Dumpers, hydrostatic drive the best?

[Storrsy]

So I’ve been eyeing up a few dumpers recently- circa 2 ton as that will fit in my plant trailer and get down footpaths but but more stable than the little 1 ton jobs.
Anyway something I always find hiring Thwaites 3 ton dumpers is they are almost useless when the going gets rough and muddy as no difflock, yet the 1 ton dumpers are fantastic at keeping going in the s**t which I put down to the hydrostatic drive keeping power to all wheels. I assume anyway. I have my eye on a 1.5t Wacker Neuson which has Hydrodrive so think this will be better than the manual transmission offerings from Thwaites etc?

 

[Smiffy]

So I’ve been eyeing up a few dumpers recently- circa 2 ton as that will fit in my plant trailer and get down footpaths but but more stable than the little 1 ton jobs.
Anyway something I always find hiring Thwaites 3 ton dumpers is they are almost useless when the going gets rough and muddy as no difflock, yet the 1 ton dumpers are fantastic at keeping going in the s**t which I put down to the hydrostatic drive keeping power to all wheels. I assume anyway. I have my eye on a 1.5t Wacker Neuson which has Hydrodrive so think this will be better than the manual transmission offerings from Thwaites etc?

Do you mean full manual thwaites or 4 speed box with torque converter??
If it's fully manual ive been driving a three tonne thwaites and the clutch is stupidly violent it's a nightmare trying to backfill trenches without and near scary to load on a lorry

 

[Storrsy]

Do you mean full manual thwaites or 4 speed box with torque converter??
If it's fully manual ive been driving a three tonne thwaites and the clutch is stupidly violent it's a nightmare trying to backfill trenches without and near scary to load on a lorry

The Thwaites I use just has 3 forward and 1 reverse. Don’t think it had a torque converter. No synchro between gears either! The 1 ton dumper is just done with a joystick, no pedals or gears. And I find them a joy to use especially as I have dodgy knees. But as I mentioned before being hydrostatic the wheels just keep going rather when your in shitty conditions.

 

[Shovelhands]

@Gunners is the man for this topic

 

[Storrsy]

And yes, no what you mean about violent clutch on the manuals- another reason why I like hydrostatic and infinite control creeping forward using the joystick. I suppose what I’m getting at is am I missing something- why are more dumpers not hydrostatic as it seems better all round IME?

 

[Storrsy]

The machine I’m considering is an older one of these... I like the swivel skip, hydrostatic drive and being 1350mm wise makes it a bit more stable and productive than the 1 timbers but still small enough to get in most places as same width as my 1.8t digger with tracks out.

 

[Hg2702]

We just had a brand new thwaites 1.5 swivel tip hydrostatic on hire and it got half way up the steep incline and gave up. My little ed750 climbed it ok but by christ that was arse clenching.

I was surprised by it as like you say they normally go anywhere

 

[T whiting]

The hydrostatic drives are brilliant unless it's a long run as there a good bit slower than a torque converter they also seem to make them thirsty

 

[hiluxman]

We just had a brand new thwaites 1.5 swivel tip hydrostatic on hire and it got half way up the steep incline and gave up. My little ed750 climbed it ok but by christ that was arse clenching.

I was surprised by it as like you say they normally go anywhere

I put wide wheels on my ed750, it made a world of difference to it stability wise. You also gained a little extra tip height too

 

[Storrsy]

We just had a brand new thwaites 1.5 swivel tip hydrostatic on hire and it got half way up the steep incline and gave up. My little ed750 climbed it ok but by christ that was arse clenching.

I was surprised by it as like you say they normally go anywhere

Ooh interesting, hard one to try detect if I’m just going to look at it- would hate to get it home and find it had the same problem.

 

[Storrsy]

I put wide wheels on my ed750, it made a world of difference to it stability wise. You also gained a little extra tip height too

75O I assume refers to 750kg? I don’t think I can go much smaller than 1500kg really. In fact the Thwaites 2 ton would be good but the manual transmission is what puts me off them.

 

[Hg2702]

Ooh interesting, hard one to try detect if I’m just going to look at it- would hate to get it home and find it had the same problem.

I was hoping loaded with concrete it would go but it just started spinning other than that it was a great dumper. Just feel with a geared dumper you can be more gentle to the situation if you get me hence the little ed750

mind you it was steep

 

[Steve]

I think the clutch problem on some of the manual dumpers is down to having a carbon thrust bush instead of a thrust bearing, god knows who thought that was a good idea.

 

[GazCro]

Ergonomics on dumpers is terrible imho. Benford 3 tonne with kubota engine (probably the same with others) clutch is horrific to use. Two return springs on the pedal makes a world of difference if you take them both off not needed anyway. Neuson smaller ones the throttle pedal you push forward rather than press down which on bumpy going makes throttle control impossible. Keep meaning to look into modding my 1 ton neuson cos other than that it's a brilliant tool. Thwaites 6 tonne I fix a 1 inch thick rubber mat on the floor so you can rest your heel on the floor while pressing the throttle (not a problem if your 6ft6 i assume). Its sad really but imho dumpers over 25 year old may be noisy smoky rattly things but in many ways they are far superior to actually use.

 

[GazCro]

Re your actual question below 3 ton hydro drive (I doubt there's much choice tbh). I don't think thwaites 3 tonner is like what they used to build i think their narrower and possibly slightly smaller wheels. Proper old skool 3 tonners take bossing for travelling on bad going, just you don't get them anymore.

 

[Gunners]

@Storrsy I had exactly the same requirements as you, kept hiring a 3 ton but they are a bit big, 1t just too small. Back in March I purchased a new Thwaites 1.5t hydrostatic swivel and its been great. So much more productive than the 1t whilst still being able to go behind the digger. Really glad I bought it now. Thwaites do a 2t hydrostatic but you don't want to know the price. At the time I was buying mine, I went through all the prices on here (think its in my Gunns Contractors thread) I had for each spec, manual, hydrostatic etc so should still be fairly current now I'd have thought. I also reviewed it on my youtube channel (cheeky plug!) www.youtube.com/olliegunns
Those Wacker Neuson dumpers are really well made but I find them hard to get on and off as the steering column is quite big and the step is pathetic. I like the fuel gauge on the dash though and the paintwork is superior to the Thwaites over the long term. Both decent machines really with strong residuals

 

[Regy53]

Hydrostatics do struggle to climb, back in 2013 it became the rage and Terex were hugely cheaper than Thwaites. Hire company's wanted them as saved clutch replacements and now is basically the norm

 

[Gunners]

Hydrostatics do struggle to climb, back in 2013 it became the rage and Terex were hugely cheaper than Thwaites. Hire company's wanted them as saved clutch replacements and now is basically the norm

The Terex 3t hydrostatic is much better than the Thwaites equivalent. Its got a bigger engine too. Ive had those Terex dumpers in some right hairy situations and they have never failed to drive out, either mud, steep hill or both! The Thwaites just lacked power to me but that was in some very soft conditions, 95% of dumper operating it would be fine.
My little one does better than I expected as it runs the same motors as the 1t. Clearly @Hg2702 you weren't driving it like you stole it, which is the only way to drive a dumper - especially a hired one!

 

[Hg2702]

It only had 2 hours on the clock ! Was one of those days if it could go wrong it did

 

[Gunners]

It only had 2 hours on the clock ! Was one of those days if it could go wrong it did

Well you did completely destroy that guys fence.......