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Digger Man

Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Wed 28 Jun 2017

Hitachi UH61 anyone?

Many of us will have great memories of time spent on the old UH series Hitachi excavators, while doing some research the other day I came across a video featuring a veteran UH61 model that is still running.

Hitachi UH61 anyone?
The UH series Hitachi excavators were the stuff of legends, when many of us were used to Hymac’s, Priestman’s and JCB models, which more often than not would be leaking hydraulic oil everywhere, we suddenly became aware of these Japanese machines which were not only mechanically sound and smooth in operation, but they simply didn’t leak. Initially dismissed as “Jap junk” by a sceptical UK industry these reliable machines quickly gained favour and in due course saw the demise of two of the British manufacturers mentioned earlier. Pictured above: This fine restoration of an older UH063 model was displayed at DemoExpo a few years ago.  Hitachi first launched the UH range of hydraulic excavators in 1965 with the introduction of the UH03 which the company claims was the first hydraulic excavator to be designed and produced in Japan. The UH range continued to expand throughout the mid to late 1970’s at which time the company offered machines ranging from 6.8 tonnes up to 157 tonnes. The old example in the following video is dated from 1981 and its 6 pot Isuzu engine still sounds sweet as a nut when she fires up, they just don’t make them like this anymore!
What are your memories of the old UH Hitachi models? We would love to hear about them.

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