Anyone out there have anything good to say or bad to say on these machines might be sealing the deal this week on one with low hrs but have not seen it in person yet so might save me a long drive down the hiway. One company back here had one and I teamed up with it with my tandam dump and old linkbelt we cleaned out a old boat marina slew on the lake. I don't remember what size it was it was yellow orange in color that was 15 years ago. The one I might purchase is white and has reach of 75' with a 1.5 to 2 yard bucket 3500 hrs I'm renting a 60ft now its a sany 10000 per mnth. has a 1 yd bucket
There was a thread somewhere that said they were good machines with the sliding counterweight. The pics I've seen they were orange. You might trying the search tool.
What would one of these machines be worth there asking price was a big no at $70,000, he has been trying to sell it to me for a good while now the price is at $49,000 that might still be to high for any machine from 1992 and it would cost probably 7 to 8000 in freight it weighs 80,000 lbs
A friend had one, not for long. IIRC, parts weren't easy to get or cheap. Got rid of it after replacing the swing bearing. Replaced with a Cat long reach, that didn't last long either, went back to a dragline for cleaning ponds. Sometimes, simple is better. Ed
this one has 3800 hrs and its a vc20-22 with the deeper dig boom extension wish I knew more about them
http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/the-digger-blog/view/the-priestman-vc-range--a-unique-concept
I'm the friend Bumpsteer is talking about. I had a late 80's/early 90's VC20/20. It was one of the machines used to help put out the oil well fires in Kuwait, and then found its way over here. Needless to say, it had a hard life before I got it. I knew it needed a new swing bearing but the price was right. When it was running it was great for the pond digging and clean outs I do. It was very well balanced with the sliding counterweight and didn't work itself down in the muck like a normal machine tends to do. Also, I could pick up a full bucket at maximum reach, no need to pull the stick in first. It's downfall was parts availability. The hydraulics were British metric and that was hard to find here at the time. Cylinders and common things I had reworked at the local hydraulic shop, and parts for the Perkins I got through a Massey Ferguson dealer. Any parts specific to the Priestman had to come from a man in Florida and if he didn't have it then I had to wait for him to get it from across the pond. Overall, had it not been worn out when I got and parts been a little easier to get I'd probably still have it to use in tight places where the dragline doesn't fit. It didn't cycle as fast as the 325 Cat long reach, but had more capacity. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask, and if you buy it I have a whole bunch of extra parts!
Good day Flat41b Try this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKAj_So2Yms if you make a you tube search can be helpful. Kind reagrds Uffex