Hi there I'm looking at buying a 2006 Takeuchi TB175 for road work, general farm work, cutting drain and culverts, digging house foundations, and forestry work using a rotating grapple. Ground is all clay or hard compacted ash/loam, some sandstone. Access is not going to be an issue as generally there will be plenty of room for the machine to work. Trees are old man pines 30 to 50 years old, and plantation pines 15 to 17 yeas old so 12" diameter. The property is nearly all rolling to steep apart from house sites hence the need to cut farm tracks. Would be very interested in feedback as to whether this machine would be suitable. It has 3300 hours on it and looks in good condition. I am yet to fine out maintenance history. Cheers JB
Having done some tree/stump work with smaller machines, in my opinion the 175 is probably pushing the low end. While its easier than hand work!, stumping or heavy excavating in a machine that's too small can be quite frustrating. A single stump can take hours (I was doing big oak stumps, though). Rocks, same thing. I haven't used a 175, however, and its definitely not a "mini"! What you may find is that the 175 does the work as well as you'd like, but it may end up wearing out much faster than a bigger machine. Just something to consider. Around here, a Cat 225 runs in the 20k range in good shape and would be make all of that work a real breeze without taking a beating. Have you looked at some older but bigger machines? I find there's often a crossing point where the cost of a newer small machine equals the cost of a larger old machine that's still in good shape. The transportation issues/cost are also a factor. I was looking for a machine to do the same kinds of things and settled on an older Gradall. Seemed to be a good compromise of mobility, ruggedness, and enough power/bucket to do most residential/farm type work while cost less than even a junky small excavator.