JCB 3C Mk3 photographed

[Gavin Phillips]

I've seen this machine a few times although I have no idea who owns the land on which it sits. Its certainly still in use (or at least it does appear to move on occasion).

For some reason I always figured it was a 3D but on closer inspection, turns out to be a 3C MkIII. I wonder if those pallet forks are original? Anyone have any ideas what the attachment points just above the bracket are for?

[john345me]

the attachment point above the bucket are for the forks to lock into out the way when using the bucket

[Gavin Phillips]

the attachment point above the bucket are for the forks to lock into out the way when using the bucket

Ahhh it all makes sense now! Can't believe I missed that.

Thanks.

[MrF]

Not sure on the forks, but my 3ciii does have holes in the clamshell front bucket corresponding to where those forks mount.
Looks fairly serviceable and with a bit of love could be nice. Still got its hydraulic filter door, and other bits and bobs that mines missing...

[IANOZ]

It amazes me that JCB could not design their forks better. I had a massey 50hx and the forks on the bucket rolled over the back of the bucket when not in use and only sat 9 inches above the bucket when not in use .and could roll the bucket right over and put it on the ground when digging and not worry about bending the fork assemberly. The Next machine was a JCB 4cx With forks that where Over 2 feet above the bucket and when sanding up trenchs near houses ,had to be very carefull to not put the fork towers through the side of the house or drive the plumbers head into the ground if they stood too close. ian.

[usedjcbdave]

1978 JCB 3C Mk III Backhoe loader recently pictured in the Midlands area.There is more to this story.We sold this guy 6 x JCB 3C III,s brand new in 1978.Also purchased was a brand new JCB 806B and a Cat D6.They were parked up in dry storage and started up periodically to keep the engines flowing and must still have around 500 hours registered.I presume they are still there today but contact is rather difficult.They were purchased purely for tax reasons.

[essexpete]

Our old Mk 111 came with a 6in1 and one piece fork lift tines. When I swapped the arms to the long each I nicked the fittings of the 6in1 to go on to the smaller RB 4in1 on the long arms. They were useful at timesbut I only put them on when needed as they stuck out so far on the rests. If you went close to a vertical object (tree wall etc) when you tipped the forks could clout the object. They also gave less clearance under a building. I never fitted the stowing rests for that reason. The 3cx came with folding 2 piece tines, still horrible when loading banging about.

[essexpete]

1980 3C111 Powertrain.

[topkit]

Thats an unusual machine it looks like it has the high lift loader arms on it these are alot straighter than the standard cranked arms (not the parallel linkeage ones that alot of 3D's had) I did know of a 3c mkII like this but it has long gone now, alot of these high lift loader arm machines were used in Coal yards as they needed the extra height to load the coal hoppers. good picture and a nice straight 1980 or 81 machine too.

[essexpete]

I was unusual. Should have kept it really but it stood for nearly 2 years after I bought a minidigger and a telehandler had taken over loading duties.
We fitted it with a 4.98 turbo and could really pull and flew on the road. It did pay the price with chewing the spider gears in the diff. The shuttle tranmission needed overhauling at the time it was sold. The shuttle was rebuilt just after we bought it and it did many hours but those borg warner boxes were not that tough. (and no, I did not shuttle heavy handed either ). The front arms came off an early MK 11 which had started life with Herts cc, probably loading salt in the winter. They were a straight swap. I kept the small 4in1 because I thought the standard JCB 4in1 might be too big for the long arms. They had several crack repairs in the end and one main pivot point on the main frame cracked away at one time. We used it on a flat eight loading straw for several summers but that was very hard on a machine working in 2nd/3rd across a field with tramlines. The rear arm was very heavy with the extending dipper and it suffered 2 hydraclamp bolt breakages.
Happy days.