I have a Hinowa DM8 and its just a little too wide. Thinking of a Kubota k-008 or similar. Ive driven Kubota and Takeuchi and there great machines...........i tend to head towards the Kubota more as we have a 2002 kx41-2 with 1300 hrs and i love it to bits. Had issuse's with hydraulics due to my own fault but once the fluid and filters where changed a few times over a while to flush it out its back to normal. Just curios as to other peoples opinions on what would be the better brand to go for. I once seen a Kobelco 750kg with a breaker made into the dipper arm where a chissel fitted. Also i aint buying new, somewhere around 2004 - 2007 most likely
As far as I'm aware the Komatsu PC09 is the only one with a breaker built in to the arm. I have a K008-3 and love it, it just digs and digs even with a 600mm bucket in clay, will run a breaker all day no problem and is very stable with the tracks extended, I have never driven a Takeuchi but no doubt it is a good machine but the thing to bear in mind is the hydraulic hoses are all exposed on the outside of the boom and dipper e.t.c whereas the Kubota's are integrated into the boom an dipper arm. However the Kubota has single speed tracking whereas the Takeuchi has two speed tracking (obviously in the tight sites you usually work with these machines there is no space or need to use it!!) The Kubota's either the blue K008 or the red K008-3 have 3 cylinder engines whereas the Takeuchi has a 2 cylinder yamnar, I belive the K008's digs down approx 200mm deeper than the Takeuchi. The K008-3 with the rear mounted ROPS frame are approx 750mm wide but with the ROPS removed (approx 5-10 min job) are 725mm wide and will go through pretty tight spaces!! You're other options could be: Yanmar B08 Yanmar SV10 Kobelco Sk007 Komatsu PC09 JCB Micro Hitachi EX08 Airman AX08
And don't forget Bobcat now has they're little 418 mini excavator and it has joystick controls instead of TLB controls. Mind you it's only a matter of time before Kubota has the same thing. http://www.bobcat.com/excavators/models/418 I don't know how good the Bobcat machine is as some of they're larger models aren't as great as they're made out to be.
I worked a takeuchi for 5 months, but i like the kubota. 2 travelling speeds isnt an issue as it would be in tight spaces. Nice to know the kubota digs a little deeper. I know a guy who hires mini's and has 4 kubota's and 1 jcb. Kubota's run great the jcb had issues with tracks comming off and had to go back to jcb, he didnt like it at all. Jcb mini dumpers are Hinowa spayed yellow. Dont know about the mini diggers but the DM8 we have is a ball of crap, i hate it. We had an old kubota kh007, 1986 or so and it was great, just the seal in the ring gear went and suddenly is was replaced by the hinowa.
Yeah the JCB micro's were renowned for throwing tracks but I believe they have sorted that now, though they are still bulky to manouver and jerky to drive!! What model of Kubota can you get with your budget? the blue or red one? Still see some KH007's being sold - shows how sturdy they must be. If you want a cheap new machine I believe you can get a Hanix micro for approx £8500.00 As you can see the 008 will go through some tight spaces!!
You got lots of room. lol
The 418 is probably a bit heavy at 1.2 tonnes. The SK007 is the narrowest but a little lighter than the Kub-008. I reckon because you are looking at a S/H machine it is a matter of keeping an eye out for what comes up and then judge each machine on it's merit. I have Kobelco SK005 series 1 and considering it is a series 1 they did a pretty good job of it an it is a serious digging machine in it's class.
LOL! I couldn't figure out why he was complaining either.
Probly the blue kubota, i know someone with the Hanix, has a 3 cylinder kubota engine, not a bad machine but i like the kubota. I'd buy a KH007 either as there a strong machine and the steel on the rear will take more punishment. Year doesnt matter, just condition.
We rented a IHI 15vx to dig out a elevator pit in an old building earlier this year. I would highly recommend one! I could not believe how much power it had. I dont know if they are available in your area though, just food for thought
Yup it's not tight till you gotta put butter on the walls to squeeze through. lol
Well today I had to take a door frame apart to get in, then take a PVC door of its hinges and then take apart a sliding door!! From what I have driven of the Hanix it is not as good as the Kubota's anyway, the KH007 does look a lot bulkier at the rear compared to the 008's which depending on how small your sites are could be a hindrance (Zero tail swing must be popular for some reason!!!!)
Hey Strott do you have any picture of the work you do? The mentality over here is if you want to make money you gotta have a big machine it would be nice to have somebody show otherwise.
Well I suppose I do what you guys do but on a smaller scale!! Heres a taster, thanks for your interest:
Fantastic pictures my friend I love seeing how things are done in the U.K. and Europe where you don't have the luxury of extra space like here in Canada. Do you have a quick coupler for your little Kubota? Or do you prefer to just change the pins manually?
I have a semi hitch on it which is similar to a quick coupler and my 1.5 ton machine has a manual quick coupler - I wouldn't want to go back to manually changing the bucket pins now!! A couple more pics from a 'larger' job
Nice work! Is that truck you have there also a dumptruck? Hey Strott, on a different note I was wondering if you know of any kind of bucket tilt made for a machine as small as the K-008? I'm probably going to get into digging ponds and pools where others can't but a tilt unit makes it much simpler.
The van was just a dropside/flatbed lorry that has now been converted to a low loader. I know of a UK company who will build tilt ditching buckets for mini excavators (they may ship abroad) however a thing to note is that here in the UK the K008's do not have two way auxilary hydraulics as standard to run a tilt ram but I have been told there is a conversion kit to allow it to do so Maybe in the US the K008 comes with 2 way auxilary hydraulics as standard :beatsme I say this because the US spec K008-3's have 2 speed tracking whereas my UK spec machine does not Cheers, Steve
Oh I didn't know that, I picked up a brochure for the K008-3 and it comes standard with auxiliary hydraulics so you can run a breaker from it too. I'm also looking at the KX-41-3 as well but it'll be a while till I can buy one unfortunately .
Yep K008-3 runs a breaker fine!! The KX41-3 does have 2 way auxilary hydraulics and 2 speed tracking, Have added a 3rd line for return so I can run a screening bucket.
Sold the Hinowa and have the hire of a kubota k008, which is grand as im in no rush. Would love the dash 3 kx41 but our dash 2 only has 1230 hours so it would be wasting money to change. I recently used a Hitachi zaxis 25, i put a go pro camera on it. Was a nice machine but no power in the bucket and i personally prefer the takeuchi tb025. Although the owner of the hitachi is a rough man on a machine too
How you finding the K008-3?
its not a dash3 its greeny blue, it works great. Better than the hinowa. Hard to stay away from kubota in the small machines, although ill be looking for a 2.5 - 3 tonne soon and so far the takeuchi tb025 is the best ive driven. Yet to try a kubota 2.5 ton. The kx008 are great and have excellant power, and fit up in the back of the toyota dyna alongside the high tip track dumper. The hinowa was just under a 1 ton and awkward
Be good to know how the Kubota KX61/71 compares to the tak.
I'll have to try one, i worked for a builer and all his machines were takeuchi. The 1.6 ton takeuch was nice but the long blade was annoying in tight spaces. Our own kx41 is grand in tight spaces. Ill look at a kx61 for sale to try out as i do like the kubota machines
Thats exactly my thoughts on that long blade on the tak - it must get in the way and as you say it does!! People say that it allows you to clean up with the ditching bucket e.t.c. but you can do that with the kubota, you just need to use the offset at 90 degrees - about half of the the ditching bucket comes right up against the blade then allowing you to clean up - not as good as the tak maybe but does the job.
The Tak can clean up off the blade, but as you said the offset will work to allow the same although its never bothered me, most mini digger work always involves abit of manual labour with a shovel at some stage.