R.Sanders Plant

[JD450A]

So those that know me from the old forum know that I served my time with Mr Tim Rayner (Trax) before embarking on other adventures and bullshit.

We've ended up with a fleet consisting of two 2006 TB175's, a 1999 TB015, a JD450A, and A Thwaites 6t Dumper along with other shite and a wagon.

All of our work is within 30mins of home. Mostly repeat custom focusing on day/hourly rate work with proper efficiency behind it, We still keep our hand in with bigger bulk earthmoving. Only for friends these days.

 

[doobin]

How come two tb175’s? Have you a guy on full time now?

 

[JD450A]

How come two tb175’s? Have you a guy on full time now?

Namely transport and clients, Moving the kit site to site is laborious and costly and when you end up with multiple long term projects it pays to leave one on site. The second 175 was offered at a very good price and has been pinned and bushed besides other things including brand new tracks.

Purchasing it was a decision between a second TB175, a tractor or a 4t ZTS Takeuchi, with all three being similar money. Thing that pipped it for the TB175 is it's a 2006 and is effectively a new machine as it had serious money spent on it by the prior owner..... Almost came away with 3 TB175's as there was a second 2006 in similar condition but with less trimmings.

Both machines have been working constantly that said.... the old TB175 has a occasional operator now which wasn't planned but he finds his own work and pays me £20/hr for the machine :/

 

[Shovelhands]

How come two tb175’s? Have you a guy on full time now?

He’s cloned himself, there now two Rory’s! ........now there’s a scary thought!

 

[TiltyShaun]

Hi Rory.
Good to see you on here!!

 

[Bri963]

Loving the towed roller, Rory. How did the 450 come to be in this country? I wasn't aware they'd ever imported them to the UK.

 

[JD450A]

Loving the towed roller, Rory. How did the 450 come to be in this country? I wasn't aware they'd ever imported them to the UK.

Very popular in there day as the backactors would demount far more easily than the IH equivalents of the time. Imported from the beginning of the days of JD Plant to about the 455 range.

Lots where exported back to the states in the 70's/80's hence there a bit rarer but like anything theres lots about if you know where to look.... We have three JD450A's. I know where there are two more, I also know of three 455's, a 450 and am currently chasing down a JD750

 

[Mogman]

Quite the fleet there Roy plus keeping Fineance to a bare minimum, in my view very good as that is the way I do it, I suppose if I was to run just one machine I would buy a new one but like you I have a small fleet and have to drive them myself, not got a group picture as they are never all together but I have
Hitachi zx180
Doosan 170w (duck)
Takeuchi tb16
Lifton dumper (1 tonne)
3 ton dumper
3 ton roller
Manitou buggiscopic
Manitou 1340 telehandler
DAF xf 510 hiab truck with a couple of trailers
Scrap shear, trommel bucket, selectior grab, timber grab, pipe grab
Plus all the other shite I build for special jobs but I wouldn’t have it any other way

Jesus didn’t realise how much gear one man could amass, but all paid for with no finance,it’s the only way I could sleep at night, so good on you Roy for not succumbing to peer pressure to buy that new shiny digger with a noose of finance around your neck, there is a place for new gear don’t get me wrong, one man, one machine and a good contract

 

[JD450A]

Jesus didn’t realise how much gear one man could amass, but all paid for with no finance,it’s the only way I could sleep at night, so good on you Roy for not succumbing to peer pressure to buy that new shiny digger with a noose of finance around your neck, there is a place for new gear don’t get me wrong, one man, one machine and a good contract

Trouble for me is the flexibility aspect. at any one time I can have 4-5 separate jobs on the go requiring the same machine/machines and it's a case of juggling. You can tie jobs in around other trades if you have several machines but you can't often completely finish one job before moving on so the older kit works well for me, TBH we looked strongly at either a New JCB 5t machine (On the basis that it would arguable JUST fit on the wagon) a New Mini Excavator or the Extra TB175 this year and the 175 on the strength that the finance required for it is under £300 per month. Neither machine has got back the yard this year which is a irritation as I want one there before the winter closes in but tbh that's another story.

Finance scares me and TBH all gear is brought outright with the finance firmly round my neck and not the machines.... allows me to sell it all overnight should anything catatonic happen.

Theres other shit sat around Mog that's not part of the working fleet with a lot with things to be done on it or repaired, as you well know i'm a sucker for vintage plant and every now and then something appears like this fkn 4550..... Brought to be axed up really but I can't bring myself to do it :/.

 

[doobin]

I've got to ask why you don't finish one job before starting another? I can be just as bad as you at that but I wouldn't buy another machine identical to have it sat there! Fair play if you are renting it out though.

WIth the minis you really can't loose on finance. Two jobs a month with my op driving it and the profit from that pays the months finance.

 

[JD450A]

I've got to ask why you don't finish one job before starting another? I can be just as bad as you at that but I wouldn't buy another machine identical to have it sat there! Fair play if you are renting it out though.

We end up on jobs by recommendation, usually to sort out other peoples mess for about a "week tops" then end up staying till the end of the job. Jobs obviously have moments when you don't need a machine for a period but I'd rather leave a machine on site if that period is a week or less.

Bear in mind our longest running job that has had a machine on site close to continuously is a year, and is still going.

 

[doobin]

Fair play to you. Don't discount a new mini on finance however. If you cash your existing mini in (5-6k?),I'd say one days work a month would pay your finance.

I'll have a lot of VAT to pay this quarter, so I'm gonna buy a micro on finance just before the end of the quarter. I'm sure I'll get a couple of days a month for it. It could do a lot of what the mini does currently, and that's been out for weeks recently!

 

[JD450A]

Fair play to you. Don't discount a new mini on finance however. If you cash your existing mini in (5-6k?),I'd say one days work a month would pay your finance.

Your spot on with the one day a month mark, tbh We will get another mini probably end of next year, Probably Bobcat E19 or whatever the number is when it comes out as they are being upgraded etc. I like Loans rather than HP as it gives me more flexibility to chop the machine should the need arise.

Little TB015 is currently having a final drive done then getting semi retired, I need to preserve her as the short track frame and blade is no longer available on anything and she will squeeze into places nothing else will. I have a Kolbeco 2t machine arriving next month second hand which will take over the grunt work from the little Taki, 2t on Steels..... Rare bit of kit and Ideal for Mucking out Driveways into skips.

 

[doobin]

Your spot on with the one day a month mark, tbh We will get another mini probably end of next year, Probably Bobcat E19 or whatever the number is when it comes out as they are being upgraded etc. I like Loans rather than HP as it gives me more flexibility to chop the machine should the need arise.

Little TB015 is currently having a final drive done then getting semi retired, I need to preserve her as the short track frame and blade is no longer available on anything and she will squeeze into places nothing else will. I have a Kolbeco 2t machine arriving next month second hand which will take over the grunt work from the little Taki, 2t on Steels..... Rare bit of kit and Ideal for Mucking out Driveways into skips.

I'm hoping a Bobcat E10 will do anything a TB015 will. Tech moves so fast- my Hyundai 1.7 knocks the spots off a TB015 and even a TB216!

What rate did you get on your loan? NatWest offered me 3.4% but then tried to up it- typical sales bullshit. I got 2.2% flat rate on my Hyundai as HP.

 

[JD450A]

I'm hoping a Bobcat E10 will do anything a TB015 will. Tech moves so fast- my Hyundai 1.7 knocks the spots off a TB015 and even a TB216!

What rate did you get on your loan? NatWest offered me 3.4% but then tried to up it- typical sales bullshit. I got 2.2% flat rate on my Hyundai as HP.

2.9% loan, finance would of been around 10% for me.

R.E the E10, it's a capable machine but it doesn't have the reach the 015 does. Very few machines on the market today that will go through small gaps and dig to 3m. Biggest thing is the short U/C which no 1.5t machine seems to have these days. Speed isn't a issue on the jobs I need the 015 for, it's a reach and depth issue. 219 is just a disappointment IMHO..... too lightly built. Bobcat make the best machines under 2t on the market today as far as i'm concerned.

 

[doobin]

2.9% loan, finance would of been around 10% for me.

R.E the E10, it's a capable machine but it doesn't have the reach the 015 does. Very few machines on the market today that will go through small gaps and dig to 3m. Biggest thing is the short U/C which no 1.5t machine seems to have these days. Speed isn't a issue on the jobs I need the 015 for, it's a reach and depth issue. 219 is just a disappointment IMHO..... too lightly built. Bobcat make the best machines under 2t on the market today as far as i'm concerned.

Fair point, I hardly ever dig deep so hadn't considered reach. Yeah I hired a TB216 the other day and it was a bag of shite! Really did expect better. Puny rams, very jerky and the slew was very vague. The Hyundai knocks the spots off every other 1.7 I've tried when it comes to the hydraulic smoothness, but I haven't tried a Bobcat. I was tempted by them but the Hyundai deal was very good at the time. I hear Hyundai are 16k plus now so I would certainly look harder elsewhere were I buying again.

 

[Smooth operator]

Fair point, I hardly ever dig deep so hadn't considered reach. Yeah I hired a TB216 the other day and it was a bag of shite! Really did expect better. Puny rams, very jerky and the slew was very vague. The Hyundai knocks the spots off every other 1.7 I've tried when it comes to the hydraulic smoothness, but I haven't tried a Bobcat. I was tempted by them but the Hyundai deal was very good at the time. I hear Hyundai are 16k plus now so I would certainly look harder elsewhere were I buying again.

I had to jump on a tb216 this week to load a hi lift dumper , jumped off a kubota kx027 and onto that and nearly took the steering wheel off . There was so much play / movement in the slew no precision, I was trying to drive it like the kubota though flat out . I slowed down a bit after that but they do have good reach at ground level and residuals will be good but not for me .

 

[Nick...]

I’ve used lots of Takeuchi machines in my time and I really fail to see the attraction.allthough I run a Volvo the best machine I ever used was an 8 ton kubota last November which was a new hire machine and it was flawless.did try to look at a u27 kubota before I got my current Volvo but to say the dealer was useless was an understatement
Nick...

 

[Simon edwards]

I too fail to be impressed by Takeuchi's ,I've done a lot of hours on them over the years but have always found them to be a bit uninspiring but they have a hell of a following so obviously suit a lot of people's requirements.

 

[Grahams]

Nothing wrong with old shit if it is reliable. Lots of the pre computer stuff will go for ever.
Glad you are busy. Thought of you the other day when I was working at Torpoint with a hired 8 tonner, but thought it was too far.
Graham