Tag: digger

Updates on the plot

It has been a while since I last wrote about what has been going on the plot. And actually, something has happened.

Still with Toyota, trailer and telehandler

Let me briefly explain where we currently stand and maybe I find time to to dive in to details in additional posts.

Even the cat likes the telehandler

So what happened?

  1. We got our Telehandler, the JCB 531-70; so we are now able to do some heavy lifting and more …
    Quick note: And yet with this delivery not everything went smoothly, as the brand new machine was not working completely as expected. But we now have a new local technician from Latheronwheel who is very kind and helpful.
  2. The digger finally got fixed. We now even have a quick-hitch, which seem to be not so “quick” (but that is a different story). We were even able to fix a loose track on the excavator. It is easy once you know …
  3. We also now have a 3.5t 13ft tipping-trailer with which we are able to bring more stuff to the plot (such as concrete, gravel – more on this later).
  4. We fixed more parts of our track to the plot (by adding stones to the ground and putting gravel on top of it). This is only a temporary fix, as the ground is still way to weak to hold the weight of the 7t Telehandler or a fully loaded trailer.
  5. We even now a diesel tank from which we can fuel our vehicles and machinery. And refilling it on the main road is as easy as lifting it with the forks of the Telehandler.
  6. Electricity is now much easier as we can run on a generator as long as we have not finished the turibine/battery set up. As the generator runs on diesel we can refill it from the same diesel tank as everything else.
  7. We discovered a quarry on our plot (which has not been used for probably more than 100 years. I have 2 raw short video sequences (no voice, just walking aroung) that are linked below to get a first impression. As you can see, we had to cut through a lot of gorse to actually get there. The only reason I found out that there is a quarry was, that I saw it on some older maps from the scottish national library archive. There is still some work to get done to easily access the quarry or to get some stones from it. But the good news is, that we now would not have to transport that much amount of stones from a different quarry further away.
  8. We actually started with our shed; i.e. we did the foundation by pouring concrete for 12 pads and nearly finished the floor insulation. That actually means that the wood *finally* arrived (more than 3 months). Next time I buy the wood somewhere else and not at the Sutherland woodyard in Wick (and yes, I would link a website if they had one).
  9. Planning permission for entrance from the A99 and the barn is still under consideration (*everything* in the Highlands justs takes looonger).
  10. I got myself a pocket calculator Construction Master Pro Trig from “Calculated Industries” to at as a babel fish between the “imperial” surrounding and my “metric” mind. Now I know that 2″ 7/8 are roughly 73mm – so good!
  11. We cut away even more gorse (and still have to wait until autumn to be able to burn it).
  12. I finally admitted to myself that I will have to do a monthly trip to Inverness to be able to buy the stuff I need (the cowboys riding to the city). And here the trailer really comes in handy!
    Side note: and it was actually in Inverness where I got the scaffolding poles for the turbine. No way for me to get them in Wick.
  13. We did some sheep shearing support – first step in becoming real crofters …
Sheep shearing
Shearing sheep

So why am I writing all this? Is everything solved? Far from that.

I am probably more of writing this to remind me that though it seems that nothing really proceeds as planned and barely no progress is visible, some things are still getting done. So there is actually progress (however small it is).

Shedland

Shed plan
Floor frame
Insulation

Quarry videos

Way from quarry to rabbit run 1/2
Way from quarry to rabbit run 2/2

What can happen when you buy a used digger

Things that can happen when you buy used machinery.

Last time I shared the news that we got ourselves a digger. Now after roughly two weeks, I wanted to share a quick update on the good, the bad and the ugly.

So, on the 8th of April we went to the JCB Scot depot in Muir of Ord to pick up our digger. But before we could actually do that, we had to visit the cool guys at Farm & Forestry Equipment in Ardersier to borrow a trailer. When we finally arrived in Muir of Ord, the digger was actually there and the people on site actually sort of knew we were about to collect it. So far so good.

What was not so good, was the “fully serviced” digger appeared as being not so fully serviced. How could I tell with my zero minutes of excavator experience? For example, the hydraulic switches of the boom were not working. Obviously something that can get unnoticed during servicing. But no worries – the mighty on site engineer just hissed “boys” and called in one of his subordinate mechanics.

Engineer and his mechanic

With a universal screw wrench the problem was immediately fixed and quite as immediately broke again. After some retries I was assured if this *ever* broke again, someone would come up to out place to get this sorted. Great! (sneak preview into the future: as soon as we unloaded the digger the problem resurfaced and has not been properly repaired until now)

Excavator loaded

After some loading we were good to go and crawled back to Caithness. But not without paying a quick visit to Clynelish in Brora.

Clynelish in Brora and an Excavator

We enjoyed the view in the lovely bar/café on the first floor and continued our journey all the way to our plot, where we were warmly welcomed.

Welcome to the plot

So what was next? After unpacking we not only found out that the boom hydraulic switch was again not working (only moving to the left), but also found the bushings being broken when we took off a bucket. To the defense of the “fully serviced supervisor” this can also easily get unnoticed when you are not changing the buckets before handover.

One time bushing?

In addition, the as being “new” sold earth drill was apparently not so new, but only a refurbished model (as we could see by some delivery note that someone had forgotten to take away before handing it over to us). But it actually did not matter, as the sockets for the hydraulic were not the same size as the ones on the digger anyway.

Hmm – does it fit?

Trying to find a positive side: the mechanic would not have to come over to just fix a single problem, but a lot of things. After sales servicing to its excellence?

So I found myself in the position to report my digger “DOA” and was quickly assured that someone would come over to help me on that. Being handed over a mobile phone number I left a message with some clear coordinates where the patient would to be found and waited to the next morning (without any real hope, that actually some would show up).

I was wrong. In the moring I got a call and suprisingly two guys showed up and did their work:

  • Bushed repaired CHECK
  • Auxiliary hydraulic valve adjusted CHECKIt was only a temporary fix and the right adapters were missing.
  • Hydraulic pedal fixed CHECKIt fell off after a couple of pushes on the pedal again.
The new adapter – the longer the better

So after the mechanics left, I could at least try with my “new” earth drill. Just to find out, that the hydraulics on the hydraulic hoses of the drill leaked. And I found out, that the hydraulics tank was nearly empty. Also something one normally would not notice when performing some service work before handing it out to a customer.

Side note: in what status would I receive something by that company that was *not new* and *not fully serviced*? This was actually a question I later asked the sales guy. Answer: inconclusive.

But hey, labour seems not be the most expensive part of repair works and therefore I was able to enjoy a vitis of the mechanics on the same day!

To cut a long story short; here is the result as of today:

  • Hydraulics fixed
  • Hydraulic oil refilled (free of charge)
  • Hydraulic pedal still not repaired

And now still waiting for the next visit of the mechanics.

Happy digger operator

And to wrap up the whole story:

JCB Scot was really helping to get this issue fixed; until now this has all been done under “warranty” of a nine-year-old digger.

So would I ever buy a used machine again (me, who has no clue about construction machinery)? Maybe, but probably only “cheaper” and “smaller” machines.

Would I buy from them again? Probably yes, as they still provide a “good” service overall (and they are the nearest seller from our plot).