Mini Excavator recommendation

Hi All from the new guy!
I have 15 acres of heavily forested property that I need to thin and clean. Its covered in large Cedar, Pine, Fir and oak trees along with large brush. The ground is fairly soft and not much for rock until your down about 4 feet. Then its gravel and light clay mix. Intermixed is LOTS of small sapling trees. I'm looking to clean the place up over the next 5 years by removing the saplings and brush along with the stumps. I will be digging some water, sewer and electric trenches. Possibly some foundation footings and I'm also clearing and leveling a 100 yard shooting range. I'm looking for a recommendation for a used Mini Excavator for this project. I have never operated one before but, I drive truck for a living and have operated tractors and forklifts. I have a Kubota M4000 tractor now. I'm sure I can get the hang of it. I'm not really brand dedicated. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

USED mini excavators scare me to death. I would never buy one. I have a really good friend that is in the used equipment business and he buys, sells and exports used excavators all the time. Almost every one he buys has some sort of a major problem. Track drive motor leaking or not pulling. Cylinders leaking or bent. Undercarriage worn out. Swing table bearing worn. If the main hydraulic pump goes out, it will cost half the price of the machine to replace it. 10 grand and up for a pump not out of line. If you find a really good low hour machine with a warranty it will cost you nearly as much as a new one. I do not know of anyone that makes a really bad excavator, but you need to look at parts and service in your area. It is not cheap to have a service tech to travel 200 miles just to find he can't fix it that day and has to come back later. Some will tell you that you need a hydraulic thumb also. That is just a trinket that is not necessary. You will constantly be breaking hydraulic hoses and fittings and bending the cylinder. A manual thump works very well for most people. Personally I like a Komatsu in a Mini.

Cheaper to buy a regular backhoe. They will dig better and you have a bucket to push brush around or move dirt.

Unless you are very knowlegdeable about tree species, it might behoove you to get a consulting forester in there to tell you what to leave and what to keep. It may not always be what you think. Loggers will come in and tell you what is best for them, not always what is best for YOU. Your local Agricultural Extension office will have a list of foresters for your state. Even a 15 acre woodlot can give you a good return if managed correctly.

Komatsu was always my favorite,I ran them for years from a 15 yd down.

I guess I can't say much bad about any of the brands.I bought a Bobcat,but mostly because I just happened to find one in the condition I wanted.We also have a good dealer around here.Mine came from a guy that used it for doing residential cable TV installations.The ones to stay away from are off rental units.Homeowners that rent machines are destructive on them.I kept my JD backhoe around for years,thinking it might come in handy,but when it wound up sitting for years at a time I figured I didn't need it anymore.The 8000 pound Bobcat excavator and 5000 pound Bobcat skidsteer do everything the backhoe did,just faster.My two main requirements when looking for one were,pilot control,and hydraulic thumb.I would not own a small excavator without a thumb.You can clear clumps of brush,alders,black cherry,birch,blueberry bushes,junipers,etc with the thumb and hardly disturb the ground.I cut all my firewood using the thumb.I clamp it,pick it up to waist level,and cut to length.Then I can pick up the big pieces and set them right on the splitter.The blades on them are backfill blades,not bulldozer blades. They are compact excavators too,not stump rippers.

KEITH the one thing I do different with my fire wood is pick the rounds up using a thumb and dump a load in an old 3/4 ford pickup I have, then back up to the splitter on an slight angle just roll the rounds off the tail gate on to the splitter no heavy lifting I also raise my splitter onto car ramps sure saves the back LOL

Kubota 57 or 80. The 80 is a little bit probably not considered
a mini. I wouldn?t be scared of bobcat either.

There is a reason KUBOTA has 37% of the mini excavator market.. folks like them.. Look for a U35 or KX 121 . Some one posted below that they had never seen a used mini without major problems. Just not so. We run 14 U35s in a rental fleet usually take them out at three years or 1800 to 2000 hours. I know several folks that have purchased these units and had good service without major repairs. And you are definitely thinking right a mini with a thumb will out work a wheel unit in that environment two to one. Some where around 20 thousand and you should find a unit that will do you work.

Ranger, you can take what jm. tells you to the bank. He is our resident Kubota expert. I agree with others about how useful a thumb is. An excavator is much easier to learn to run than a backhoe, and as you plan to do some trenching the reach of an excavator is way better than a back hoe.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. The advice is appreciated.

I got a "gray market" Hitachi ZX30U this spring. Had ~3600 hours on it and I've added ~100 more with no issues at all (yet?). No leaks, Runs and starts great. I am going to have to replace the battery (original one still in it) soon though as it is getting a bit sluggish cranking.

I have no worries about keeping it going. Filters are available from NAPA. Pin and bushing kits are available from ebay even. Yanmar engine so easy to get parts for. Cylinder seals are available at www.sealsourceinc.com.

..... Some will tell you that you need a hydraulic thumb also. That is just a trinket that is not necessary. You will constantly be breaking hydraulic hoses and fittings and bending the cylinder.

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A properly designed hydraulic circuit for the thumb should not allow enough force to be applied to the thumb to bend the cylinder nor break hoses and fittings. A thumb should be plumbed with a dual crossover relief valve. That valve is adjusted to allow the bucket curl to push back the thumb before reaching the point of causing damage to components. Many thumb installations do not include that valve though so damage can and does occur.

A manual thumb works for many users, but the hydraulic thumb allows greater flexibility of use.

welding man I am sure you have some experience on reason to state that the hydraulic thumb are a source of problems. Truth is in our fleet and what we sell I see very few thumb problems. Actually can not remember a bent cylinder and normal wear and tear on hose seems to not be bad. We fit ever thing from the small Kx42s all the way thru the largest kx 80 with hydraulic thumbs and have very few problems. The FACTORY Kubota thumb is a little different from an add on thumb in that it uses the bucket pin for the rear pin thus the movement of the thumb and bucket are coordinated and stay constant. Almost 80 percent of the last year sales left the dealership with hydraulic thumbs. Man ever has one with a hydraulic thumb he will never go back to manual.