Hi all,

Kicking off house building project next year, and several things are pointing me towards buying my own JCB style digger for the project and other bits of work I need to do - I've seen several servicable ones about, but I'm unlikely to find one very local so.. anybody have any idea how you go about transporting a JCB? - would it need an artic to get access or would a rigid wagon be able to carry/load? any idea of costs?

Random questions I know, but I'll bet somebody on here knows...

GregS

You will find most suppliers of plant, even farmers, have means of delivery.

I thought persuading my wife that I could build a car was tricky.

Good work on getting a JCB through!

Brother in law always used J.C. Balls to move his tracked stuff round on a low loader. Buy a 3C or similar local and drive it home.

As I understand it the tractor based JCB's are about 9 tonne or was that the armour plated ones you just about lift with a Chinook

think 3c is about 6.5 tonnes...

Well if you buy a wheeled digger there are a number companys make jcb type machines drive it home, wheeled diggers are about 7 tonne. all depends what you intend to do with it on your house build jcb,s are capable of allsorts of jobs all badly where as a 360 machine is a way better excavator sort of need to know if you are going to use somthing to dig or to carry stuff about. i own civil eng company so have own and used many machines good luck with the build .
AlI

[Edited on 24/12/12 by mookaloid]

I also build houses and my massey ferguson backhoe 50B weighs about 6 tons, it looks like this -



They are quite cheap to buy and a great digger really but I'd say buy the best you can afford as these kind of machines are often run into the ground or not maintained properly after they get old. They do require a lot of tlc and can be expensive to repair especially the hydraulics like the cylinders

I did have a JCB 3CII but it was a bugger to see out of (very wide arches) and the back arm was badly positioned, not to mension the daft door/window thing. Got sick of it and bought the massey instead

Tbh I think looking back a 3 ton 360 digger and a dumper would have been a better choice like one of these as they are better at cutting founds and moving large amounts of soil without putting tyre tracks all over the place. I have used all the types of diggers and know what I prefer



whatever one you buy, if you look after it and buy wisely in the first place you can actually make money from it when you sell. They are also very easy to drive, about 3-5 hours and you'll be flying with the controls

Having you own digger will save you a fortune on a house build but choose wisely....



[Edited on 24/12/12 by Mr Whippy]

Thanks for all the replies guys - Mr Whippy esp - is going to be used for all sorts, our access is not great so will be looking for one with forks so I am hoping to move stuff up from the road (avoiding me either hand moving or paying people to wait / hand move stuff) as well as general excavation. May also need to do a bit of gentle demolition. Will prob leave main groundworks to the profs, but there is a fair amount of landscaping etc to do and as you say and I hope, if I look after it it may cost me nothing.

I have seen the MF alternative, and will def consider. Is there any real way of moving pallets with a 3 ton without crying yeehaa at the same time (honest question)?

GregS

when very we start a new house we hire 4x4 forklift like below for about 3-4 weeks, they have the reach required to get the pallets of blocks up to the scaffold, lift wall panels around and take the roof tiles right up to where there needed. Trying to do this with a JCB is a bad idea as they don't get the load up high enough. Use the digger for lifting only 1 ton bags of sand etc, tried forks on our and it was just annoyingly slow

thanks - fortunately this is a bungalow, so shouldn't need a lot moving up onto scaffold other than tiles, more about ferrying the stuff ~80m off the road - would a JCB be suitable foor this?

We had tarmacers on a job once and they brought a small JCB in one of those skips that roll on and off a lorry , one of those skips that has little doors that hinge outwards, they opened the doors drove the JCB in then pulled the skip back onto the lorry and off they went

For unloading deliveries of pallets etc, carting to your site, lifting to relatively low heights & doing a bit of digging out of founds etc then a wheeled digger is probably the machine to have. They are limited for reach & height for lifting but if your site is fairly level & single story it's probably good enough. Other machines like the a telehandler & 360deg tracked digger will be better at one job or the other but cannot do both.
How good is the ground on which you're going to travel? These things will make a awful lot of mess on soft going, the quotes of 6-8 tons are right on the money.
Have a look at Ford (later became NewHolland) & Case machines too along with the MF (later Fermec I think) as suggested. The Ford 550 & 555 models could be as good a bet as any, not as heavy as the JCB, fairly common & decent parts back up though JCB is very good on that.
I agree with the suggestion to try to buy the best you can, the condition & care given to older plant varies greatly but often it's not good. Some will have a conventional clutch/gearbox which can be tested in the some manner as a manual car but others will use a torque converter like an automatic car with a forward reverse shuttle using multi-plate wet clutches inside the gearbox. These are fairly robust but will cost a bit to get fettled so make sure it changes direction OK & still works well when hot, the torque converter will give the feeling of a slipping clutch even when it's right though. You're not going to get anything with a tight back-actor, it's going to have a fair bit of play in the slew but see if you can get a go on couple to see how much is normal. With the back actor right out more than 12" of play at the bucket will be common, but I've seen some that could be measured in feet!

As for transporting it if it's fit enough to go to work then it'll manage to climb onto a suitable trailer or lorry. No need for an artic, lower body & more axles the better but really a standard height 4-wheeler of 15t gross or more would do if equipped with suitable ramps or a loading dock at either end if it's a standard flat. Or if it's on a farm (many diggers this age/price are) see if they know anyone with a tractor & plant trailer? Best if the driving on/off is done by someone used to it though, it can be a bit unnerving, I unloaded a non-running JCB 3cx from a tractor plant trailer & discovered too late only one side brake worked (pedal was still good!) & nearly getting it sild off the side I just had to let it go!

thanks hillbilly - really useful summary - thanks for the time and effort. Ground is fairly solid for most of the site, just difficult to get trucks in so not a massive worry that way. Ford 550 looks like a useful machine and have seen a few for sale.