5 tonner.

[fred]

Looking at moving up to a 5 tonner for the extra reach and productivity while still compact enough to fit on small sites.

Needs to be twin prop aux on the stick for the engcon as it will be moving it over.

Any recommendations ?

 

[Left hooker]

Looking at moving up to a 5 tonner for the extra reach and productivity while still compact enough to fit on small sites.

Needs to be twin prop aux on the stick for the engcon as it will be moving it over.

Any recommendations ?

What size engcon you got ?

 

[fred]

S40

 

[Furniss]

KX57 HI SPEC

 

[GazCro]

What you upgrading from?

 

[Gunners]

Give it a couple of months Fred and there will be plenty to choose from. I'm already seeing low houred, year old, tiltrotator equipped machines coming onto the market place. Will be a good time to buy this year if you have the money.
As for brand, the 5t market is a tough one as some manufacturers make a 4.5t and call it a 5 and others are more like 6t (i.e the KX57) I don't think anyone makes a bad machine in this class so see whats available and what you can get for the money.

 

[Jimbo69]

Eh

Give it a couple of months Fred and there will be plenty to choose from. I'm already seeing low houred, year old, tiltrotator equipped machines coming onto the market place. Will be a good time to buy this year if you have the money.
As for brand, the 5t market is a tough one as some manufacturers make a 4.5t and call it a 5 and others are more like 6t (i.e the KX57) I don't think anyone makes a bad machine in this class so see whats available and what you can get for the money.

What he said As for recommendations I’ve only driven the Kubota 48U in that class and couldn’t fault it/them. (Hired 2)

 

[Stubota86]

Doosan DX55 is a nice machine IMO although I’ve not operated many others to compare it to

 

[Left hooker]

S40

Ment what size tilty you have ?

 

[V8Druid]

this was nice, which was more than could be said for the tilt bucket ... bit more than 5t though ... the DX55 should hopefully be as nice

's a DX63

 

[fred]

I am a Kubota fan as the kx030-4 I have has been good machine and the dealer support decent also.

September time there bound to be some good deals if the madness hasn't wiped out all the dealers.

 

[Furniss]

You going to keep something you can tow around yourself or chop in your 3 ton ?

 

[fred]

chop it in, the amount of times I need to move it can get it moved by the local hire place for beer tokens. Shame kubota no longer make a 5 tonner as the 8 is a bit big.

 

[GazCro]

chop it in, the amount of times I need to move it can get it moved by the local hire place for beer tokens. Shame kubota no longer make a 5 tonner as the 8 is a bit big.

Obviously you're wanting to make use of your hitch and buckets on the new machine. But i was going to say regarding the 5/6 ton machines when you get up to the 6 ton mark they are specced with 8 ton buckets so apart from the cost difference you may as well buy an 8 tonner. Kubota do a 4 tonner which spec wise pretty much matches my takeuchi tb240. I haven't tried the kubota but my 240 is a hell of a machine for its size and s40 would be right size. Not much bigger than you're kubota i know but you'd be surprised how much more productive.

 

[Monkeybusiness]

My Takeuchi TB260 is same size/spec at the Kubota KX57 (which I was going to buy, but the Takeuchi deal was £5k less) and is on S40. Great machine, S40 will work upto 6 tonners.

 

[fred]

Obviously you're wanting to make use of your hitch and buckets on the new machine. But i was going to say regarding the 5/6 ton machines when you get up to the 6 ton mark they are specced with 8 ton buckets so apart from the cost difference you may as well buy an 8 tonner. Kubota do a 4 tonner which spec wise pretty much matches my takeuchi tb240. I haven't tried the kubota but my 240 is a hell of a machine for its size and s40 would be right size. Not much bigger than you're kubota i know but you'd be surprised how much more productive.

Need a bigger machine to make life easier loading 8 wheelers, can only do it sat on a heap at present. Engcon eats into dump height a fair bit. Also nice to have extra lifting capacity for setting beams/rsj's etc

 

[GazCro]

I guess it depends on how big the sites you are working on are and how much you want to outlay. For me personally the 5/6 ton bracket are in a bit of no man's land where they are too big to fit in the small jobs and yet a long way short of an 8 tonner production wise. The only thing is there's a fair cost jump from 6 to 8 ton. I guess you're trying to cover all bases with one machine which is never easy, hence i have micro 1.5, 4 and 9 ton machines. Whatever you choose a top hitch to drop the engcon off would benefit loading height (I'm guessing you're direct mounted)

 

[fred]

your right Gazvro, tyring to cover the bases. Dont have a problem hiring in the small machines or a machine with pecker etc for the odd occasion. 8 are just a bit too big for us a 5/6 about right combinatin of size and capcity/lift. Will spec a top hitch on the 5 tonner, adds too much weight on the 3 tonner. Already a bit tippy with S40.

 

[Left hooker]

Is yours a ec206 or a ec204 ?

 

[Diggerdave]

I run a zx50 Hitachi and find it a really good tool. Like you say, it will go most places a 3 tonner will but will do similar work to what a 7 tonner would do. It also fits on my ifor if just going up the lane for a mile or two.