Howzit, kings of the cab. Justin in Cato Ridge here, with Ralph holding the phone in Benoni. Between us we’ve pulled more than 420 complete cabs off 20–45 tonne machines in the last seven years, and we’ve learned one unbreakable truth: A happy operator digs faster, breaks less stuff, and keeps your machine earning R18 000–R25 000 a day instead of sitting dead while he moans about back pain and cracked windscreens. Dealers want R148 000–R285 000 for a new cab shell + another R

Sawubona, boet! The Vikfin yard in Benoni is looking like a Komatsu Christmas tree right now. We’ve just put the finishing touches on stripping a proper high-hour Komatsu PC400-6, and the result is one of the fullest 40-tonne parts spreads we’ve had all year. The engine walked out the door within 48 hours (R128 000, thank you very much), and the main valve bank went to a mine in Mokopane yesterday, but literally everything else is still here, steam-cleaned, photographed, pric