A Chinese Mini Excavator? Seriously?

In reply to RichardNZ :

Is it easy to find a PC 01 in NZ and what sort of price do they trade at?

RichardNZ said:

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

There's a guy in the YouTube community that just released a one-box kit for my exact machine with a hydraulic filter, cooler, fittings, wiring and plumbing for $400. That sounds like a no-brainer.

In reply to Rons :

Had a look on TradeMe (.co.nz) which is our version of ebay but nothing visible, not even much under a couple of tonnes. You can set up a search and be emailed when something comes up that matches but it may require a (free) account.

Some pictures, 'cos nothing is good without pictures 

Elvis is leaving the building SV05

Clarissa (the clearasil girl for any Aussies watching) PC01

VIO15 and Dumpy, BFF 

One of these little guys is next on my list. Then I can do just about anything. 

Where can I read up on the mini skid steers? I've got a few projects around the property and that looks like it could save me both time and money.

In reply to dculberson :

The Chinese Mini Excavators Owners Group on Facebook has a fair amount of info. There are also some YouTube videos out there. 

I have about 1000 feet of trenching to do at the NC property down the side of a mountain to replace the water lines between the spring box and the valve box. While we are at it we will probably replumb the entire property so we can feed water from the spring box or the well to the shop, house, barn, campground, and mobile home. That will probably add another 500'-1000' of trench to the project. With that in mind, I have been shopping for a used trencher for several months. Much like excavators, $10k doesn't buy much in used trenches. Since I have been very impressed with the Chinese excavator, I started looking at Chinese skid steers with trencher attachments.

I ordered one of these guys last week. It's a stand-on mini that tips the scales at about 2k pounds. It's powered by a 23hp Briggs engine. It comes with the standard bucket but I also ordered it with the trencher attachment. Once it gets here, I'll probably be ordering the brush mower attachment as well to keep creek edges and banks cleared. It and the excavator together weigh about 4000 pounds so they can be easily hauled between properties on my utility trailer. Between the two of them, I should be able to do any work needed. 

A trencher really interests me, but not enough (at the moment) to have a whole separate machine for it. But I'm eager to follow your progress on the skid. It's been interesting to watch prices fall on those and I imagine they'll pull even with excavators before long.

I just got all my reliability upgrades, so this weekend is a big wrenching weekend for the digger. It's getting a cooling fan, hydraulic cooler and filter, and fresh Sunoco hydraulic fluid. I did an oil change a couple weeks ago and I don't know what they're using for break-in oil but it looked like soup a robot would eat. Anyway it's not got a nice supply of synthetic 5w30 and an oil drain extension that will actually allow me to drain the oil without disassembling half the machine.

Reliability mod day!

One of the active dudes on the Facecbook mini-xcavator community has a side hustle doing some cool accessories and mod kits, so I picked up one of his hydraulic filter/cooler combos and got it installed today. Literally a one-box solution, so while I maybe spent a few bucks more than buying everything myself, I saved a lot of hassle finding fittings (there's some goofy-sized fittings on this thing), having a hose made and generally wasting my time. PLus I got to support a guy who's supporting the community.

I used a fluid extractor to drain the hydraulic reservoir and got a total of about 10 liters out. Replaced with Sunoco Sunvis 846, because of course we have to support our GRM partners, too, and I'll probably do a low-hour filter change before topping it off again and sending it.

I deviated from the instructions a bit in mounting. The kit wants you to attach the cooler to the motor deck, but instead I fabbed up a simple little bracket that slides over a piece of 1/2-inch steel gusset on the motor deck and rubber isolated everything. It gets the cooler up behind the vents a little better, and makes it super easy to slide in and out for servicing without having to remove the side panel. At some point I should probably make a "real" bracket that isn't a bunch of off-cuts from the scrap pile, but as long as this one works I think we all know that will never happen.

Also great having an assistant who thinks pooping on the digger is constructive help. 

For those that have wondered about how tippy they are...

My 85-year-old father did this yesterday when the trench he was crossing caved in. 

Luckily no bodily harm was done to either of them. It was a fairly slow flop. 

I would yell at him about being careful and waiting until he had help for these things but it would be a waste of breath. He's more hard-headed than I am. 

Edit: The pictures make it look like a toy that was discarded by a child. 

Toyman! said:

For those that have wondered about how tippy they are...

My 85-year-old father did this yesterday when the trench he was crossing caved in. 

Luckily no bodily harm was done to either of them. It was a fairly slow flop. 

 

 

I would yell at him about being careful and waiting until he had help for these things but it would be a waste of breath. He's more hard-headed than I am. 

 

Edit: The pictures make it look like a toy that was discarded by a child. 

 

Yeah my wife has a project for me on one of the few slopey parts of our yard that I've been putting off for this very reason. I basically just need to find an angle of approach that allows me to get in, get the dig done, and get out, but trial-and-error is not really the right method for discerning that exact angle. 

Did you get it back upright yet?

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

I assume he did. He has it at the NC property 300 miles away and at the moment has no internet or cell service beyond test messages. 

I have taken to getting off and walking on the uphill side when it feels tippy. Then if it falls over I can reach down and shut it off instead of trying to figure out how to extricate myself from underneath it. I don't even ride it onto the trailer. 

Yeah, y'all are bad influences.  This followed me home today.   In truth I have an ever growing list of activities around the farm which made an excavator make good sense.  Finally got sick of looking at clapped out name brands at auction which still cost 3x the cost of one of these units so I gave in and got one.   It honestly is pretty much just what I need, a shovel for people who dont like to shovel.

JThw8 said:

Yeah, y'all are bad influences.  This followed me home today.   In truth I have an ever growing list of activities around the farm which made an excavator make good sense.  Finally got sick of looking at clapped out name brands at auction which still cost 3x the cost of one of these units so I gave in and got one.   It honestly is pretty much just what I need, a shovel for people who dont like to shovel.

Damn Jim went big baller with the pilot controls and the foot pedals.

Welcome to the club. Yeh as soon as I got estimates from contractors that were nearing the price of buying a machine, the decision became pretty easy.

I'm strongly considering a miniex for my business. Does anyone have any experience with auger bits for them? We often have to auger 16" or 18" holes anywhere from 36" to 72" deep. Any thoughts on whether one of these would handle that (with extensions on the auger, of course)? 

brandonsmash said:

I'm strongly considering a miniex for my business. Does anyone have any experience with auger bits for them? We often have to auger 16" or 18" holes anywhere from 36" to 72" deep. Any thoughts on whether one of these would handle that (with extensions on the auger, of course)? 

 

Yeah look back to Toyman's early posts. He's got an auger and it seems to be working great for him.

In reply to brandonsmash :

I have a 6" I have used to set fence posts. It seems to have plenty of power. Mine won't dig rock though. It doesn't stall but the tip just sticks it and doesn't go deeper. 

JG Pasterjak said:

JThw8 said:

Yeah, y'all are bad influences.  This followed me home today.   In truth I have an ever growing list of activities around the farm which made an excavator make good sense.  Finally got sick of looking at clapped out name brands at auction which still cost 3x the cost of one of these units so I gave in and got one.   It honestly is pretty much just what I need, a shovel for people who dont like to shovel.

Damn Jim went big baller with the pilot controls and the foot pedals.

Welcome to the club. Yeh as soon as I got estimates from contractors that were nearing the price of buying a machine, the decision became pretty easy.

For just about 1k over the other machine and they threw in the 2 attachments I wanted (rake and 8" bucket) it was worth it.  I've seen lots of good reviews on the H15s.  But mostly it was about what was available when I was ready to move forward.  Local dealer had this in stock and I was tired of paralysis by analysis and realized I was eating into the time I actually needed to start getting some work done :)

And oddly, or maybe not oddly since I have no experience with these, the foot pedals control the front blade and aux hydraulics.  Im tempted to swap the plumbing around to have them control the tracks which makes more sense to my tractor driving brain but I'm gonna try it as is for awhile first.

:

brandonsmash said:

I'm strongly considering a miniex for my business. Does anyone have any experience with auger bits for them? We often have to auger 16" or 18" holes anywhere from 36" to 72" deep. Any thoughts on whether one of these would handle that (with extensions on the auger, of course)? 

 

I think a 16-18 inch auger might be a stretch for one of these.  I think 6-10 inches are probably their sweet spot, but the larger ones are going to take a bit more oomph

In reply to JThw8 :

I currently run a Ground Hog with a 7hp engine on back. It runs the 16" auger fine in loose or semi-compacted soil but struggles hard in caliche; we end up having to jackhammer a lot. It's especially vexatious when we have to do holes >36". I'd love a tool that could get through narrow-access areas (~36" wide gates) but would make it easier to not only auger the holes, but also remove the soil. As it is, we use a series of extensions and have to pull out the deeper scoops manually, which is very difficult. 

Y'all have any leads on places to buy one closer to PA or Ohio? It'll be cheaper to buy than rent or contract the work I am now finding out I need to do.

In reply to RevRico :

I've seen a number of people on FB Marketplace selling them new around central Ohio. 

In reply to EvanB :

I'm just seeing ads to become a dealer near Pittsburgh, so far. 

I do have a guy with a Kubota I can borrow though. 

In reply to RevRico :

I bought mine locally from Marketplace. 

Here are a couple I found, my area is also now overrun with ads looking for dealers.

https://www.facebook.com/share/hjEjCXLZMmtE58rS/?mibextid=79PoIi

https://www.facebook.com/share/WFSyMbRxXYcDdH6M/?mibextid=79PoIi

https://www.facebook.com/share/3Qqj9xzfYxA9arm8/?mibextid=79PoIi