A cabbed three tonne excavator: proper reach, a dozer blade, and enough weight behind the bucket that hard ground and old hardcore stop being an argument. It digs a strip footing to depth in one pass rather than three, and it does it with the operator out of the weather.
It is the machine for the job that has outgrown the mini. The trade-off is access: it wants a driveway or double gates rather than a side gate, so measure before you set your heart on it. If the only way in is a side gate, the micro digger is still the answer however much you would rather it was not.
Getting it to the job
One and a half metres of clear width at the narrowest point, and a route firm enough to carry three and a half tonnes on tracks. Soft lawns, block paving and newly laid drives all want thinking about before it arrives, not after.
At this weight the trailer question is real. Check your licence covers the combined weight before you plan on collecting it, because this is past what a lot of car licences allow. We hire plant trailers, and we will deliver it if that is simpler.
The numbers
3t Digger specification
Hire typeDry hire
Getting it thereCollect or delivered
Getting it to the job
Carried in by hand, so access is not the question it is with the plant.
It still has to get to site: collect it from the yard in Etruria, or we will run it out with the rest of your hire.
The rest of the sheet
Ring the yard if a figure matters to your job and we will check it against the machine before you travel.
What comes with it
Three buckets as standard: a ditcher and two trenching
Fuelled and ready to work when you take it
Delivery to site, or collect it from the Etruria yard
Off hire from the day you ring, not the day it comes back
What you will need
Someone who can run it. We hire the machine, not an operator
A metre and a half of clear width, and ground that takes 3.5 tonnes
A trailer and a licence that covers the weight, if you are collecting
Dry hireCollect or deliveredServiced between hiresSame day when we have it
What people hire it for
The jobs it actually gets used on
Six of the jobs the 3t digger goes out on most. Keep scrolling and they stack.
01/ 06
Footings for an extension
Strip footings to depth in one pass, with the reach to work along a trench rather than tracking up it in stages.
02/ 06
Digging out a drive
Large areas down to formation level far faster than a mini, and the blade levels behind you as you go.
03/ 06
Deep drainage
Soakaways, sewer connections and anything that has to get down past two and a half metres.
04/ 06
Breaking up hard ground
Old hardcore, compacted clay and ground a lighter machine bounces off rather than digs.
05/ 06
Site strip and levelling
Taking a plot down to level with the dozer blade, instead of grading it by hand afterwards.
06/ 06
Pulling out roots and stumps
Where there is weight enough to lift what a smaller machine can only wobble.
How it works
Hiring the 3t digger start to finish
01
Ring, message or send the details
Tell us the job and the dates. We will say whether it is in, when it is back if it is out, and whether it is the right machine for what you are doing.
02
Collect it, or we run it out
Pick it up from the yard on Brick Kiln Lane in Etruria, or we will deliver it to site. If you ring early enough and it is free, it can often go out the same day.
03
Ring when you are done
We off hire it from the day you ring rather than the day it happens to come back, and collect it from site if we delivered it.
Before you book
What you need to know
3t Digger, in the yard on Brick Kiln Lane, Etruria.
01
Measure the access first, honestly
This one wants a driveway or double gates, not a side gate. Measure the tightest point of the whole route, including the gatepost halfway down and the corner at the end, and ring us with that number before you book. We will tell you whether it goes.
02
Think about the ground, not just the width
Three and a half tonnes on tracks spreads better than wheels but it still marks a lawn and it will crack an old flag path. Plan the route and board it out if it crosses anything you are keeping.
03
Pair it with the right dumper
It fills a 1t dumper faster than that dumper can empty itself. If the tip is any distance away, take the 3t and stop watching the digger wait.
04
Know what is underground
More reach and more force mean less warning when you find a service. Get a plan and a scan on anything you are not certain about, particularly on an older property.
05
Buckets
Tell us what you are digging when you book. A trenching bucket and a grading bucket do different jobs and turning up with the wrong one costs you a morning.
06
Collecting it is a bigger job than it looks
Check the combined weight against your licence and your towing vehicle before you plan around collecting. A lot of car licences do not stretch this far. We will deliver it.
From the Google profile
Used Elite for the first time after using other companies before, wow what a breath of fresh air, prompt replies to messages, Cameron dropped the micro digger off and what a credit to the company he is…
Neil Gerrard · Micro digger
Fantastic experience with Elite Plant Hire! I hired a mini digger and a tracked dumper, and both were top-quality, modern, and reliable machines…
The yard is on Brick Kiln Lane in Etruria, a couple of minutes off the A500, so most of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme is a short run either way. Collect it yourself if you have something that can carry or tow it, or we will deliver it to site and collect it when you are finished.
No. It wants a driveway or double gates. If a standard 900mm side gate is your only way in, the micro digger is the machine, and it will get there.
Deeper than the mini, which reaches 2.4m, but we have not published a figure for this one yet. Tell us the depth when you ring and we will confirm it reaches before you book anything around it.
Access decides it more often than the job does. If you have the width, the 3t digs deeper, works faster and has a cab. If you have not, the mini still gets through where this cannot.
Only if your licence and your vehicle cover the combined weight, which at this size a lot do not. Check before you plan on it. We hire plant trailers, and delivery is usually the easier answer.
Get it booked
Tell us the job. We will tell you the machine.
Ring the yard and you get a straight answer on whether the 3t digger is available, when it is back if it is out on hire, and whether it is the right thing for what you are doing. If it is not, we will say so.
