The Druids Duck Hunt

[v8druid]

Back-ground, in brief (sort of)!!


In June 2010, after an even longer search for the right place, Druid bought a new home and moved ? Great spot, a little barn conversion, all newly refurb.ed indoors, fab. location, ¾ mile private drive, shared with two neighbours. Idyllic, except there was no Druid's toy sheds ! space to put one, if I dug out a big bank, but nothing immediately usable.


Enter stage right, one Black cab 3CX and a 6 ton swivel Thwaites, for the purpose of ...........


Three months later, I find myself 'en route' to hospital, in the middle of the night, feeling very ill, in shoot me now pain, thinking this might just be it!!!! Never been ill in my life 'bullet proof' !!!


Two weeks in hospital, with severe acute pancreatitis, followed by several weeks of tests to establish the cause ? I don?t drink. Upshot was, first off, I'm dying then several months later, I'm not, but in need of treatment for the rest of my natural life. I'd been told to quit what I did and was forced to sell up my biz, which was yet another long story.


The CX and bank became 'therapy' for quite a while and got a lot done, albeit slowly, whilst I recovered. Jakie did me proud and saved me a fortune, but he eventually became out-gunned by the task in hand and a bigger 'weapon' was required.


Tracks, or wheels ? that was the question?


Tracks would have obviously coped admirably with the task, but I was restricted as to what I could get in here, transport-wise.


Wheels on the other hand, had a great appeal for many reasons ? access getting in here, getting about, without ground/driveway damage, both before, during and after and a duck would provide great materials handling/craneage/etc. subsequently, but..... Could they cope with the terrain initially?


I joined a.n.other UK forum to ask for advice!
Atlasrob was my first port of call, who seemed to 'know his sh*t', from what I had read!!


Wheels were my preference. After several weeks of questions and suitably re-assured that a duck would cope with what I had to deal with, the quest for duck began!!


I viewed/shortlisted/discounted several 'budget' options (read /'nails'/dogs/lemons)
And here are some examples of a few............












Three nice buckets with it








However,........
........ a real tight m/c, but rotting as you watched it - Devon Duck - it had spent most of it's life by (or possibly in) the Sea?????


A 300 mile round trip to view it - for nothing!!!

[v8druid]

another 588 at a local plant auction.........








Brightwell's 588 'offering' - wouldn't/couldn't start! Had had a very hard life and was not for the Druid

Mrs Druid says "why not that nice one over there Gra?" " Because it will be about £30k dear"!!!!!!!

next came news of a 688, which was in better condition













Better! But gone before I could get to look at it!! IIRC circa £8k

another 688 came up locally ......













......... which 'looked' quite a tidy m/c, but I could never get the guy to respond to my texts/phone calls/emails - of which there were a few, as it was quite local to me - For all I know it may well still be there. Never, ever got a response!!!!!!!!!!?

[Wee Jim]

Great reading! Looking forward to reading the full story

[v8druid]

Great reading! Looking forward to reading the full story

Glad to hear it Jim - it is quite a saga to come ............ with a very happy ending

[v8druid]

Plant sales sites and especially Ebay gave me several leads ........




an Atlas 1604KZW in Wisbech.
First it was a road railer, with nice VA.
Then he cut the rail gear off, stuck a scrap grab on it and re-listed it.
2 days later, he'd put a bucket back on it and re-listed it again!!
I Could never get him to commit to a day and time to view it.
Think he thought Iwould just 'pop' the 200+ miles each way, on the off chance he'd be there - wrong!! Has listed some nails since!!!!

Then this came up on ebay on the Isle of Man 588. Looked very good on the face of it, but on the IOM - ever tried to get there? Not cheap or convenient!! It was not all it was 'represented' to be and a UK forum member had some very 'interesting' images of how it had been (ab)used.
The seller though, to be fair, was very communicative, quick and did supply everything I asked of him - he just forgot to include a few less tantalizing details!!

















Forget that one!!!!!!

[v8druid]

Another from a plant sales mag







Yeah well !! Bit big and no buckets - hell of a grab though!! ruled out!!

ebay again ......









The videos that I got sent of this one finished any chances of an interest that there were!! That was the end of that!!
Pity as relatively local and cheap, but had had most of the goodness wrung out of it !!!!!

Yet another ebay listing - are you starting to get the picture here - what is/was out there, was not very good!















This one had been listed on several occasions with very poor pix.
Then he put some better ones up, as I requested and it didn't look quite so bad. Fair old trek though (N. York.s) and the owner was never very forthcoming with answers to Q.s.
Spoke to him several times, but never came back with the required info.. Plus no stabilisers/blade and although going back (old), was only circa £5.5k, but due to lack of info. and general apathy from the seller, I just gave up!!!!!

[v8druid]

---

Couple of the guys on the UK forum flagged this up to me and someone also said it had been 'doing the rounds'.
Again, I struggled to get a firm commitment to view it and as it was in Yorkshire again and and not really what I was, by now, looking for, I didn't bother to pursue it. Did fancy a Liebherr though



One of my new forum friends viewed another 'less budget', but equally 'nail-like' Atlas, for me, on his turf and saved me a fair old trek to find out that it had no brakes (he rammed a skip to stop it) and had all sorts of major 'leccy' issues. Pity - nice-ish selector and 4 buckets that had never been used - apparently - Owner was a nice guy to deal with, on the phone, though!
At £13+K it needed to be faultless - not brakeless!!!!!!

[v8druid]

Now I very nearly bought this beauty at Brightwells, the local plant auction, until the assembled throng realised that it was mine at £17k and it went ballistic!!
This was the ''nice shiny one'' Mrs Druid fancied,whilst looking at the Case 588 nail, that I showed you earlier!!!!!!





























I eventually concluded, with the aid of various 'learned opinions', that, to get what I was after, the 'budget' was going to have to be 'up-ed'/stretched considerably, which significantly broadened my field of search and quality of equipment available !! sort of !!!!!!!!!

Ok - put your tongues back in and wait to see what I did get - was nice though!!!!!!

[v8druid]

another ebay find .......







Massively overpriced at £32k and would not budge - stayed on ebay for months until a friend from the UK forum bought it after I'd showed it to him !!!!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1509516175...84.m1436.l2649



yet another plant site find - very nice, bigger than I was looking for, but clean ....... and expensive!
















An unusual Furukawa, overpriced at £21k, budged a bit to £18k, but not enough for a serious interest, without any buckets whatsoever. Nice Lenhoff hitch, but a manual - still has it, as far as I know - was on his website last week!


I was also learning a lot from the guys on the UK forum, as the weeks went by and became more aware of just what was(a) out there and (b) what you were able to do with the various options produced, which was all helping to define just what I ought to be looking for.
A VA boom was fast becoming a pre-requisite!!

It was also rapidly becoming apparent that duck hunting in the home (UK) market was a 'seriously uphill' challenge, as unlike our European cousins, duck was not the most popular 'dish' on the menu in the UK. So the search horizons broadened still further to the European plant markets and what a revelation that was.
The down side was the cost of transport home!!!!!!!



This was the favorite, for a while, located in Belgium, but the selection was vast!! (and WAY too much for on here)!!
Again though, the owners of this were 'hard work' and virtually uncommunicative!!
Don't folk want to sell their wares! ?????



















Then, along came Frank, from Norway, to the UK forum and opened my eyes to the Norwegian market, where almost every machine wears a rototilt !! The amazing pieces of kit that I'd been reading & learning so much about, all the months since I'd joined there and was in awe of, for just what could be achieved, suitably 'armed' with said weapon!!

This was Frank's first suggestion -- Mmm!!!!! Yummy!!









Sold before I, or Frank could even have a conversation with the sellers - IIRC 140,000NoK - about £14k Plus 25% VAT and about £700 to get her back to Immingham, as roll on/off freight with DFDS - getting stuff back from there was/is cheap!!!!!!

[v8druid]

---

To cap this revelation I found that getting a machine, like this, back to the UK from 'Frank-land' was cheaper than from Europe by serious factor !a third, or less, in most cases. Plus, Frank was incredibly generous with his offers of help and assistance in assessing potentials and became the 'Druid?s duck-hound', even eyeballing a few for me, for which I am very grateful. By the time I'd sussed the costs, logistics, etc., the above m/c had gone, but the hunt was on!!















Again, from memory this was about 160,000NoK - at the time about £15.5k, plus VAT and tranny! Today - £13,250


This was very nice too and IIRC 135,000Nok - circa £13k - no tilty though - getting choosy - all the others had a tilty attached!!!!!















Tilting grader and a tilty!!!!! (rototilt)
Circa £16k IIRC










Back to looking at road railers again - but a very cheap, clean, tilty wearing one this time. Unusual pinned boom, but a useful option and could have easily been made an occasional VA - I have a suitable ram sat to 'add on', with a couple of Druid brackets !!!! IIRC 165,000Nok















Then this Komy 'popped up' - VAT free too. Was ready to go see this one, SOON, but Frank rang and said it'd been sold within a couple of hours, or so, of going on Finn. web site -
http://www.finn.no/finn/b2b/construc...T%2FGROUP=8003 -











I had all but decided that, to get what I wanted, a flight to Norway was inevitable and I'd almost certainly end up with the bonus of joining 'the tilty club', into the bargain, when out of the blue, a guy in Norwich posted an ad. on Fleabay for this lovely looking duck, that I'd never heard of !!

Was this the one ??

[v8druid]

Hydrema Weimar M1500

Hydrema????
They make ADTs ? never seen a Hydrema duck, but there it was and what's more, it had a very nice looking history too.
Low hours, well equipped, clean, tidy, one job-site all of its life and never been road registered.
Too good to be true and a reasonable price, to boot.







































Duck porn at its best!!!!!!

Getting excited?? I was !!!!!!!!!!



After multiple consultations with knowledgeable friends on the 'other' UK forum, who were all very enthusiastic and several conversations with the seller, a viewing date was arranged. I set off, with a friend, for the 500 mile round trip to view and hopefully buy, said duck on the 21st April, 2014.

Norwich is a relatively long way from Chez Druid (who doesn't travel particularly well these days !( 'in the day', a bit of a bimble!) and with four plus hours spent inspecting, negotiating and eventually sealing a deal, it ended up a very long, but successful day, by the time we got back about midnight.

After sharing the joyous news, the following day with my 'forum friends', that 'the search' was over, I had one of them on the phone to tell me he had a job to haul to Norwich, the following week and that he could offer me a very good rate on hauling my new purchase back to Chez Druid, if I was interested!! ? do the bears c**p in the woods?

[v8druid]

With the necessary arrangements made, Paul was in Norwich the following Monday collecting yon 'Drema and kit, ready for its trip to moi, in Wales!




Only downer on the day was that the 2 ft bucket that'd been 'chucked in' to sweeten the deal a tad, on the day was not with her.
Although promised to be forwarded by pallet, a year on and I'm still trying to get the bugger to send it to me!!
Just about given up hope on that one

[v8druid]

Druid's duck 'comes in for a landing'!!

Paul arrived about 18.30. I met him in a lay by on the main drag, at the top of my drive with a mug of tea for him and a trailer on, for the spare buckets, together with the forks that MysticPaul - the psychic, thought I might like to take possession of. (Bears & woods, etc.!!)
We each said to the other 'F*** me your not what I was expecting'!!!! (funny how we all have a mental image of folk, that is rarely accurate !!).

He dropped all the bits into my trailer, off the back of his, kindly piloted my new duck down the drive, (I'd only driven it briefly before, on a flat field just outside Norwich!!) and my drive is steep ! Unloaded the bits again and we had just enough time for a quick inspection/drool, before Mrs. D called 'grub up'.













Yes - for the eagle-eyed amongst you - yes, they are 65mm pins in 70mm holes - later to be rectified, with a 3 metre bar of 70 dia. EN10 I'd ordered - at least there was something in the holes to pick the bucket up with!!




7.5 tonne hitch point -5.5 tonne eye on the Miller



Nicely 'adorned' dipper



Both sides!!!!

Paul was reasonably impressed with Druid's new duck, as he told me over food and that he fancied a trip into town, after we'd eaten, to have a look around what was left of my old workshop, which wasn't a lot.
After a walk around the yard, I had to virtually pry him out of the skip, emerging with handfuls of 'goodies'', which I'd regrettably had to skip that day.

He didn't leave empty handed, as we headed back for an evening of coffee and conversation about all sorts of things, before I delivered him (and his spoils) back to his truckat bedtime, for an early departure in the a.m..
From memory, he was back in Northwich by 14.30, when I spoke to him later that day, so it must've been an 'EARLY' start, to pick up his back load and get home by then!!!!!

And so to the 'Drema; the Druid's new duck !!


To be continued..........................

[v8druid]

Here's the spec.s on her for you.





It's a very capable machine though and is going to do everything I throw at it, with consummate ease, I think!!





She's a very compact tool and tucks into tight spots really easily (I've a few tight corners ATM).
It is such a smooth tool though, to op..
Have had a few niggles with some of the electrics, which're intermittent and can only look for when they're 'playing up', which is usually when you want to use it !!
Has been used more for lifting so far, as the weather has prevented me from doing much else, to date.
I have managed to get a bit of dirt on the buckets, but nothing much so far.
It was like a swamp here after all the monsoon rains of last year/the last few months or so and no point in tracking it everywhere - It had to wait 'til it dried out a bit.

A bit of tech spec. for the 'Drema control panel - for it's time fairly advanced I'm told






























This was one that needed attention - had to strip it out to see wtf was wrong with it - reckon someone's been hauling themselves into the cab on this one!!!!!!











Right - now you lot should have as much idea as me, 'bout how this all worked!!!!

The next dozen pages are pretty basic stuff, once you've an idea how it all works!!


Last couple for now







Thought this was quite interesting, that they fitted dedicated lift points to the boom and tail for picking her up by.
Reckoned those boom lift points would make an equally good place to hang a sling off, for a close in heavy lift too!!!!
They'll obviously stand a lot of weight on 'em!!




Great heater in her, for when it's cooler .
Real toasty in there even with the door open!!
Two nozzles point straight at yer feet

Here's one I forgot earlier - An emergency dash panel / computer control over-ride, for any failures in the control system.
Also seems to re-set it, for when it gets its head in a knot (which it has a tendency to do frequently).

Seems to 'iron out' the switch niggles, usually!!!

[ianoz]

Bit Flasher than the only Duck i ever operated ,Which was an old HyMac.
Got my excavator ticket on it back in 1978 .