Kubota mini turned over...what to check for?

   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for? #1  

Diamondback

Bronze Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2007
Messages
64
Location
Mountains of NC
Tractor
Kubota Grand L4060
Been looking at mini excavators for a long time. Finally this one shows up. It's a 2006 KX121-3 with 1000 hrs, two buckets and a decent price. Pretty much everything I want in a digger.

One thing that concerns me is the owner said his son had turned it over and broke the boom. He says that has been repaired and has a replacement panel for one that was dented when the unit went over. I'm going to check out the machine this week but was looking for some advice.

Is it possible to tell if the boom repair was done correctly? Should I be worried about the engine? What should I ask or look for to avoid costly repairs down the road?

As you may have figured out by now I'm somewhat new to mini diggers and am uncertain how detrimental the "turn over" may have been to the unit.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for? #2  
Diamondback;

I would be worried on what else was damaged in the rollover. If the boom was broken then I would suspect the boom's attachment points, pins, etc. As you can imagine, the boom is one of the strongest component on an excavator. I have a Takeuchi excavator and the boom is pretty beefy. I don't think a "rollover" would bend a boom unless it fell some distance, like off a ledge or something. So it would it would stand to reason to check out everything else carefully. If you are getting a "smokin' deal" on the price, it may be worth the gamble. Good luck.

SimS
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
SimS,

Thanks for the reply. I had my doubts as well when the seller mentioned the repair. I'll know more when I see it. An impact hard enough to break the boom sure seems like it would affect other things on the machine. Checking for slew ring/upper chassis being out of line or the boom being out of line should fairly easy to spot even to an untrained eye hopefully. The price is good but it's not a "smokin'" enough deal only to be faced with costly porblems later.

The engine concerns me as well. Didn't ask him how long the engine ran while off it's tracks and since his son did the deed he may not know for sure. If the engine starts up right away with little or no smoke and sounds smooth am I in the clear or are there other things I should check?

Thanks
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for? #4  
I have seen a couple with the boom bent from rollovers. They were repaired properly and will work fine for the life of the machine. I would probably take someone that knows this type of repair and get their opinion if you are really interested.
Remember though one day you will want to sell the machine and it will be the one with the repaired boom, and you will have to price it accordingly. Is it that cheap based on a future sale? Or another way to look at it. If it is $5000.00 less to buy than a good one, it will sell for $5000.00 less when you sell. If you spend $5000.00 more you will get $5000.00 more when you sell it and no potential boom issue to deal with. If you do have to do boom repairs it will just be throwing money away as it will add 0 to the value, but necessary just to sell it. Just my opinion on damaged goods.
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for? #5  
The engine concerns me as well. Didn't ask him how long the engine ran while off it's tracks

This is a major concern , if it ran for 15 seconds or more with no oil pressure the crank bearings would be very suspect . It may start and run , it may even have good oil pressure , but without knowing how long it ran you have no way of knowing how much damage was done . If they can't tell you how long it ran , you are taking a big gamble . The only way to tell for sure is to drop the sump/pan and check the bearings and crank journals which is probably out of the question .
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for? #6  
I rolled my KX121-3 this summer....Yikes! I did a complete roll, not just flo over, in soft hay field. Scared the crap out of me, no belt on with door open. Bad. I turned it off as I was basically hitting, really quick to avoid running dry engine. Got her back up, let it sit for a couple of hours. Started right up....with no hyd.s!!?? I was scared I screwed something up, brought al;l kinds of people to see it and give their advice. A couple of hours later, it bled it self out and worked the same. Cracked my cowling and my pride.

I would look at the welds on the boom and where the main cast peice which receive all the boom connecting pins. If any of the radius where off due to crimping or bending of boom would probably show up in piston movement and stress on the piston saddles/ boom attachment points. I would also look at the valve bank which is right on the side of the machine. There is alot of money there and any damage should be visible.
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for? #7  
If there's any question that the engine ran "dry" - get an oil analysis done - with oil that's had some running hours. You will have a better idea of high levels of wear based on the metals present in the oil.

Additionally, I'd be a bit concerned about the turntable. If the rollover was bad enough to trash the boom - the next component to receive the crash energy after the cab - is the turntable.

Best of luck.

AKfish
 
   / Kubota mini turned over...what to check for?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks for all the info guys. Was going to check the unit this weekend but was unable to. I'll try to get together with the seller this week.

Have to admit I'm seriously re-thinking my interest in this machine. At least he was straight up about the damage.

According to him, the repair was done at the local dealership he purchased it from and since it was insured he said they made the machine like new. Still don't know the details about what exactly was done, but he did give me the name of the guy who did the work at the dealership to confirm what was done. We'll see.

Thanks again, Diamondback
 

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