by Nick Drew | Mon 11 Jan 2021
Import Hitachi proves to be durable
This Hitachi EX75UR Landy V is of 1996 vintage and entered the UK as a Chinese import machine. The machine is owned by another Staffordshire based company Hamnett Construction.
Quite a number of these machines arrived in the UK back in the days of the “grey” imports and originally sported a two-tone blue paintwork, this example has had a professional respray at some point and looks immaculate externally.
The machine is still worked on a daily basis and the hour meter reads a genuine 5,500 hours. According to Dave, the only repairs it has had during its working life with Hamnett are a set of batteries, new top rollers and the odd hydraulic hose.
Power comes from a 4-cylinder Nissan A-BD30 diesel engine which offers a power output rating of 55hp. The machine features the knuckle boom arrangement, which can be vulnerable to premature wear, but this one seems to be doing well on that front thanks to being well maintained and greased on a regular basis.
Dave and the other lads at Vickers, Alan and Danny have all spent time on the machine, but Dave gave us his thoughts on it, “I have to say it’s a classic old school digging machine, with excellent tear out power in the dig, the lifting power is unbelievable and it remains very stable throughout, the only downside is it horrible to grade with as it sports the familiar Asian short dipper arm configuration, but overall, it’s a good old digger which has served this firm well!”.
A quick peer inside the cab reveals the familiar import level of specification, a none suspension PVC covered seat and a basic level of trim, the usually brilliant Denso heater is also spotted there, lets hope during the recent cold snap, that it was working too!
The Digger Man Blog would like to thank Dave for sharing these photos with us for the post.