Kubota excavator can travel from a yard through an opening a yard wide

The first thing you notice about the K008 ultra-compact excavator from Kubota is that it is really ultra-compact. This little guy has an ultra-slim profile of 27.6 in. — it can be driven from a front yard right through a doorway for indoor demolition or pool, utility or pipeline projects. Once inside, the tracks can be extended to 33.9 in. to provide a more stable working platform.

The K008 can work, too. It has a 360-degree house rotation, 140-degree boom swing, a 5 ft. 7 in. digging depth and a 6 ft. 7 in. dump height. It won’t hurt lawns with its light ground pressure of 3.27 psi. Weighing in at 1,906 lbs., it can be pulled by virtually any light truck or van.

The second thing you notice about the K008 is that its low-noise, low-vibration E-TVCS diesel engine is so quiet, you barely notice it at all. 

Rubber-tracked ASV RC•30 treads lightly

What has the ability to leave lawns untouched, crawl over mud and sand and clear 10 inches of ground debris? The ASV RC•30 all-surface loader. The difference is in the undercarriage. The RC•30 weighs approximately 2,850 lbs., but rubber tracks dilute its ground pressure to 2.5 psi, half that of the average adult male. But that’s only part of its appeal. Standing less than 4 ft. wide by 6 ft. high, the RC•30 is small enough to fit in the back of a pickup truck. Its Caterpillar 3013 diesel engine delivers 31.5 hp, plenty of power to operate the standard bucket as well as a pallet fork, auger, rake, trencher, mower and other optional attachments.

Operating the RC•30 is easy. Once you are secure inside the full ROPS/ FOPS canopy with seat belt buckled and lap bar in place, the hand-lever controls are quick to learn and simple to operate. ASV literature says the RC•30 is “like having 10 laborers who never need rest.” That must be after you are through zipping around on it just for fun. 

Put away the Percherons: the Iron Horse is here

Crowds gathered at the Jonsered booth when the Iron Horse went to work. A single operator was able to winch this huge log onto the Iron Horse and, using only one hand on the steering lever, walk it across the field to a saw mill. After the log had been dispatched, the remaining wood chips were loaded into the Iron Horse’s tipper platform, right, where the whole thing was walked single-handedly to a dump. 

The Iron Horse’s wide tracks are gentle to vegetation; ground pressure of a fully loaded machine is less than that of the operator on foot. It is available with a 5.5- or 9-hp engine. Accessories include a self-loading timber cart, loader and combi-platform. 

Rental Management publisher Fred Anderson took the ZTH6125, one of Husqvarna’s new zero-turn mowers, for a test spin around the outdoor obstacle course. Fred discovered that besides being quick on its feet — 0 to 10 mph in a second — the mower is responsive, smooth riding and easy to handle. The higher ground speed and increased fuel capacity enable this big boy to tackle up to 12 hours of mowing between fill-ups, and it can cut up to six acres per hour. All nine models in this new zero-turn line feature a unibody frame construction, low center of gravity, longer wheel base for a smoother ride and a wide wheel stance for stability. Kohler and Kawasaki manufacture the new fuel-injected, air- or liquid-cooled engines, ranging from 18 to 26.5 hp. The 52- and 61-in. decks have 19 cutting heights, from 1.5 to 6 ins. 

Want to mount a pump adapter on your engine, but don’t have room for the extra 6 or 8 in. that adapter will take? Not to worry. Robin America’s new hydraulic pump adapter is designed for close coupling of that pump to its engine. It features a 9-, 11- or 13-tooth internal spline shaft, forged carbon-steel crankshaft with hardened splined teeth and ball- or shell-bearing PTO support. 

It’s a front-end loader, a pressure washer, a rotary broom, a snow blower, a lawn mower. The LZRS series from Lonmore is not only all that and more, it’s easy to run: turn the key, adjust the throttle, push the lever and you’re off. Even novice operators can catch on to the steering-wheel operation within minutes. The stand-on/sit-down cockpit offers ergonomic comfort and visibility; the seat can be adjusted to give support while standing. This compact, zero-turn machine measures 49 by 48.5 in. and weighs 703 lbs. It comes with a Kawasaki 14- or 17-hp engine. 

Here’s a new idea in digging. The Holey Moley Hydro Tool line digs with water, and as little as 15 psi of water pressure at that. Just hook the Holey Moley to your garden hose, set the nozzle on the dirt, apply slight pressure and a circular motion and voilá! A hole. Use the HydroPlanter to plant flowers, bulbs and vegetables. Want to plant a fence post? The company says the HydroDigger can dig a 4-ft. hole in 40 seconds. Need to run a line under a sidewalk or driveway? The HydroBore (left) will dig a horizontal hole in any hard-to-reach area with a boring speed comparable to mechanical boring devices. HydroBore is made of brass, steel and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyetheylene, weighs a mere 15 lbs. and can be operated from a standing position. 

This new trailer for the Gehl Avantage™ mini-loader is a time-saver and a back-saver, too. It has a spring-loaded ramp; as you begin to back the loader off, the ramp goes down and stays down. Drive back on and the weight of the machine raises the ramp back up. No more lifting or getting on and off to load the machine. An added bonus are the quick-change attachments mounted around the trailer. Just choose your attachment, hook on to it and get to work. 

That’s what the Yukon JackBucket was doing with a pile of rocks in Louisville. It was fascinating watching this “dinner fork for your loader” scoop up a bucket of boulders, bounce them up and down like they were pebbles to sift out the spoil, then carry and dump them into a rocky heap. This workhorse of a fork/bucket combination has 4-ft.-long tines made from 100,000-psi steel; each tine pair is engineered to hold a 4,800-lb. load at a 24-in. load center. The JackBucket fits all sizes and all models of skid-steers including Bobcat, Deere, New Holland, Cat, Gehl and others.