As the most popular construction plant machine, you will always find all type of used excavators for sale on these pages. This means that a mini-digger will be shown alongside a huge tracked excavator. To help in your search you can filter using a specific sub-category. Looking for a wheeled excavator? No problem, simply filter on the wheeled excavator category and that’s all you’ll see. Looking for a smaller excavator in the sub eight tonne bracket – then filter using ‘mini-excavators’. After some buying advice? Read our report below
The choice of excavator size is almost mind-boggling, but it is important to get the right size for the job in hand. Sometimes this may involve compromises. If a machine is always on the move between jobs, then it needs to be easy to transport by the methods you have available. Broadly speaking, if the excavator is too large for the truck or trailer that you were hoping to use, then it might not be best for you, even if it is perfect for the digging job in hand.
This is a particularly important consideration when looking at mini excavators that you are hoping to tow behind a car or van. The issue applies equally to a large tracked excavator that requires specialist road transport with the increased associated costs.
This depends on the type of work to be carried out and the surfaces that the excavator will be spending most of it s time on.
Operating a tracked excavator on a tarmac surface, for example, will win over no friends at all. This means that a lot of road repairs and the final stages of road building will be carried out with a wheeled excavator. Similarly a lot of waste processing roles require the use of a wheeled excavator to move around site safely and with pace.
If the site surface permits the use of a tracked excavator then they are by far and away the best option thanks to their increased digging stability. A tracked excavator can simply move to a spot and then dig, whereas a wheel loader would need to deploy their rear dozer blade as a minimum, or use it in combination with front outriggers – or use four outriggers all round.
So, stability and resulting efficiency makes the tracked excavator the choice every time – this is why they hugely outnumber the wheeled variety on Plantpages.
All excavators can rotate 360 degrees when working. Consider the shape of the tracks or chassis and they are longer than they are wide. This means that, on a conventional excavator, the rear part of the excavator body (the heavy part where the weights are) will protrude from the side of the tracks when at 90 degrees to the tracks. This is fine on a large, open building site, but, if operating in narrower spaces, it means that the operator would have to consider the safety of the rear of the machine when moving the digging arm left to right.
A zero swing machine will not protrude from the width of the tracks, making it a safer alternative and easier to operate from the driver’s perspective. Most zero swing excavators will have a ‘Z’ somewhere in their model number.
All excavators ship with a standard length arm when sold to optimise lifting ability and breakout force, but you may have an duty cycle that requires a little more dig depth. You should look for an excavator that has been equipped with a long arm option.
Often combined with some additional counterweights, .you can do more with the excavator without having to keep repositioning
Make sure that you carry out a thorough machine inspection before parting with your hard-earned money. Start off with a simple walk around the machine. Check for any cracks, welds and rust. Start the machine and listen for any unusual noises from the engine and check for smoke on start up and under load. A visual check of the engine is also helpful. One that is covered in mud and dirt may not have received the best in terms of preventative maintenance!
Check the quality of all hydraulic joints and hoses – do any look wet?
Get in the cab and test every button and lever – if you don’t know what it is supposed to do then ask. If the seller doesn’t know either you should ask yourself why?
What about the attachments? Does the machine come with more than one bucket, for example?
What about the paperwork? Check for any service history to verify the hours shown.
Are the serial numbers in place and correct? You need to make sure the machine is a genuine item.
JN Bentley, a national civil engineering, building and MEICA contractor, which is part of the Mott MacDonald Group, is making waves in the construction and engineering industry. With an unwavering commitment to safety and quality, the company, with roots in Skipton, but now operating UK-wide, has cultivated a lasting partnership with PV Dobson and Kubota, setting a high standard for excellence in the field. For almost two decades, JN Bentley has been a loyal client of PV Dobson, a reputable dealer of Kubota excavators. This partnership has seen JN Bentley grow into one of PV Dobson’s most significant customers, boasting…>
Kubota has sponsored this years ‘Micro-Excavator Operator of the Year’ category at the UK Plant Operator of the Year 2023 competition, hosted by UK Plant Operators Magazine in partnership with the CITB and Morris Leslie. For the first time ever, the competition included a challenge specifically for micro-excavator operators. As part of its sponsorship of the event, Kubota supplied one of its leading servo controlled U10-5 micro-excavators for the competition, which was used in both the July semi-finals and the grand final which took place in September. Andrew Walker, the first-ever winner of the Micro-Excavator Operator of the Year category,…>
The Hyundai HX439L is a 43 tonne excavator heading through the Lambert Smith Hampton sale on the 6th December. It comes from the joint administrators of M Ifoe Limited and will take place in Northwich, Cheshire. Also in the sale are smaller 14 tonne Hyundai excavators, six Doosan DX255LC and ten Doosan DX140LC excavators. Remember, there's always tonnes of farm machinery for sale at our sister site www.farmmachinerypages.co.uk If you are looking for trucks and trailers for sale then head to www.truckpages.co.uk Also check out the rest of the photo lineages for a great choice of used plant for sale.…>
This week's front cover sees a military, ex MoD, Foden dump truck alongside a Hitachi ZX130 excavator, both of which are offer at GPSV auctions on 23rd November. See the advert on page 19 - you will see some interesting lots available from tanks to planes and everything in between. Remember, there's always tonnes of farm machinery for sale at our sister site www.farmmachinerypages.co.uk If you are looking for trucks and trailers for sale then head to www.truckpages.co.uk Also check out the rest of the photo lineages for a great choice of used plant for sale. There’s always plenty of…>
Hodgson Tool Hire, one of the leading independent hire firms in the North West of England, has expanded its mini-excavator fleet with the purchase of nine new Kubota machines throughout 2023 due to increased customer demand. Established in 1997, Hodgson Tool Hire is a family run business with depots in Burscough and Ainsdale. With the nine new Kubota additions, consisting of U17, U27 and K008-5 machines, Hodgson Tool Hire now boasts an 18 strong excavator fleet and has more than 50 plant items on hire throughout the North West of England. Callum Hodgson, Branch Manager at Hodgson Tool Hire, said:…>