LSB Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 Hello, we are looking to buy a digger at the moment, just a little one as we have some narrow spaces to get in. Chinese ones seems to be good value for money / cheap compared with other makes. But, are they a waste of time and if we decided to buy a new one, which we could do for a 2nd hand Yanmar, then are we going to lose everything when we sell it when we have finished digging all the holes and trenches that we possibly need. We have really struggled to get one as 2nd hand ones that seem decent goes for lots of money and very quickly and we don't want to get ripped off. We are going to look at a dealer who sells shiny new ones tomorrow, including chinese ones, but wanted an idea of which is the best direction. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 Most of us on here have bought normal second hand ones, probably mostly recognised Japanese makes, then sold them for not a lot less than we bought them for. The Chinese one, bought new, would be guaranteed to lose a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 Treat it like buying a 2nd car. You could buy a new Dacia duster or a 2nd hand focus with a few miles on it. In a few years what will have lost the most money. Another thing to think about is how easily will it be to source spare parts of anything goes wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 I’ve owned a number of diggers over the years but they have all been shiny and new. This time I needed an older one as it would only be for personal use, I found that there was a couple of sweet spots for pricing £10-12 grand will hold a great deal of money and you will sell them without losing a huge amount if you kept it for two years. £7-8 grand exactly the same as above still good and will have a good re sale below £5 grand was just trouble, getting old and tired, still loads of life but more problems starting to appear. I would stick to kubota, yanmar, hitachi you might find the re sale on the Chinese one is a lot less and you will take a big hit as the first owner. Remember the vat, you cannot claim this back unless you obviously buy it through a vat registered company. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 10 hours ago, Russell griffiths said: ... £10-12 grand will hold a great deal of money and you will sell them without losing a huge amount if you kept it for two years. ... As usual, @Russell griffiths is bang on the money. My Kubota 206 alpha held its value over 4 years. Dealer-serviced and over-maintained. Considering the rental cost over the same period, it far more than paid for itself even adding the VAT and repairs in. Two repairs: broken track clips and a new door (smashed by someone else), and new tracks exchanged for the old ones. 12 hours ago, LSB said: ... We are going to look at a dealer who sells shiny new ones tomorrow, including chinese ones, but wanted an idea of which is the best direction. ... Do your due diligence on the dealer. Find out which hire companies the dealer supplies and then ask the hire company what the dealer service is like. Then, ask the hire company . Then find a site repair guy - preferrably a one-person band, and ask him for his opinion of both the dealer and the hire company, and ask for his rates. Then ask him if he knows of a decent second-hand digger. Take him to see it and get him to test it for you. It'll cost you, but save you a potentially massive bill - not all to do with the digger either - delay on site is a right pain in the Bottilcelli. Sometimes mechanics only work on one type of machine - and thats fine - but if your heart is set on one (say Volvo) don't be deflected from your choice without good reason Here's a purchasing checklist we put together a while ago. Probably needs updating now..... A bit of a slog, I know. But it worked for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 dont buy no brand chinese crap. false economy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 The Chinese Cater machines arent too bad, but i have doubts on how long the cabs will last. The Rhinosarous (excuse the spelling) 08 has the loudest small engine you could imagine. Used Kubota etc are good value and will last but look out for worn drive sprockets and tracks - no tread is fine but badly worn or twisted tracks will come off easily. The small JCB machines are not what they used to be ... . Decent machines are making stupidly high prices at the moment and many fake sellers on ebay offering too-good-to-be-true machines as long as you pay first and they will arrange delivery .... err, NO! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 18 hours ago, LSB said: we are looking to buy a digger how much work have you got to do?, could you not hire one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 23 minutes ago, joe90 said: how much work have you got to do?, could you not hire one? Or higher run if it's a Chinese digger... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbiniho Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 A lot of the guys up here use takeuchi mini and midi diggers and regard them highly, also worth noting that you may be able to get a slightly bigger midi digger (5t) for the same price or cheaper as they arent towable bit if space is a problem that might limit you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSB Posted November 30, 2020 Author Share Posted November 30, 2020 3 hours ago, Onoff said: Or higher run if it's a Chinese digger... trenches water treatment plant rainwater harvesting possible GSHP digging out the whole floor of the old barn of 240m2 digging out concrete paths / yards for drains digging the driveway trenches for supplies, 140m clearing and relocating a bank left by the pig farm, last time we started this we found pigs buried !!! they were buried too deep in subsoil so didn't decompose, all gone now after 20 years, but the bank still needs moving. digging out about 30 tree stumps and possibly other stuff that I can't think of now. except the cart lodge that we want to build later, that will need various holes I expect. we also have an old muck heap that needs moving. the main reason for buying is availability, hubby works part time and works on the build when he can so wants one there when he wants it. we are happy to buy, but don't want to lose a stupid amount when I insist that is is sold even though he will want to keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 Look at a 3 tonne plus machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 14 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said: Look at a 3 tonne plus machine Which also just about gives you the ability to move a ton bag of materials which I'm so glad I personally considered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 5 ton + are cheaper, more for your money as they can load the 8 wheel muck away trucks. The 3 tonners cant reach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesP Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 @LSB My folks who were in their early sixties at the time purchased an ancient Poclain 13T ( it was a brute and needed maintenance) to undertake many of the bigger tasks and a Yanmar 3T which Dad still uses today, he's nearly 80 now! Good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSB Posted November 30, 2020 Author Share Posted November 30, 2020 our issue is that where the drains are going is narrow so needs a small digger, also digging out the current floor requires a digger to go inside the current barn. as the barn has a low roof we are quite restricted. we have to keep the existing walls and roof. we may end up hiring a small one and buying a bigger one or the other way round, but the point of buying is the flexibility that we are looking for. If we buy we must have a small one because of the size restrictions. The ones we looked at today were shiny and new, one Chinese which was far too small, but the Yanmar one was nice. Now, hubby is going to investigate 2nd hand ones for the same price as new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 43 minutes ago, LSB said: but the point of buying is the flexibility that we are looking for. Oh I get that, I bought a JCB 3CX and it’s been great for our large site during the whole build but I am going to flog it soon and rent a tracked digger for installing land drains in the field (JCB is too heavy fir the soggy ground). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 I acquired a Takeuchi TB125- so just under 3t and about the biggest that can be towed easily. It'll lift and move a maxi-bag (just) and with forks on was very handy for getting reasonable numbers of blocks etc up a lift of scaffold. Plus big enough to dig without being too big to access tight spots, and heavy enough to work a breaker well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 you will use a telehandler more. id rent the digger they are dirt cheap on a weekly basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 We've never had a telescopic on site... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 32 minutes ago, Dave Jones said: you will use a telehandler more. id rent the digger they are dirt cheap on a weekly basis. Never, I have both, the excavator got used nearly every day for probably the first 8-10 weeks, the telehandler gets used for an hour a fortnight and now the shell is up it won’t be used again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 I have a kubota 1-5 tonne machine, but I bought a high spec one so it punches well above its weight it has has a wide track base so is very stable, but the tracks retract in so it will fit through a 1m opening it has zero tail swing so I can work up against a wall without knocking it down i never use it without it impressing me, I have pulled things and pushed things that others have said I would never do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 15 minutes ago, dpmiller said: We've never had a telescopic on site... Bet the brickies and roofers loved you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 19 minutes ago, dpmiller said: We've never had a telescopic on site... Same here. I handballed all the block up to do the peaks. Spent an HR each day loading out then the rest I built away. Done the same with the roof tiles walked them all up. Took 2 days. Only machine I had was a 13t digger and an extension boom to set the roof truss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 26 minutes ago, Dave Jones said: Bet the brickies and roofers loved you. Brickies used the digger with the forks on. I did the roof myself, and paid some eastern european guys that were doing the TF insulation to handball the tiles. Less than a day's hire of a handler... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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