Mini Excavators

unclemerle · Jan 12, 2014

Have a project coming up and have the need for a mini excavator. If you have one #6000 or less give me the good bad and the ugly. Plus if you know of a good used one within 500 miles of SWMN I would appreciate a heads up. TIA Merle

red bearing · Jan 12, 2014

I've always rented a small Bobcat backhoe when needed worked good for me no issues...

Bryan inIowa · Jan 12, 2014

Used a Mustang once . Rental ,was surprised how cheap they are to rent .

Formerly PaMike · Jan 12, 2014

I have a kubota KX61-2. Its about 6k lbs. I move in on a 10k trailer with a 3/4 ton. I added a hydraulic thumb to it.I dont know how I ever got along with out it.That little engine fires up in any weather. I use it alot to clean up the tree tops on 40 acres we had logged. Its almost handier than a skidsteer.

greg oliver · Jan 12, 2014

My boss has case cx14 mini excavator works great.He has used it digging under houses so that we could pour new foundation.he bought it in 2008 and only hydraulic hose leak was hose rubbed on center pivot.Boss bought new tr320 tracsteer last summer not impressed. SURE BEATS A SHOVEL Greg

samn40 · Jan 12, 2014

I do occassional digger work at landscaping and although I have my own rubber wheeled digger I do hire rubber tracked mini-diggers. By hiring I can get the size of machine I need as sometimes access is restricted. I have hired nearly all the makes with mixed feelings about some of them....but I have never hired a bad Takeuchi.....I have only ever seen a few in America, so maybe you have only started importing these? They seem to have more power in their track motors than any other make and will doze the full of the blade every time, loosing traction before loosing power. Digging cycles are real fast , but being light grey in colour they look dreadful after a few years sitting outside, like as if they had been primered and never got any top coat! My recommendation would be the 135 or better still, if it is not too big the 145. The 135 machine will compete and beat any rubber wheeled backhoe when digging trenches. The clever foot pedals for operating forwards and reverse are an excellent feature. Try one I think you will like it!.....The photo is of my 10 yr old operating the small 3/4 tonne machine....easy-peasy child's play!
Sam

Charles B. Jackson · Jan 12, 2014

I have a Komatsu PC15 that is great machine.
I am now trying to get a thumb to work on it.
It has the two hyd. lines, pedal that rocks
back and forth to operate hydraulic cylinder
but I can get pressure on only one line.
What am I missing?

Ray · Jan 12, 2014

You can rent one at about any rental place.

Ken Macfarlane · Jan 12, 2014

Sound like its setup for a breaker right now.

Steve in VA · Jan 12, 2014

I have a CAT 301.5 [smallest CAT made] and have no bad comments. You don't mention the project so it's difficult to comment other than to say: too big and it may be difficult to gain access; too small and it may not do the job in a timely manner. For example, my CAT is only about 5000#. If you hook onto too big an object or rocky ground you can drag the machine around and it becomes really slow going. Even though the CAT is pretty light, I have worked up stumps up to 24". Slow but you can get there.

David G · Jan 12, 2014

My buddy has a Case, he like the double articulating bucket. He can get in real close to a wall because it will dig parallel to the tracks.

unclemerle · Jan 12, 2014

It will be used to dig under existing footings and dig new door footings. Friend has a 6 to 12k mini and a couple large Cats (320 & 324), so when the going gets tough I'll call in the big boys. Building a large shop and getting to old and cranky to run a spade. Found a couple Takeuchi TB108s that look like they would work. Anyone own/ran one of these?

JRSutton · Jan 12, 2014

I'd say rent before buying.

Then you'll see just how limited they are in usefulness and capability.

They have their place of course, and they sure beat a pick and a shovel... but for the money it takes to own one... I don't know...

I find them just a little too anemic to be of much use. At least around here with rocky soil.

Might be hard to justify it if you don't have a very specific and regular need.

They do fill a certain niche, not putting them down, but just saying I find that niche pretty small. They're usefulness fades very quickly when you've got a stump more than 3" in diameter to pull, or a rock bigger than a breadbox.

Money would be better spent on something even just a little larger that can do some real work.

Zachary Hoyt · Jan 12, 2014

I rented a mini trackhoe in 2008 to dig a trench for 100' of footings and block wall. I got 8 hours of digging time for $240 including free delivery and pickup. It took me half an hour or so to get comfortable with using it, but after that it was great. It had no dozing power at all but it dug wonderfully. At the bottom of one trench, 5' down in the ground I found a rock 5' long, 2' wide and 8-10" thick, sitting across the trench. It took me over an hour to get that rock out, I had to dig out on either end and then pry the rock loose and stand it on end in the trench and drag it up over the side since it was too heavy for the hoe to lift. I had tried digging by hand at first but our ground is very rocky and I was only able to dig about 10 feet of trench a day by hand. I would seriously look at renting unless you are going to have an ongoing need for it.
Zach

waltdavies · Jan 12, 2014

I also have the Kubota 61-2 super series. It's a great machine we use it weekly here on the farm in all kinds of weather. I don't think you can get it stuck I tried. It will rip out large stumps and carry them away. Clean the barm faster than my bucket loader and I also have the quick dissconect for the buckets would never be without it or the hydraulic thumb. Have a 14 in. Bucket with large teeth and a 3 ft. With a smooth cutter bar for digging out ditches. You can do more work in half the time with one of these little guys. Just don't get to small. Mine is about just right for the farm. Maybe a contractor or landscaper might want to go down a little.
Just be careful the smaller they get the smaller you have to be to operate them.
Walt

Formerly PaMike · Jan 12, 2014

I agree on the size. Just right to pull with a pickup. I had a real small machine and it had no reach and could barely straddle a trench safely. If in doubt go bigger.

jm. · Jan 12, 2014

Being a KUBOTA dealer I have had about ever size here on the farm. The two guys below that have the 61s have about the perfect size. We now have a U35 here on the farm for the last three years. Any farm of size really needs one. Seems we use it almost ever week. Resale probably better on KUBOTA or bobcat over the others but long as you can get parts about any of them are O.K. Know some boys that have IHI and they have no parts or service. 10 to 12 thousand will get you in a good used one and you might find something cheaper than that.

jm. · Jan 12, 2014

That pedal and circuit is only one way. Will require an additional kit to make it work you thumb cylinder.

Mike (WA) · Jan 12, 2014

That's about the best way ever to get a kid interested in operating equipment. My dad and I moved a house onto the corner of our farm when I was about 16, set it up, and sold it with 5 acres. He paid $1 for the house, had about 10 K in moving and setting it up, and he sold it for $17,000. Not bad wages for a couple of months in 1963.

We rented a backhoe to dig the footings, pit down for the well (water was at 40 feet, and if we pitted down 10 feet for the pump, could use a shallow well jet pump) and dig the septic and drainfield. When the thing was delivered, dad told me to go out in the field, dig a trench and then fill it back in, and when I felt like I could operate the thing without killing anyone or wrecking anything, come back and go to work.

I learned to run it, everything went great. Except we rented it for 40 hours, and the hour meter was tied to RPMs- so when it idled, racked up time very slowly. Dad was determined to get his 40 hours worth, so I was almost down to "make work" projects by the time we were done.

CBBC · Jan 12, 2014

I have pretty much the same machine, PC15 with the thumb and boom pivot to get a bit off set. When we bought it there was an electric solenoid on a switch which switches the flow between the thumb and the boom pivot.

The foot treadle / pedal or what ever its called, operates whatever the solenoid is sending the oil flow to.

Ours switch was on an electric fan switch on the console - there is a canopy, but no cab so a fan is really not anywhere... The electric solenoid pooched after a while. I just replaces it with a manual flow valve. A little simpler...

These are good small machines, they are limited in what they do, but they can save a lot of time.

Grant

T in NE · Jan 13, 2014

The bigger the operator, the higher the lift capacity.

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