newbie

[Alexmac]

Hello everyone, my name is Alex i am in my late 20's and i run a small building & groundworks company along the southwest coast. I currently run a yanmar sv08, takeuchi tb016, tb260, thwaites 1 ton high lift, thwaites 6 ton dumper, barford 6 ton swivel dumper, Ausa concrete mixer, jcb telehandler and a hitachi 135us-5 fitted with a rototilt r4. I also have a john deere 6830 with a plant and dump trailer which are up for sale due to vosa getting a little too hot around my area now.

The hitachi is currently up for sale because i am looking to buy a duck instead which is one of the reasons i have joined. Hopefully i can gather some more info on here regarding ducks. I have a liebherr on demo in a weeks time so that should be interesting.

Thank you.

 

[Regy53]

Welcome

Hitachi sounds good fun, nice fleet you have there

 

[V8Druid]

Hello everyone, my name is Alex i am in my late 20's and i run a small building & groundworks company along the southwest coast. I currently run a yanmar sv08, takeuchi tb016, tb260, thwaites 1 ton high lift, thwaites 6 ton dumper, barford 6 ton swivel dumper, Ausa concrete mixer, jcb telehandler and a hitachi 135us-5 fitted with a rototilt r4. I also have a john deere 6830 with a plant and dump trailer which are up for sale due to vosa getting a little too hot around my area now.

The hitachi is currently up for sale because i am looking to buy a duck instead which is one of the reasons i have joined. Hopefully i can gather some more info on here regarding ducks. I have a liebherr on demo in a weeks time so that should be interesting.

Thank you.

how much duck experience do you have Alex?

 

[Alexmac]

how much duck experience do you have Alex?

0

 

[Gunners]

Welcome to the forum Alex, nice fleet of machines you have there. What sort of work do you get up to? Obviously groundwork but I mean like housing? Civils? farmwork etc

 

[Alexmac]

Welcome to the forum Alex, nice fleet of machines you have there. What sort of work do you get up to? Obviously groundwork but I mean like housing? Civils? farmwork etc

Thank you for the warm welcome. We do small work such as extensions and the odd new build but over the last few years I have been pushing over to more groundwork’s. I spend 6 months a year working on camp sites and then the summer I will do anything from drainage, concrete, ditching, etc. I installed a big culvert bridge last year which was great.
I don’t ever take on work such as clearing out farmers s**t pits.

 

[TiltyShaun]

Welcome to the home of the machinery insane!!

 

[diggerjones]

Sounds like you have a tidy little buisnes there. I agree about farmers. We're doing more with commercial side of things resently and thats totally different.
Welcome

 

[Alexmac]

Sounds like you have a tidy little buisnes there. I agree about farmers. We're doing more with commercial side of things resently and thats totally different.
Welcome

I am more interested in the civil engineering side of things rather than farm work. Plus it’s always a struggle to get paid

 

[Grahams]

Welcome.
Whatever duck you go for a 30kmh version will make a lot of difference. I didn't get this when I had a Volvo EW140B and it was a mistake. On long uphills it was particuarly noticable and the countryside can be quite undulating in the southwest.
If you are intending to take it off road I would consider large single tyres rather than the standard twins. Makes a real difference. The downside is it will be slightly more bouncy, but you can put the blade down if required.
If you are roading it to the job you will need a means of getting your buckets and attachments there too. Continentals tend to use trailers, but as JCB found out they are illegal here (I haven't heard any update on that recently). A custom built blade tray is the easiest and cheapest way round this.
A lot of people, me included, think a two piece boom is well worth the extra cost for the extra versitility it gives.
Graham

 

[Alexmac]

Welcome.
Whatever duck you go for a 30kmh version will make a lot of difference. I didn't get this when I had a Volvo EW140B and it was a mistake. On long uphills it was particuarly noticable and the countryside can be quite undulating in the southwest.
If you are intending to take it off road I would consider large single tyres rather than the standard twins. Makes a real difference. The downside is it will be slightly more bouncy, but you can put the blade down if required.
If you are roading it to the job you will need a means of getting your buckets and attachments there too. Continentals tend to use trailers, but as JCB found out they are illegal here (I haven't heard any update on that recently). A custom built blade tray is the easiest and cheapest way round this.
A lot of people, me included, think a two piece boom is well worth the extra cost for the extra versitility it gives.
Graham

Thanks for the in-depth reply Graham. The spec i have in mind and have been quoted on is extra wide undercarriage (2.7m), two piece boom, blade only, 30k box. I originally asked for super singles instead of twins but i have since found and alternative but so far everyone i have spoken to that use them have never taken them off road. I can't remember the name of them now but they look like agri pattern super singles but they are twin tyres, so you get 4 side walls for the added stability. But i don't know what they would be like in a field.

 

[Alexmac]

This is them. I believe Rob and lister run them.

 

[V8Druid]

0

vertical learning curve then ..... axle locks are your friends

This is them. I believe Rob and lister run them.

Bandenmarkt is the name of those tyres Boyo .... Lister swears by them and has done some big hours with his ..... the perceived wisdom with off roading them, is the issue of fine shite getting between them and wearing the side walls

2.7m is a serious wheelbase/track .... what is it and why 2.7m??? and a VA boom is a must have IMHDO on a duck, for anything other than general use. Dramatically shrinks the size of the machine

 

[Grahams]

I've never tried that type of twin. I can understand where they are coming from with the four side walls, but I would be concerned about stuff getting between them. I guess it depends on the percentage of offroad you expect to do and how worried you are about a bit of rocking. I found it a bit concerning at first, especially on side slopes as you are sat very high compared to a track machine, so it felt worse, but when it didn't fall over I got used to it. I ran Alliance flotation 331 600/40/22.5 which I found good. I have seen pictures of people running ADT tyres which have a lot stronger side walls and a squarer profile like the picture you put up, but as a single tyre.
Would you be swapping your rototilt over or going new? I think I would splash out for oil quick if I were going new. I think Engcon throw that in on the top if you don't go direct mount.
Graham

 

[Alexmac]

vertical learning curve then ..... axle locks are your friends

Yep! but I'm keen as mustard mate. what's axle lock? does it stop some of the swaying?

Bandenmarkt is the name of those tyres Boyo .... Lister swears by them and has done some big hours with his ..... the perceived wisdom with off roading them, is the issue of fine shite getting between them and wearing the side walls

2.7m is a serious wheelbase/track .... what is it and why 2.7m??? and a VA boom is a must have IMHDO on a duck, for anything other than general use. Dramatically shrinks the size of the machine

View attachment 4194 View attachment 4195

Thank you, would you suggest staying with a super single instead then?
Because they have a well spec one in stock and that's the size of the undercarriage, its a liebherr.

 

[Alexmac]

I've never tried that type of twin. I can understand where they are coming from with the four side walls, but I would be concerned about stuff getting between them. I guess it depends on the percentage of offroad you expect to do and how worried you are about a bit of rocking. I found it a bit concerning at first, especially on side slopes as you are sat very high compared to a track machine, so it felt worse, but when it didn't fall over I got used to it. I ran Alliance flotation 331 600/40/22.5 which I found good. I have seen pictures of people running ADT tyres which have a lot stronger side walls and a squarer profile like the picture you put up, but as a single tyre.
Would you be swapping your rototilt over or going new? I think I would splash out for oil quick if I were going new. I think Engcon throw that in on the top if you don't go direct mount.
Graham

Thanks for the info. I was going to swap the tilty over but i have decided to sell the whole lot and buy a new rototilt, they have sorted out a great price for me. Not really fussed about oil quick, i don't feel like its worth the extra thousands for me.

 

[Grahams]

Axle lock, as the name suggests, locks the axle. I only had one damped axle in the volvo, but the damping could be locked out so it was rigid bewteen the axles and chassis. Tend not to drive about with them locked unless on flat when lifting a heavy load, otherwise having no suspension it will lift the wheels off the ground as you go over bumps. Not good for stability or traction.
Hopefully you can contact Rob for a full rundown of how to get the best out of a Leibherr and his thoughts on offroading with those twins.
Graham

 

[Alexmac]

Axle lock, as the name suggests, locks the axle. I only had one damped axle in the volvo, but the damping could be locked out so it was rigid bewteen the axles and chassis. Tend not to drive about with them locked unless on flat when lifting a heavy load, otherwise having no suspension it will lift the wheels off the ground as you go over bumps. Not good for stability or traction.
Hopefully you can contact Rob for a full rundown of how to get the best out of a Leibherr and his thoughts on offroading with those twins.
Graham

which Rob are you referring to?

 

[V8Druid]

which Rob are you referring to?

Rob Taylor ... Atlasrob on CEF and @Hydremaduck here ... 'the man' for duck advice ... 's his fault I have one .... axle locks are just that....the steering axle on a duck also articulates vertically about a centre point swivel to keep all 4 wheels in contact with the ground, traveling on anything but flat ground ... but ... working over the front / steering axle corners tends to lift the opposite corner wheel until the chassis hits the stops (circa) 8 deg.s of movement on the pendle axle ... comes as a bit of a surprise first time, as it seems like you're going over .... which you could in the right circumstances .... the axle has a ram each side of the chassis to lock it in whatever position it's at, when the lock is applied.
most m/cs are auto applied when you press or lock the brake pedal ......(mine don't . .. manually switched, so you get good at remembering to lock it)

the cylinders are solidly fixed to the chassis and simply push down on the axle bearing points

centre pivot

and N/S lock cylinder

as Gra said .... trying to get about on uneven ground though, with 'em locked results in a corner lifting and losing traction

 

[Alexmac]

Rob Taylor ... Atlasrob on CEF and @Hydremaduck here ... 'the man' for duck advice ... 's his fault I have one .... axle locks are just that....the steering axle on a duck also articulates vertically about a centre point swivel to keep all 4 wheels in contact with the ground, traveling on anything but flat ground ... but ... working over the front / steering axle corners tends to lift the opposite corner wheel until the chassis hits the stops (circa) 8 deg.s of movement on the pendle axle ... comes as a bit of a surprise first time, as it seems like you're going over .... which you could in the right circumstances .... the axle has a ram each side of the chassis to lock it in whatever position it's at, when the lock is applied.
most m/cs are auto applied when you press or lock the brake pedal ......(mine don't . .. manually switched, so you get good at remembering to lock it)

the cylinders are solidly fixed to the chassis and simply push down on the axle bearing points View attachment 4205

centre pivot
View attachment 4203

and N/S lock cylinder
View attachment 4204

as Gra said .... trying to get about on uneven ground though, with 'em locked results in a corner lifting and losing traction

I see, that’s brilliant thank you. I can’t wait to have one for a few days and see what it can do. I have spoken to rob a little bit on Facebook about it all.