Which tracked digger?

johndeere6920s

Well-Known Member
Getting asked to do a lot of digger work this year nothing crazy but dig out yards bits of drains ect,
Thinking something like an 8 tonne but in absolutely no panic as its as handy hire one for the moment.
Suppose the cheaper the better but don't want anything too old either so if anyone sees anything or what to stay away from let me know.
Thanks
 
Ex40 here, have dug foundations for sheds, cleaned loads of drains dug drains pulled bushes put in shores and runs on 20litres of diesel a day. No need in the world for a big digger and you can charge nearly as much and you’d nearly do as much in the same time.
 
Ex40 here, have dug foundations for sheds, cleaned loads of drains dug drains pulled bushes put in shores and runs on 20litres of diesel a day. No need in the world for a big digger and you can charge nearly as much and you’d nearly do as much in the same time.
I'd agree a friend of mine has one of them and there's a decent reach in it no problem loading dump trailers and such if you have a 13 tonne your tied to doing big work and on steel tracks whereas the smaller machine a handy low loader would do you and you'd be able to do the small jobs too.
 
I'd agree a friend of mine has one of them and there's a decent reach in it no problem loading dump trailers and such if you have a 13 tonne your tied to doing big work and on steel tracks whereas the smaller machine a handy low loader would do you and you'd be able to do the small jobs too.
Only thing I will say about ours is it wouldn’t have the hydraulic power for running a mulcher. I was watching a little bobcat one day that was fitted with a rotator and a small mulcher and grab and it was an awful handy machine. If it’s mainly for field work I would go with steel tracks if you can, they are a better job and a non zero swing if it’s mainly ditches and the like. The zero swing will lift a bit handier at the back and it’s a character building exercise on a steep bank
 
I think 8 ton would be a nice size for the work your talking about. Also would have the hydraulic flow to work a saw head around here everyone’s gone to putting saws on track machines very few with saws on tractors. Could also put hydraulic thumb on it be very useful for tidying up after.
 
Does the new cvx have air and 50k?

A trailer like @Arthur has but with air to drop for loading plus a 6 tonne with a good few attachments might be a nice self contained setup for smaller jobs
 
Getting asked to do a lot of digger work this year nothing crazy but dig out yards bits of drains ect,
Thinking something like an 8 tonne but in absolutely no panic as its as handy hire one for the moment.
Suppose the cheaper the better but don't want anything too old either so if anyone sees anything or what to stay away from let me know.
Thanks
Surely you're on this forum long enough to know that the ONLY excavators worth looking at are Hitachi EX....
 
Does the new cvx have air and 50k?

A trailer like @Arthur has but with air to drop for loading plus a 6 tonne with a good few attachments might be a nice self contained setup for smaller jobs
i was thinking the very same tbh, them lynch trailers seem very low and it makes total sense having a dump trailer with you all the time rather than a low loader thrown there idle
I would probably go for for a more compact machine than an ex60 if going down this road though
A Takeuchi 145 would be a nice weapon
 
Surely you're on this forum long enough to know that the ONLY excavators worth looking at are Hitachi EX....

Agreed 👍

Don't think so the country is full of 13 tonne diggers working for nothing.
You'd get as good a rate with a 6-8 tonne doing handy yard jobs and the odd bit of field work.
Besides your still small enough to work around a house or such

What about an ex100? Could pipe it for hedge cutting
 
Thinking something like an 8 tonne but in absolutely no panic as its as handy hire one for the moment.
Suppose the cheaper the better but don't want anything too old either so if anyone sees anything or what to stay away from let me know.
Thanks
Have an ex60-2 hitachi here the last 18 years, have dug a lot of rafts strip foundations. V drains land clearing etc etc over the years. Have done a lotta work and put it at a lotta work a 10 or 12 ton should’ve been at too 🙈but it’s done the finest. A 60 are a good fairly mid size machine and not bad money. Mostly everyone here will either be saying 120/130/135 but my point is you’d be surprised what jobs a 60 would do. You didn’t mention any hedgecutting or mulching to be done with it. So I’d say a 60 will fit the bill alright.. have a Grab here for ours and it’s very handy for clearing land ir grabbing trees timber rocks etc
 
Don't think so the country is full of 13 tonne diggers working for nothing.
You'd get as good a rate with a 6-8 tonne doing handy yard jobs and the odd bit of field work.
Besides your still small enough to work around a house or such
I'd have to agree with Nash, having dug out a tank last year with a 7tonne digger in stoney ground, it was painful. You need the weight and power to get through work at a decent pace.

You're right, the country is full of 13t diggers working for nothing, but that's because it's full of 12 or 13t diggers. It's nothing to do with the size of the machine.

From what I've seen while looking to upgrade our own machine, Farmer size machines are making strong money because there's plenty looking for them.

In my opinion you could be better off buying something that needs tidying considering you're not afraid of a spanner. It'd make a handy youtube series also.
 
I don't think I'd have any interest in putting a mulcher head on one or the saw for that matter either.
While we're doing more hedgecutting than we ever did I don't see the need to have two ways of doing it.
You'd probably be a long time making back what you'd spend on the heads ect and also it's a job there's a few lads at already.
The trailer is a great idea seen as I have neither of them.
I think I'd be edging for a rubber tracked machine I know it's not near as good in a field but you too limited with steel tracks.
I don't think id go digging out tanks either all that is hard going basically what I'm thinking of is a mini digger that's big enough to do a bigger job when needed and small enough to go in and do a lawn
 
Could we please get the thread back on track again, the OP wants to know what is a good make of digger around the 8 ton bracket.:thumbup:
 
Been looking at the same. A nice Zaxis 70 will cost close to €30k

seen some really nice Cat 307s in the uk for 15-18k sterling, also a real nice case 9007 for about £12k regret not pulling the trigger on it
 
Having run the following
kubota 2.8t
Hitachi 3t
Nissan 4.1t
sumitomo 6t
JCB 13t
Hyundai 14t
Samsung 22t

I can say an 8 t machine is neither handy or capable,when you get onto a 13t machine after one you think why did I bother,they don’t have the reach or weight to do any real work “what can do a lot can do a little”
 
Having run the following
kubota 2.8t
Hitachi 3t
Nissan 4.1t
sumitomo 6t
JCB 13t
Hyundai 14t
Samsung 22t

I can say an 8 t machine is neither handy or capable,when you get onto a 13t machine after one you think why did I bother,they don’t have the reach or weight to do any real work “what can do a lot can do a little”
I know that like I said I don't want a 13 tonne or a 13 tonner workload
 
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