Rubber duck

Grueller · 18-09-2015 10:35PM #1

I am not getting into the bath here.
For all the lads with experience of diggers here I have a question. I have an out farm 8 miles or so from the yard and am thinking of buying a digger for my on use cleaning out gripes, touching up drains, putting in roadways etc. An uncle who does be about the auctions has a rubber duck picked up. It's a komatsu 13 tonne. Not sure of the model number. He reckons it is good value and would do me a lifetime at €8k.
I had been looking for a track machine but have no low loader and he reckons being able to drive the rubber duck would make her more suitable for me. He also reckons that on my land she would be good enough to travel. Any opinions?

Tefral · 18-09-2015 10:39PM

Grueller wrote: »

I am not getting into the bath here.
For all the lads with experience of diggers here I have a question. I have an out farm 8 miles or so from the yard and am thinking of buying a digger for my on use cleaning out gripes, touching up drains, putting in roadways etc. An uncle who does be about the auctions has a rubber duck picked up. It's a komatsu 13 tonne. Not sure of the model number. He reckons it is good value and would do me a lifetime at €8k.
I had been looking for a track machine but have no low loader and he reckons being able to drive the rubber duck would make her more suitable for me. He also reckons that on my land she would be good enough to travel. Any opinions?

Big one is how good the drainage on your land is. You can use the arm to move yourself out of trouble with a 13ton. Just curious as to why youd want to move it, is your land made up of numerous sites spread out?

td5man · 18-09-2015 10:40PM

Grueller wrote: »

I am not getting into the bath here.
For all the lads with experience of diggers here I have a question. I have an out farm 8 miles or so from the yard and am thinking of buying a digger for my on use cleaning out gripes, touching up drains, putting in roadways etc. An uncle who does be about the auctions has a rubber duck picked up. It's a komatsu 13 tonne. Not sure of the model number. He reckons it is good value and would do me a lifetime at €8k.
I had been looking for a track machine but have no low loader and he reckons being able to drive the rubber duck would make her more suitable for me. He also reckons that on my land she would be good enough to travel. Any opinions?

Lad that worked on the roads with us had super singles on his instead of twin wheels think they had tractor type grips. Fierce useful machine especially if you have a set of forks for it.

Grueller · 18-09-2015 10:49PM

cronin_j wrote: »

Big one is how good the drainage on your land is. You can use the arm to move yourself out of trouble with a 13ton. Just curious as to why youd want to move it, is your land made up of numerous sites spread out?

Ya the home block and the out farm are 8 miles apart and my house is a mile from the yard. I also rent a bit a few hundred yards down the road from the out farm.
The drainage on the home block is excellent. Free draining shale soils. Would be used mainly around the yard and tidying in a few ditches etc on this. The outfarm is heavy clay soils but the drainage is good. It has springs though that pop up every now and again. If I had a digger about I could deal with them as and when they appear. I gave a lad with a 3cx €350 just last week to deal with two of these for labour only. It didn't seem worth while getting a track machine infor that little bit but took a 3cx ages to do the sum total of fook all. Rubber duck might be a good compromise.

Nekarsulm · 19-09-2015 04:07AM

The trouble with any duck is, when they come to a wet spot, they sit down!
Same with the digger variety.

Cannot honestly see one being any good on land.

Miname · 19-09-2015 07:18AM

Are you seriously considering driving a rubber duck eight miles? I'd say your uncles stuck with the machine and finding it harder to move than he thought and sees you as an opportunity. Buy a track machine if you have to and get a low loader some other time. Or better again put 4-5k of the money you'd spend on a good one and get a good machine driver in to do the lot and have no maintainance and right it off in tax.

IH784man · 19-09-2015 05:39PM

Miname wrote: »

Are you seriously considering driving a rubber duck eight miles? I'd say your uncles stuck with the machine and finding it harder to move than he thought and sees you as an opportunity. Buy a track machine if you have to and get a low loader some other time. Or better again put 4-5k of the money you'd spend on a good one and get a good machine driver in to do the lot and have no maintainance and right it off in tax.

I agree here,you might have a couple of weeks work with the digger only for her to be lying up for the rest of the year bar 3/4 days work.

caseman · 19-09-2015 10:50PM

Grueller wrote: »

I am not getting into the bath here.
For all the lads with experience of diggers here I have a question. I have an out farm 8 miles or so from the yard and am thinking of buying a digger for my on use cleaning out gripes, touching up drains, putting in roadways etc. An uncle who does be about the auctions has a rubber duck picked up. It's a komatsu 13 tonne. Not sure of the model number. He reckons it is good value and would do me a lifetime at €8k.
I had been looking for a track machine but have no low loader and he reckons being able to drive the rubber duck would make her more suitable for me. He also reckons that on my land she would be good enough to travel. Any opinions?

A rubber duck is hopeless when they leave the tar unless it's bone dry.
Have to agree with the above posts about getting contractor to do the work you'll get alot of work done for couple of grand.

td5man · 20-09-2015 07:52AM

A local farmer has a duck see its on tracks now.

Sam Kade · 20-09-2015 09:02AM

You could hire out a self drive 13 tonne track machine for 550/week the only extras you need are a good driver and diesel.

td5man · 20-09-2015 01:23PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

You could hire out a self drive 13 tonne track machine for 550/week the only extras you need are a good driver and diesel.

Would you be better off hiring a machine with driver and diesel supplied?

Sam Kade · 20-09-2015 02:40PM

td5man wrote: »

Would you be better off hiring a machine with driver and diesel supplied?

Depends on what you want to do, ideally if the farmer could operate it himself it would be a cheap option. If he was arsing around trying to learn how to operate it you would be better off hiring a man with his own machine.

Kevhog1988 · 21-09-2015 11:55AM

A duck will bog in any sort of wet land. I would say a jcb 3cx / cat 428 would be a better option as it has 4wd etc and travels pretty fast if you need to do road work. 4 in 1 can be used to feed etc. Ducks are notoriously hard to drive. Most lads who would drive a normal 360 would struggle on a duck.

td5man · 21-09-2015 01:40PM

theemigrant wrote: »

A duck will bog in any sort of wet land. I would say a jcb 3cx / cat 428 would be a better option as it has 4wd etc and travels pretty fast if you need to do road work. 4 in 1 can be used to feed etc. Ducks are notoriously hard to drive. Most lads who would drive a normal 360 would struggle on a duck.

1st duck I drove was in the centre lane of the m50 with live traffic either side of me. It was an experience. :-)

lakill Farm · 21-09-2015 01:53PM

td5man wrote: »

1st duck I drove was in the centre lane of the m50 with live traffic either side of me. It was an experience. :-)

" **** a duck" :pac:

Kevhog1988 · 21-09-2015 02:16PM

td5man wrote: »

1st duck I drove was in the centre lane of the m50 with live traffic either side of me. It was an experience. :-)

you know when you have it in "reverse" and you have to turn into traffic to steer away from them. It takes a hell of a lot of getting used to.

freedominacup · 21-09-2015 04:35PM

theemigrant wrote: »

you know when you have it in "reverse" and you have to turn into traffic to steer away from them. It takes a hell of a lot of getting used to.

Ahhhh........ what now?

Reggie. · 21-09-2015 04:45PM

freedominacup wrote: »

Ahhhh........ what now?

I'm guessing he means the steering axle would be behind ya rather than in front

dzer2 · 21-09-2015 05:16PM

Spent a few days pulling artic trailers off the boats with the tugs, takes some getting used to. The seat swings around so you can drive off pushing the trailer in front, great craic for the first hour or so.

freedominacup · 21-09-2015 06:08PM

Reggie. wrote: »

I'm guessing he means the steering axle would be behind ya rather than in front

Reminds me of the one about the guy who reversed the low loader with a twenty tonne track machine on it up a boreen. Kicker was it was on a dolly on an eighties vintage artic massey. Probably be meat and drink to a guy used to one of those rubber ducks.

White Clover · 21-09-2015 08:39PM

freedominacup wrote: »

Reminds me of the one about the guy who reversed the low loader with a twenty tonne track machine on it up a boreen. Kicker was it was on a dolly on an eighties vintage artic massey. Probably be meat and drink to a guy used to one of those rubber ducks.

My neighbour was a dinger at reversing the dolly low loader. Often heard him say 'the lowest gear possible and it's no bother' !

Rubber duck

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