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Digger Man

Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Mon 08 Aug 2022

Landscaping in the Blue

Last Friday I only had to walk a few yards down the road from Diggers Digs to sample some machine action, on this occasion the machine in question was a 2018 model Kobelco SK85MSR-3 owned by well-known and respected local contractor Keith Moore.

Landscaping in the Blue

The distinctive looking machine may have only been a short distance away from where I live, around the back of a large residential property, but you would not have noticed as the machine runs so quietly, I could hardly hear it from the main road.

However, I knew it was working there as I had bumped into Keith while I was out Cycling on Thursday evening and I suggested I would pop around to see it.

At the controls was long-standing employee Nigel Hodge who has worked for the Moore family for some 19 years. Nigel’s regular machine on the firm is a CASE CX130C which he has nothing but praise for and is already eyeing up the CX130E as his potential next new machine.

For this job though, the little Kobelco, armed with its Tefra Tilt coupler from Hill Engineering, was the ideal machine, with restricted access down the side of the building. The machine fitted with the tilt coupler has some reach on her, Nigel suggested its not far off the reach of his 13-tonne CASE, but you do know its on the end of the dipper with the extra weight, to compensate for this the machine has the additional counterweight on the back end.

The Kobelco had replaced a Takeuchi TB290 on the fleet, which Keith felt had suffered from too much premature wear in the pins, talking about the machine Keith said, “The SK85MSR is pretty good, but I find it’s just a little bit too slow for me personally, reliability has been very good, and the customer service we have had from the dealer has been first class.

Nigel was busy finishing off a large garden landscaping job at the back of the property, and was making a lovely job of it too.

Nigel has spent his whole life in the industry, and is one of those proper all-rounders, not only can he operate the diggers, but he can drive a lorry, perform welding, and he’s a great mechanic too, not only that he is always keen to get out the machine and work on the ground laying slabs or anything else really, a rare find in this day and age of skills shortages!

On a gloriously sunny day, it was a pleasure to catch up with Nigel and witness the man and machine in action for this blog.

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