A Chinese Mini Excavator? Seriously?

So, I could buy a really nice Holden Caprice OR- I could buy two of these and do battlebots in my front yard. 

In reply to Mndsm :

Hmm, maybe not battle bots but something like Foozeball might be a hoot. 

In reply to Toyman! :

Knowing myself and my friend group, it would devolve into battlebots. 

I've been seeing these at clearance auctions BNIB for $4000 or so. 

In reply to chandler :

They range in price from about $4k to about $12k. The cheap ones don't come with cooling fans or oil coolers. They also come with off-brand engines and don't have the hydraulic thumb function. From what I'm been reading, they do the job but need some work to keep the engines and hydraulics alive. Without the coolers, even the Briggs engines are locking up. 

I paid more, but mine came with the 13 hp Briggs engine, dual cooling fans, the oil coolers, and the hydraulic thumb. I also didn't have to worry about importing or shipping it. 

If you are interested, there are a couple of Facebook groups about them that have some decent information. Do a search for mini Chinese excavator. 

In reply to shawnivan110 :

Dollars spent the little ones are hard to beat. I priced used excavators and anything with life left in it was double what I paid for mine. I also have a Cat backhoe for larger jobs but transporting it is a bit of a challenge. The little one I can haul behind my Touareg and store in my garage. 

Nothing to add to this thread other than re-affirming it's awesome and I still want a mini excavator. 

Hmm. Now I'm curious. I could use one of these if it had a decent auger; any idea on whether this would push an 18" auger bit? 

In reply to brandonsmash :

It has no problem turning the 8" unless you are dealing with lots of large rocks. Even then it doesn't usually stop turning, it just won't go through large rocks. I think it would turn an 18" auger but you may have to take your time if you are dealing with clay or rock. 

Edit to say: It may have a hard time picking up an 18" auger full of dirt. That's going to be pretty heavy and the machine can get pretty tippy when lifting a heavy load. 

In reply to Toyman! :

Thank you. I deal with a lot of caliche, so I might be better-served with a different tool then. Drats.

A challenger appears

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Cool!

A nankang front hoe? Im in for the shenanigans! 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Check and see if it came with cooling fans. Some of them don't and people have had issues with boiling the gas in the tank as well as the engines running hot. 

It may be worthwhile to add them if it didn't. 

Toyman! said:

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Check and see if it came with cooling fans. Some of them don't and people have had issues with boiling the gas in the tank as well as the engines running hot. 

It may be worthwhile to add them if it didn't. 

Yeah I'll be adding fans, a hydraulic filter, domestic style zerks and a remote oil drain to start. And doing a good nut-and-bolt.

My wife started showing me her plans for tree planting and the spots wher she wants to clear lawn for natives and plant beds. And of course by "she" I mean "me." My back was tightening just watching her sketch things out. So I started looking into rentals and hiring someone to clear sod, and honestly it just ended up being cheaper to go buy the thing. Plus this way if I have a 10 minute job I can do it without having to rent the thing for a whole day.

Under $4500 out the door with tax and auction fees and everything. 

JG Pasterjak said:

A challenger appears

Yo dawg, I heard you like yellow and black lifting equipment.....

So just how tippy are these? And are they heavy enough to actually be able to push any gravel with that front scraper thing?

I have an access road to build on some land I own on the side of a mountain and the prices that I am getting quoted (for two days of work) could buy two of these outright.

fanfoy said:

So just how tippy are these? And are they heavy enough to actually be able to push any gravel with that front scraper thing?

I have an access road to build on some land I own on the side of a mountain and the prices that I am getting quoted (for two days of work) could buy two of these outright.

I've *heard* they're rated for 30-degrees, but honestly that sounds like a lot of angle. Mine came off the trailer with zero drama at about 15-degrees, though. So maybe? 

The 1-ton models like these weigh in at about 1850lbs. I'm hoping that's enough to push some gravel because that's on my project list. I don't have an access road to cover it with, just a few landscape beds, though. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

What auction house did you use?

brandonsmash said:

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

What auction house did you use?

Bidadoo. They operate through eBay. Their fees are way smaller (most places take up to 15%, plus tax, on these. Bidadoo ha d a $164 flat fee, plus tax. Piece of cake. I think my winning bid was right around $4000 and the out the door price was $44XX something. 

First project underway: My burn pit had long ago turned into a burn pile. And a bunch of the cinder blocks defining its "walls" were broken or buried. So the good ones are getting carried out by hand, the bad ones are getting dug up or scooped out of the earth, and the whole pit will get leveled down, smoothed over, and we'll start the cycle anew. I figure this should be a short enough job to run through the break-in oil, then we'll change it out for the good stuff.

It's way more of a mess than I realized, but this thing makes short work of scooping out bucketfulls of busted block. After 15-20 minutes of operation I'm starting to get a feel for the control layout, and the hydraulics are sensitive enough you can actually be somewhat delicate when you need to be. Provided I don't flip it over on top of myself I'm two thumbs up so far.

If its like my sub compact loader/backhoe, the jerkiness/sensitivity really depends on the rpm. If im running the rpm at the full 3100rpm, the backhoe is extremely jerky and nearly impossible to operate smoothly. So usually i run it about 2400rpm. Plenty of power without the jerkiness.

Time for a hydraulic thumb upgrade. Then you can sort the good block from the bad and never have to get off the machine. 

Toyman! said:

Time for a hydraulic thumb upgrade. Then you can sort the good block from the bad and never have to get off the machine. 

Oh yeah I can DEFINITELY see how that would be a HUGE upgrade. Trying to decide between doing the thumb first or doing the hydraulic fluid cooler/filer setup first. Both are around the same price, Already have fans and a bunch of USDM-style zerks on the way, as well as an oil drain extension.

Do your longevity upgrades first - you can't do much with no engine or no hydraulics.
Thumbs look attractive and are certainly becoming popular but you will probably need more counterweight and they cut down your lifting and digging capacity.
My best friend has been using micro excavators since about when they became available, he still has his first machine a 300kg Kubota that still goes well. He's currently got another five spanning up to a 3 1/2 tonne Yanmar but has yet to fit a thumb to any of them although he does have a rotating grapple for picking up "stuff".  Most are a bit jerky in the controls as they don't have the sophisticated accumulators, or the inertia, as the full size machines.
 

Remember to always dig over the front and use the blade to stabilise the machine 

R