Machine with expandable tracks suggestions

[Arbor12]

Hi all,

Im looking for a second hand machine that will be able to run a rotator grab and post knocker ideally a small flail to, as our work ranges from tree surgery, fencing and landscaping.
Ive hired a sany sy16 recently and was looking at the sy18 before i hired this, i felt some of the things on the sy16 i wasnt to happy with seemed to pull in the stick really quickly when working close to the blad and the foot pedals seem to be to close to the tack controls not sure if it was just this machine?
ive also looked at the takuchi 216 but have herd that they dont have joystick control of aux which if using the rotator grab would be a must i feel, but know takuchi build quality is very high, would this be something i can put joystick controls on? wacker neuson would be nice to see what its like but sadly dont seem to come up very often. ive got around £12.5k to spend but just want peoples opinions on what might be best?

thanks

 

[Storrsy]

Hi all,

Im looking for a second hand machine that will be able to run a rotator grab and post knocker ideally a small flail to, as our work ranges from tree surgery, fencing and landscaping.
Ive hired a sany sy16 recently and was looking at the sy18 before i hired this, i felt some of the things on the sy16 i wasnt to happy with seemed to pull in the stick really quickly when working close to the blad and the foot pedals seem to be to close to the tack controls not sure if it was just this machine?
ive also looked at the takuchi 216 but have herd that they dont have joystick control of aux which if using the rotator grab would be a must i feel, but know takuchi build quality is very high, would this be something i can put joystick controls on? wacker neuson would be nice to see what its like but sadly dont seem to come up very often. ive got around £12.5k to spend but just want peoples opinions on what might be best?

thanks

The Wacker would 100% be the best option tbh. They have a high aux flow for flails that can be turned down for other applications. For post knocker work I also think the VDS system would be very handy- if knocking in posts going across a slop you could level the knocker using the vds etc. It would also give extra height for grab and knocker work. Forget the TB216 I have one and it's crap. Ok that might be a little harsh- it's extremely reliable and quite well put together, good paint job but foot controls for aux is awfull for grab and knocker use. They are also rather gutless when lifting stuff at far reach. Do you really need expanding tracks? Better ground clearance without them if doing alot of rural work which sounds like you do?

 

[Weaknee]

The Wacker would 100% be the best option tbh. They have a high aux flow for flails that can be turned down for other applications. For post knocker work I also think the VDS system would be very handy- if knocking in posts going across a slop you could level the knocker using the vds etc. It would also give extra height for grab and knocker work. Forget the TB216 I have one and it's crap. Ok that might be a little harsh- it's extremely reliable and quite well put together, good paint job but foot controls for aux is awfull for grab and knocker use. They are also rather gutless when lifting stuff at far reach. Do you really need expanding tracks? Better ground clearance without them if doing alot of rural work which sounds like you do?

Im suprised you dont like your 216 i have use of one which i feel is miles better at lifting at reach and close in than any of the other machines ive driven in its weight class

 

[Storrsy]

Im suprised you dont like your 216 i have use of one which i feel is miles better at lifting at reach and close in than any of the other machines ive driven in its weight class

Some people seem to love them. They're not all bad. Nice to grade with, quite quick slinging stuff into a dumper etc . But tracking and breakout is weak, the slew has far too much play for my liking from new. But I have had mine for 6 years now and its not cost me a penny except oil changes- only done 1450hrs on it though. The Wacker ET24/20 is twice the machine IMO

 

[Weaknee]

Some people seem to love them. They're not all bad. Nice to grade with, quite quick slinging stuff into a dumper etc . But tracking and breakout is weak, the slew has far too much play for my liking from new. But I have had mine for 6 years now and its not cost me a penny except oil changes- only done 1450hrs on it though. The Wacker ET24/20 is twice the machine IMO

I feel different the one i use is a 2015 around 1800hrs tracking is great every other brand seems way to slow and never had much of an issue with breakout have yet to drive a wacker though but agree some people dont rate them my dads groundworks contractor only uses taks below 10 ton so some people musf like them

 

[Thomas7740]

Some people seem to love them. They're not all bad. Nice to grade with, quite quick slinging stuff into a dumper etc . But tracking and breakout is weak, the slew has far too much play for my liking from new. But I have had mine for 6 years now and its not cost me a penny except oil changes- only done 1450hrs on it though. The Wacker ET24/20 is twice the machine IMO

Never been on a Tak and thought, “wow this is great, I would love to buy one”

 

[doobin]

Never been on a Tak and thought, “wow this is great, I would love to buy one”

Same, but you can’t knock the residuals/reliability. See plenty on mega hours.

Mind you, you know all about mega hours on a hitatchi!

 

[Thomas7740]

Same, but you can’t knock the residuals/reliability. See plenty on mega hours.

Mind you, you know all about mega hours on a hitatchi!

I agree, and I wouldn’t say no to one for that reason, just better options out there.

The EX30 is still working for its new owner, although only doing a couple hundred hours a year now

 

[JD450A]

I like my Taks, but they no way justify there current prices.

I very much like my 219.... however it was a 5 year old machine with 800 hrs and it had lost 10k in those 5 years.

216 isn't for me.... They are marmite.

I do like the Cats.

 

[Hg2702]

Everyone likes the cats

 

[hiluxman]

Everyone likes the cats

I'm cat through and through...but I sense some underhand comment there. Lol

 

[6feetdown]

I'm cat through and through...but I sense some underhand comment there. Lol

Meeow

 

[Arbor12]

The Wacker would 100% be the best option tbh. They have a high aux flow for flails that can be turned down for other applications. For post knocker work I also think the VDS system would be very handy- if knocking in posts going across a slop you could level the knocker using the vds etc. It would also give extra height for grab and knocker work. Forget the TB216 I have one and it's crap. Ok that might be a little harsh- it's extremely reliable and quite well put together, good paint job but foot controls for aux is awfull for grab and knocker use. They are also rather gutless when lifting stuff at far reach. Do you really need expanding tracks? Better ground clearance without them if doing alot of rural work which sounds like you do?

Thankyou for the reply, think you’ve confirmed my feeling that the wacker is something I want I would defo go for the vds if it’s in my price range. I would say half of our work is domestic so have a lot of tight access gardens etc to get into so sadly a bigger machine would not be ideal as I’d still have to hire a smaller machine.

Onto the hunt for a trailer and a machine trying to find a used wacker neuson is like gold dust don’t seem to come up very often.

 

[V8Druid]

I'm cat through and through...but I sense some underhand comment there. Lol

something along the lines of being a pussy lover

 

[6feetdown]

Thankyou for the reply, think you’ve confirmed my feeling that the wacker is something I want I would defo go for the vds if it’s in my price range. I would say half of our work is domestic so have a lot of tight access gardens etc to get into so sadly a bigger machine would not be ideal as I’d still have to hire a smaller machine.

Onto the hunt for a trailer and a machine trying to find a used wacker neuson is like gold dust don’t seem to come up very often.

There were a few in Euros last week but cannot remember what size machines

 

[Arbor12]

There were a few in Euros last week but cannot remember what size machines

euro auctions?

 

[doobin]

Bobcat e19 usually has rockers on joystick for aux and and boom slew. So easy enough to divert for rotator.
I do the same work as you, and take it from me that a 1.9t will be very limited on a grab and rotator. I have an E19 that is as optimised as it can be for grab/rotator and tiltrotator. It has short dipper option and a very low profile s30 quick hitch. It’s still incredibly cumbersome on a rotating grab compared to my larger e27, which really bosses it.

If you don’t need to get into tight gaps then step up to a 2.7t.

 

[6feetdown]

euro auctions?

Yes

 

[Storrsy]

This video of an ET18 with VDS looks fine with rotating grab on. It's a good demonstration imo of the vds system being of benefit. The bit in the video where he's loading logs the vds is giving very useful load height where a normal machine would be struggling to get the height on the pile. Yes there's ways round it- using it at further reach or swivelling and using the blade but for a 1.8t machine I think that's about as good as your going to get