Mini Excavator

[yoderjac]

Just to be safe, I decided to disconnect the quick-connects today and pull the hydraulic hoses for the thumb. No sense in keeping them on the machine until the thumb is fixed. It was pretty wet today, so I was limited in what I could do, but the machine worked fine without the thumb. I am, however, developing a great appreciation for the thumb, and I'm extremely glad I got both it and the angle blade!

 

[jsasker007]

I've always wanted the 6-way blade but still just have up and down. Have not had to be without the thumb yet.

 

[yoderjac]

I've always wanted the 6-way blade but still just have up and down. Have not had to be without the thumb yet.

6-way would be even nicer. I think there as a Kubota in this class that had one, but used ones for sale were very rare when I was looking.

 

[DPx2]

This is a most interesting thread. I thought my next farm machine would be a tracked skid steer, but following this thread makes me think a mini-ex would be better. I already have a 60hp tractor with loader to do many farm/food plot related things, but I have blown out terraces, creek crossings, stumps, silted in ponds that could all use some attention.

I've run neither a skid steer or mini-ex before, and know I should rent one first and see what the capabilities of each are, but this thread sure makes me think a mini is the best choice.

Thanks for sharing your projects and advice on here.

 

[yoderjac]

This is a most interesting thread. I thought my next farm machine would be a tracked skid steer, but following this thread makes me think a mini-ex would be better. I already have a 60hp tractor with loader to do many farm/food plot related things, but I have blown out terraces, creek crossings, stumps, silted in ponds that could all use some attention.

I've run neither a skid steer or mini-ex before, and know I should rent one first and see what the capabilities of each are, but this thread sure makes me think a mini is the best choice.

Thanks for sharing your projects and advice on here.

Glad you found it useful. I would say that, in general, a skid-steer has a wider variety of tasks it can do, but they all require attachments. When you add the cost of attachments to the skid-steer, you need a pretty deep pocketbook to take advantage of the flexibility. A mini-excavator is a more focused machine, but if you have a tractor with FEL, it covers many of the tasks. So, it boils down to what you plan to do. For me, the combination of my existing tractor and mini-excavator was the perfect fit for my tasks.

One thing I like is how a used one holds its value. When my my mini-excavator tasks are complete, I plan to sell it and upgrade to a larger tractor.

 

[DPx2]

That's my only hesitation in buying one. If i can rent one for a month for$3500, and get all my work done, then i wouldn't have to go thru the buy sell process. But, I'd have to go like heck, and I'm not familiar enough with anything to go like heck... The next question would be size. I'm thinking 8-12k lbs and
I'm leaning towards a rental machine an outfit is selling if i purchase. I think my next step is to rent one for a week to get an understanding how they operate, what hp i need, what weight, what digging depth, what i can do with one, etc. Definitely want used, although I'd love to find an older wheeled mini, my chances are slim.

 

[yoderjac]

If you are in a situation where you can go balls-to-the-wall and get all your work done in a short span, rental may make sense. My problem is age and too many balls in the air. I get a day here and there to work and I have enough stuff to do that I'm looking at 3 to 5 years of ownership. Rental doesn't make sense in my scenario. I too was planning to do a single short term rental to get a feel for machines, but it turned out that I didn't have to.

It is really more a hydraulic pump machine vs a direct HP machine although they are related. They are sized so the hp/hydraulic pump power is matched to the weight. I want to be able to transport the machine myself with a pickup so 10K was about my weight limit. I'm probably slightly over the weight limit for my 10K trailer with my machine. So, that was the upper limit on size for me. The larger the machine, the more it can do unless you are talking about fine work around houses and tight quarters. So, I was pretty much looking at a 35 class (3.5 ton) base machine. My 35g comes in at a 10K with the long arm, counter weight, bucket and thumb.

I got my feel for different machines by driving around to local dealers. Some would let me take the machine and go play in the dirt. Some offered to bring a machine out and let me demo it but I didn't go that far. My problem was that I'm not a mechanic. Even after doing a lot of research into what to look out for, I didn't want to take the chance of buying a problem machine. So, I ended up buying from a dealer and paying a small premium over what I would have paid from a private buyer. It worked out for me.

Best of luck,

Jack

 

[DPx2]

Thanks, that's great info.
I too will be limited on trailer and truck limits, probably putting me more until the 10k range as well now that you bring it up.
When you say dealer, you mean someone buying and flipping as opposed to say a rental place. I'm not opposed to paint for that service but feel the national rental stores would have maintained the machines properly, what's your thinking on that front?

 

[jsasker007]

If you are in a situation where you can go balls-to-the-wall and get all your work done in a short span, rental may make sense. My problem is age and too many balls in the air. I get a day here and there to work and I have enough stuff to do that I'm looking at 3 to 5 years of ownership. Rental doesn't make sense in my scenario. I too was planning to do a single short term rental to get a feel for machines, but it turned out that I didn't have to.

It is really more a hydraulic pump machine vs a direct HP machine although they are related. They are sized so the hp/hydraulic pump power is matched to the weight. I want to be able to transport the machine myself with a pickup so 10K was about my weight limit. I'm probably slightly over the weight limit for my 10K trailer with my machine. So, that was the upper limit on size for me. The larger the machine, the more it can do unless you are talking about fine work around houses and tight quarters. So, I was pretty much looking at a 35 class (3.5 ton) base machine. My 35g comes in at a 10K with the long arm, counter weight, bucket and thumb.

I got my feel for different machines by driving around to local dealers. Some would let me take the machine and go play in the dirt. Some offered to bring a machine out and let me demo it but I didn't go that far. My problem was that I'm not a mechanic. Even after doing a lot of research into what to look out for, I didn't want to take the chance of buying a problem machine. So, I ended up buying from a dealer and paying a small premium over what I would have paid from a private buyer. It worked out for me.

Best of luck,

Jack

You should be under 9,000 lbs with a 35g.

 

[yoderjac]

You should be under 9,000 lbs with a 35g.

With the raw machine, that is true. Add the long arm, counter weight, and buckets and I'm around 10K. Keep in mind that a 10K trailer includes the weight of the trailer itself, and I'm probably pushing the trailer.

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks, that's great info.
I too will be limited on trailer and truck limits, probably putting me more until the 10k range as well now that you bring it up.
When you say dealer, you mean someone buying and flipping as opposed to say a rental place. I'm not opposed to paint for that service but feel the national rental stores would have maintained the machines properly, what's your thinking on that front?

When I went around getting a feel for machines, I looked at all kinds of dealers, including those buying them at auction and reselling them as well as the brand name dealers that sell new and used. If you scroll up in the thread, you see I looked hard at a New Holland and Bobcat from buy and flip dealers because of the lower cost. You are right rental companies maintain their machines well, but the condition depends on who they rent to.

I ended up going with James River which is a JD dealer. The lease machines to companies (vs) individuals, but I'm not sure how much this matters. I've been told they put their best operators on the large equipment and put just about anyone on the mini's. At any rate, they maintain the machines for the company that they leased mine to, so they had all the maintenance records. I was originally looking for machines with a wide range of hours, but after looking at a lot of machines, I concluded that machines around 1,000 hours seemed to be in much better shape than higher hour machines, so I decided to target 1,000 hours. The low hours and going through a dealership gave me the confidence I wanted with my limited experience with mechanics but it did cost me more than I originally intended to pay.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[DPx2]

That's great perspective in the search process. I have followed along the thread since the beginning, but forgot the thought process you used. I'm going to go back and re-read it. I really appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts. It's a chunk of change and I want to make best use of it.

 

[yoderjac]

That's great perspective in the search process. I have followed along the thread since the beginning, but forgot the thought process you used. I'm going to go back and re-read it. I really appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts. It's a chunk of change and I want to make best use of it.

Yes, I struggled with the cash outlay as well. I debated it and watched youtube videos and such for about 6 months. My new neighbor is an independent contractor in construction and he was a great source. Once I started physically looking at machines, it took me a number of months before I finally bit the bullet and made the buy. I have about 100 hours on the machine since I purchased it. It is doing what I want. My skill level using it is growing. I still have not mastered using the pedals to steer it while operating the bucket. I do one or the other but I'm getting much better at bucket work.

 

[DPx2]

Yes, I struggled with the cash outlay as well. I debated it and watched youtube videos and such for about 6 months. My new neighbor is an independent contractor in construction and he was a great source. Once I started physically looking at machines, it took me a number of months before I finally bit the bullet and made the buy. I have about 100 hours on the machine since I purchased it. It is doing what I want. My skill level using it is growing. I still have not mastered using the pedals to steer it while operating the bucket. I do one or the other but I'm getting much better at bucket work.

Information such as this is very helpful as well. as I ask myself what the learning curve is, what others struggled with in the purchase decision, etc. The overall picture is of interest to me as I debate myself on need, vs want, vs buying a CTL. 1st world problems....

 

[yoderjac]

Back to the thumb bent ram issue. I stopped at my neighbors this weekend to see if he was available to work on the cylinder repair with me. He already had it in a vice and had removed the snap ring. He couldn't get the ram to move at all by hand, but that is not surprising. We did a little internet search and it looks like JD cylinders with snap rings require a Gland Removal Ring for removal. It looks like you push it in, install the ring which allows the ram to come out. It is just a plastic ring, but you need it.

Today, I called the dealer. It turns out it is included in the kit with the seals. The parts guy did not know if it was in the rod kid or bore kit. Together they run $70! I really doubt we will need o-rings or seals. We should be able to take the the end cap and piston off the rod and reuse them as-is. The parts guy had the part number for the cylinder but no dimensions for it. He gave me the part number for the cylinder. I looked it up online, but I could not find specs for the JD cylinder. I did find specs for non-OEM replacement cylinders. They showed the bore as 2". When I convert that to mm, I got 50.4 mm. When I looked up JD Gland Removal rings I found 45mm, 50mm, and 56mm. I'm guessing it is the 50mm I need for this. I believe the other cylinders on my unit are slightly larger than the thumb cylinder, so I'm presuming they are 56 mm. I ordered both a 50 mm and 56 mm on line. They were only about $5 each, but another $7 in shipping. Certainly better than $70.

When they come in, I'll continue the saga with the next step.

 

[jsasker007]

Yes, I struggled with the cash outlay as well. I debated it and watched youtube videos and such for about 6 months. My new neighbor is an independent contractor in construction and he was a great source. Once I started physically looking at machines, it took me a number of months before I finally bit the bullet and made the buy. I have about 100 hours on the machine since I purchased it. It is doing what I want. My skill level using it is growing. I still have not mastered using the pedals to steer it while operating the bucket. I do one or the other but I'm getting much better at bucket work.

Those foot pedals are terrible. You need to wear a size 4 shoe or your feet don't fit on the cute little plastic pedals. Room for improvement there.

 

[yoderjac]

Those foot pedals are terrible. You need to wear a size 4 shoe or your feet don't fit on the cute little plastic pedals. Room for improvement there.

I'm not far enough along yet for pedal size to be the issue. Just coordinating moving the unit while operating the other controls is too complicated for me so far.

 

[yoderjac]

We made a little more progress yesterday morning. We tried an air compressor but could not get the rod to budge. So, I took the cylinder back to the farm, reinstalled it, and used the hydraulics to extend the rod. I then headed back to my neighbors.

It took some time, but we were able to get the gland removal ring in place. We were then able to remove the rod. We had to use a long pipe to get enough leverage to remove the nut from the end. The seals and O-rings were in good shape and easy to remove. I did notice the rod was slight rough near the bend point. When I stuck my finger in the collar after removing it from the rod, I could feel a rough spot. We also chewed up the gland removal ring when we pulled out the rod.

We were afraid to put hat collar on the new rod for fear of screwing it up. This morning, I headed to the JD dealer. I ordered a new collar and the inner seal that is so deep in the collar, I'm afraid I'd damage it trying to remove it. I ordered another gland removal ring too.

Time will tell...

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

Parts came in and I picked them up today. Hope to work on it tomorrow.

 

[yoderjac]

My neighbor and I got to work on the cylinder this morning. Things went well. Had a little trouble removing the internal wear ring, but eventually got all the rings nd seals in place and was able to reassemble it. I have not hooked it up yet, but hopefully it will work.