What are the JCB 3CX Varients and a basic Operators guide?
Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 5:40 pm
As a few may have seen me mention, in introducing myself to the Forum, a bit of 'man-maths' has resulted in me agreeing to buy a 1987 (on a 'D' so post January but pre-August '87 registration here in the UK) JCB 3CX Sitemaster, it's a 2WD model with Extradig on the backactor (is that the correct term?) and rather unusually a Qfit quick change set up on the 4 in 1 front bucket.
Anyway, I found this site while searching for a service manual for it, joined up, and after downloading all three of the manuals in the download section figured out by flicking through them that the '1400B' manual was the closest to my machine.
My next task was to try to get my head around exactly what I have bought (until it arrives next week I won't have the serial number, although I could ask the seller I guess) and how to operate it...and that is turning out to be a bit more tricky to pin down as I don't seem to be alone in asking on here about Operators Manuals which appear to be as thin on the ground as flying rocking horse beaks...
In researching what to buy, and then completely ignoring it as the prices all seemed mad for stuff with rotted out cabs and various bits hanging off, I soon figured out there are so many variants and subtle differences of what are all generically called '3CX': White Cab, Grey Cab, Black Cab, 2WD, 4WD, N/A, Turbo, Turbo 4x4 etc etc and that was just on the first gen machines that I think ran from 1981 to 1995 ish!
So has anyone tried to list them all down?
But even more importantly has anyone got a basic guide on what levers, pedals, switches and stalks do what, preferably with pictures.
The last time I drove a JCB I was 16 and it was 1989...all I can remember from that was that that machine (which had a breaker attachment, so I know is subtly different again...) was that it was a semi-automatic drive and the backactor controls were diagonal and therefore different to the 6 Tonne Midi Excavator I had been more used to operating.
Youtube has so far yielded videos where typically only a fleeting glance of the top of one control appears in shot...
My great fear at the moment is when I hope into my own machine, that I will have to fix, with my money, I'll promptly break something on it or nearby it while exploring what that button/level/pedal etc does!
All pointers gratefully received
Anyway, I found this site while searching for a service manual for it, joined up, and after downloading all three of the manuals in the download section figured out by flicking through them that the '1400B' manual was the closest to my machine.
My next task was to try to get my head around exactly what I have bought (until it arrives next week I won't have the serial number, although I could ask the seller I guess) and how to operate it...and that is turning out to be a bit more tricky to pin down as I don't seem to be alone in asking on here about Operators Manuals which appear to be as thin on the ground as flying rocking horse beaks...
In researching what to buy, and then completely ignoring it as the prices all seemed mad for stuff with rotted out cabs and various bits hanging off, I soon figured out there are so many variants and subtle differences of what are all generically called '3CX': White Cab, Grey Cab, Black Cab, 2WD, 4WD, N/A, Turbo, Turbo 4x4 etc etc and that was just on the first gen machines that I think ran from 1981 to 1995 ish!
So has anyone tried to list them all down?
But even more importantly has anyone got a basic guide on what levers, pedals, switches and stalks do what, preferably with pictures.
The last time I drove a JCB I was 16 and it was 1989...all I can remember from that was that that machine (which had a breaker attachment, so I know is subtly different again...) was that it was a semi-automatic drive and the backactor controls were diagonal and therefore different to the 6 Tonne Midi Excavator I had been more used to operating.
Youtube has so far yielded videos where typically only a fleeting glance of the top of one control appears in shot...
My great fear at the moment is when I hope into my own machine, that I will have to fix, with my money, I'll promptly break something on it or nearby it while exploring what that button/level/pedal etc does!
All pointers gratefully received