaps of topsoil, the hardcore from the the old drive (actually 1 drive on top of the other) stone, ballast, sand and clay to keep separated until I got rid of or used them.
Also new sw and land drains had to be dug.

Having my own machine meant that I could come home from work and dig for a couple of hours each evening and any other time I could spare.
The digger has performed faultlessly since I’ve had it.
I had to change the tracks as they were only about 20% when I bought it and a set of tracks is cheaper than a set of tracks and 4 sprockets.
It was fitted with some old style solid bucket pins which meant that to grease them they had to be removed, I changed them for hollow pins fitted with a nipple at the side, so they could be greased before each use.

Thing to look for when buying a machine are:
A sweet sounding, easy starting non smoking engine.
Tight bushes and pins lift the arm up and try and move the boom from side to side and the bucket up and down. The pins can easily be replaced, but the bushes are a bit more difficult as they need to be pressed in
Reasonable tread left on the tracks.
No major hydraulic oil leaks, check for seepage from the ram seals by extending and lifting the arm, bucket and blade and they should stay there. You may hear a creaking noise which means there is a slight leak but not worth worrying about.
In answer to the original question, if I were to do the job again I would buy my own machine.

I laid a 100m drain in the grounds of my local pub this Summer in exchange for beer, as well as a few other small jobs for neighbours for beer money.
Can you see a very good reason to keep it?

Tony may have a picture of it, filed deep in the Warrington archives.

Regards Steve Rogers

[carlbeardsmore]

That sounds about the right sort of money that I want to spend. Steve, Where was your digger advertised? Was it private or from a trader?


Cheers Carl.

[clive]

Have you considered a Grey Import machine? I came across these referred to on an American site where they have been around for some time. Basically these are used machines from countries like Japan or China and should sell for significantly less than a similar UK spec machine The down side is they probably wont be supported by the Manufacturer as it under cuts the manufactures product/Licensing agreement in this country

The manufactures will state that these machines don’t conform to local safety spec, decals in Japanese that sort of thing and have taken action in the US to stop the import of such

You would also be wise to watch for the these machines being sold on as the genuine article in the general market

The machines are usually 900-5000kg machines with brand names such as Kobelco, Komatsu, Kubota, Yanmar, Nissan, etc the model numbers will be different to what are sold here or may have been sold under a different name older JCB 360’s etc

2 UK importers I’ve heard of are:
http://www.autotrade-int.com
http://www.tractorconnection.co.uk/

Also if you haven’t used a 360 before consider the safety angle very carefully, as the use of these machines has a very steep learning curve. The combination of eager novice labour, inexperienced driver and confined spaces can have the former splatted against a wall by the latter’s pulling the wrong leaver!!!

Also the inherent instability of these small machines can some times catch even the most experienced of users unaware when the machine suddenly decides to roll over to have its belly tickled !!! (Photo to follow when I work out how to upload J)

[Saddle-up]

Well I'm off to look at a JCB 201-5 this week - a 2000 - fully serviced etc and in good nick etc with two buckets, from a JCB specialist. Any idea what a reasonable price for one of these is? ('cos this one IS a bit more than I wanted to spend - particularly with the dreaded VAT. On the other hand, hopefully it won't need too much expensive repair too soon!)

[steve r]

I looked at quite a few machines that were advertised and offered at auctions, but I ended up buying privately by word of mouth.
Have just had a look on e bay and there are a couple on there.
What about this one:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws....rvi:1:1
Or this one:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws....rvi:1:2
or this beasty:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws....rvi:1:3

There are is some more on there, one may take your fancy.

[Tony McC]

Is that my brother driving that machine? :p

[steve r]

Jo Bamford would have been proud of him.
Hope he didn't pull the wrong lever!

[essexpaver]

i think its just a case of ringing around local firms after a day or ringing u will no the rates when i done a job not in my area it was a pain in the arse to get hire as they dont know u want mad down payments etc

[carlbeardsmore]

and I thought it was ME just being a bit thick. Hardly made sense the second time of reading ...LOL