Mini Excavator Brands, pros and cons?? Hours?

[streamin]

Looks like I may be looking at buying one, I've been reading and I always thought Yanmar was a cheap brand but it seems they have good engines. They seem to be priced a bit lower than most others. As far as all the rest, hard to choose. Any owners on here with any advice? And what is a decent hours meter reading? nothing over 2500 is kinda what I was thinking.

 

[5030]

Not sure, don't own one but I do work on them once in a while and the issue I see with used ones (and owned ones with moderate hours on them) is 2 things, first, the trunnions get sloppy from infrequent greasing which causes the movements to get real sloppy and hard to control and the buckets fail as in ripping side sheets and breaking off grouser teeth. Trunnions and trunnion bushings (if the have 660CA bronze bushings) are replaceable but do involve quite a bit of heavy work and if no bushings, new pins have to be machined or sourced and grouser teeth and mounts can be renewed but sheet rips require welding and sometimes material replacement depending on how bad they are.

If buying a used one, first thing I'd look for is jerky movement which indicates worn pins or bushings and then the look hared at the bucket for damage. The tracks and under carriage do wear out as do the drive motors but it's usually the stick that gets wonky first.

 

[M59]

Looks like I may be looking at buying one, I've been reading and I always thought Yanmar was a cheap brand but it seems they have good engines. They seem to be priced a bit lower than most others. As far as all the rest, hard to choose. Any owners on here with any advice? And what is a decent hours meter reading? nothing over 2500 is kinda what I was thinking.

streamin,

Any joint requiring grease is suspect so check for sloppy joints evident by banging or erratic movement. Machines get worked without proper maintenance because person operating the machine is paid to get job done and machine owner is not around to monitor if properly serviced.

Look up "Final Drive" since this is the really expensive expensive part that fails when hydraulic fluid is not properly serviced.

Buckets and bucket teeth are consumables as are rubber tracks. Expect a set of tracks to last a few thousand hours or less if used hard on pavement or rocky ground OR if operator is was hard on equipment.

If metal tracks are grousers ( metal cross bars ) worn down?

Does engine smoke after initial puff at start up?

I don't own Yanmar but have respect for the Japanese machine maker. Several friends own them and they are good quality machines.

Hope this helps.



Not sure what

 

[streamin]

That is good info to check, thanks for the tips. I thought the joints usually have a small bit of play just from watching other peoples machines. I am leary about a worn out machine and I'm sure they are not cheap to fix.

 

[Jchonline]

Looks like I may be looking at buying one, I've been reading and I always thought Yanmar was a cheap brand but it seems they have good engines. They seem to be priced a bit lower than most others. As far as all the rest, hard to choose. Any owners on here with any advice? And what is a decent hours meter reading? nothing over 2500 is kinda what I was thinking.

Yanmar makes good machines. Many other good brands out there as well. Most importantly is how said machine was maintained, and what type of parts support you have (ie bad idea to get a grey market machine or one where the company no longer has a US presence). Other than that Lots of choices.

What are you using it for?

 

[M59]

That is good info to check, thanks for the tips. I thought the joints usually have a small bit of play just from watching other peoples machines. I am leary about a worn out machine and I'm sure they are not cheap to fix.

streamin,

Side to side play is acceptable but other play ONLY results from wear of pin or bore bearing surfaces. Wear occurs due to either insufficient lubrication, wrong lubricant used OR use in aggressive sandy or salt water environments combined with poor lubrication.

 

[nova3930]

Pros: Fun to dig
Cons: $$$$

 

[streamin]

Yanmar makes good machines. Many other good brands out there as well. Most importantly is how said machine was maintained, and what type of parts support you have (ie bad idea to get a grey market machine or one where the company no longer has a US presence). Other than that Lots of choices.

What are you using it for?

Bought some property in NC mountains. so road building, maintenance, tree removal, etc. Lots of rocks to deal with.

 

[M59]

Bought some property in NC mountains. so road building, maintenance, tree removal, etc. Lots of rocks to deal with.

streamin,

Have you considered the larger Kubota TLB's L47, M59, M62?

I too live in western NC in the "mountains" ( Fairview, NC ) and use the M59 to maintain two driveways of 3/8 and 3/4 of a mile each. Grades exceed 20 degrees in places. Water erosion is a constant battle with 5 silt ponds in place to settle out silt before water drains away to local creeks. Helps keep the trout happy.

Cleared lots of land and removed acre plus of timber / stumps for utility buildings. Picture below of the rocks I find all over the property. Mouthful of Rocks in a 72" wide grapple. Can't put the hoe into the ground with adding adding more rock to the rock piles.

The "Bone" is in the bank just outside kitchen window. I have plans for house expansion which include moving this slab. This bad boy is too big for the M59 so I have been looking at KX 080's for moving the bank back, this slab, and other big earth moving jobs around the property. Something an excavator excels at BUT for general preperty maintenance, the larger TLBs are the cats meow.

 

[m7040]

Getting the right size machine for what you want to do with it is first order of business I would say. If in doubt start by renting to zero in your minimum size and options. Then go buy new or used. Any of the major brands will work and dealer support and distance wold likely determine brand