JCB_4cx Artic

[Hugh Jaleak]

Not seen one of them in a few years! Portal Construction from Wellingborough used to run a SKB800, replaced a JCB 3D. Richard, is John Watt a relation to Des Watt (D Watt Roadways)? A mate of mine and his Brother in Law worked for Des Watt a few years back.

[widget]

Not seen one of them in a few years! Portal Construction from Wellingborough used to run a SKB800, replaced a JCB 3D. Richard, is John Watt a relation to Des Watt (D Watt Roadways)? A mate of mine and his Brother in Law worked for Des Watt a few years back.

I meant to put SKB800 .....Yes Nick, Des is John's son, I went to work for John when I left Tarmac and then he sold out to Bardons.
Des Ran one of the gangs for his dad and then was a foreman for a while at Bardons before going on his own.
John was a good man to work for and paid very well, I used to get £75 a week just for turning up, ( Attendance money, basic bonus and petrol money to drive to the yard) .....Bardons soon put a stop to all that

[Hugh Jaleak]

Cheers Richard, I thought there may be a connection, 2 Watt's working in surfacing, same area. Sometimes see Des Watt's crew out and about when i'm around that way, they were doing a factory yard in Fengate recently.

[BM1113]

is it possibol it is it's outriggers that made it so unstable ?
Volvo,Hydrema and Huddigs outriggers are more like Duck feets with a wider spread

[jcb4cx]

is it possibol it is it's outriggers that made it so unstable ?
Volvo,Hydrema and Huddigs outriggers are more like Duck feets with a wider spread

no its a myth that sideshifts are unstable , i am guessing its when its on loader work that there is a problem

[widget]

The reason this machine may have been developed is endless.

Many companies get government grants/tax relief on R&D work, so they come up with prototypes.....Some are a genuine development machines which they are looking for a market for and others are just for the tax relief etc.

Why this was machine was developed i will let you guess......but do you think there would have been a market for this machine ...... to produce enough machines to run on a production line such as they run at companies like JCB.

I would guess that this is the type of machine that would have been better manufactured by a smaller scale bespoke company supplying to customers specific needs.....who will break away from the norm and build a machine that you really want......not one off the peg so to speak.

That type of machine comes at a price and is not cheap to manufacture if there isn't a large demand and the cost has to be passed onto the customer, which most production line companies are not interested in as there isn't enough profit in it......I am involved regularly in prototype and research and development work for the company i work for, it is very interesting work but can be very frustrating at times.....things can always be improved but nearly always at a cost.....we also feed off information fed back from the field either by our own fitters or the end user.

I would say that there aren't as many bespoke manufacturers about now unlike years ago, Smalleys is a good example. Many companies had some brilliant ideas and made some fantastic machines, but not profitable enough to sustain the company

At the end of the day, no matter whether the company is large or small, development needs to be done to progress and it gives people like us who have an interest in them something to talk about

I have added a photo of JCB's prototype shop from 1970......it has served them well

Richard

[victor13]

New foto JCB Artic

[usedjcbdave]

New foto JCB Artic

Looks to me not to be an 4CX artic in this case ? The last of the 3CX grey cabs were phased out around the 1990 mark and the 4CX came out in 1991.Looks to me by the shape of it that the 4CX is a prototype at this particular trade fair.

[victor13]

What does the inscription MAXTRAC 2 on 3CX ?

[victor13]

New foto JCB Artic

Looks to me not to be an 4CX artic in this case ? The last of the 3CX grey cabs were phased out around the 1990 mark and the 4CX came out in 1991.Looks to me by the shape of it that the 4CX is a prototype at this particular trade fair.

In the photo is JCB-4CX Artic !!! Look closely.