What kind of a hill can a mini excavator handle.

[4570Man]

I'm contemplating clearing a lot on a pretty stump hill. There's only 1 or 2 big trees. Everything else is 6" or less. I'll have a CTL on the job, but I know it won't handle it. My experience on a mini is pretty brief and on level ground.

 

[Rustyiron]

Experience is your friend especially operating any machinery on a slope.
Is it too steep for the CTL? 6" trees should not be much trouble for that Kub. ctl I've seen you post before. The mini will prolly have a blade on it, keep it "downhill" while your working on the stumps, and depending on the slope, swing the boom up hill while traveling across the slope. I've kept the boom close in but downhill in extreme conditions in case it's needed as a crutch or to catch yourself if necessary. The mini's can be a little tippy vs. a larger machine.

 

[Code54]

They can go pretty steep. I been down several hills where I would flip over forward without riding the bucket down the hill. Kind of use it as a skid/out rigger and slide it as I work my way down. Depending on the machine, the blade will drop a good deal below level so you can anchor the machine on the down hill with the blade to work.
Also remember if you go down it you have to come back up! Wet leaves and mud are not your friend when doing this kind of stuff with a Mini. Be safe

 

[stingray1]

Take Rustyirons advice. If your hills are anything like mine I'd get a few more hours of seat time before tackling that job.

 

[4570Man]

Experience is your friend especially operating any machinery on a slope.
Is it too steep for the CTL? 6" trees should not be much trouble for that Kub. ctl I've seen you post before. The mini will prolly have a blade on it, keep it "downhill" while your working on the stumps, and depending on the slope, swing the boom up hill while traveling across the slope. I've kept the boom close in but downhill in extreme conditions in case it's needed as a crutch or to catch yourself if necessary. The mini's can be a little tippy vs. a larger machine.

The Kubota would be capable of traversing the slope a couple of times. Once it's gets worn down all bets are off. And I doubt I could actually do any work on the hill. And that CTL will eat 6" trees for lunch. The plan for the mini was to keep the blade on the down hill side to keep it mostly level. If I end up in a bind it won't come out of I'd have the CTL and enough chains.

 

[Rustyiron]

Rent a bigger machine, level a pad and stump a 40'-50' dia. circle from each pad? That might be faster & cheaper in the long run.:confused3:

 

[4570Man]

Leveling is not an option. A possible option might be to just cut the brush by hand and either grind or leave the stumps.

 

[Rustyiron]

Leveling is not an option.

No, just for the bigger machine to sit on while clearing that "40-50' circle". The grade could be restored as he moves on to his next ''circle". I don't know how steep your talking about either.:thumbsup:

 

[Snobdds]

You should not attempt this with a mini unless you are able to level a working area. It's the best approach.

After you do what you need to do, just level it back to the original slope.

 

[4570Man]

The blade will go down enough to put the machine close to level. Is that not sufficient? It's cost prohibitive get a machine bigger than a JD 50.

 

[Snobdds]

So you're not going to be perpendicular to the hill, but rather have the tracks going with the slope of the hill? It would work, but to move left or right will be interesting. I don't like to rotate the undercarriage on a hill, the momentum on the downhill side is absolute. Gravity always wins.

To traverse a slope, a cut on the uphill side is needed, that requires moving some dirt to the downhill side. Just think out your moves well in advance.

 

[4570Man]

The area to be cleared isn't very wide. I'd planned on making a couple passes down the hill keeping the tracks up and down the hill.

 

[Snobdds]

You should be good then. Blade always on the downhills side of course...

 

[tonyoz]

A mate of mine was doing an urgent job using a 22 ton excavator and mulcher on a steep block. It was fitted with a ROPS FOPS frame over the cab and he was wearing the seatbelt. The machine slid on a buried log. When the machine dropped off the end it rolled onto a stump which went under the ROPS and into the cab. That was Xmas eve 2000 and there has been an empty chair at the table ever since. Lesson for everyone working on hillsides, make sure the machine is working on stable ground with little or no vegetation under the tracks

 

[Code54]

The blade will go down enough to put the machine close to level. Is that not sufficient? It's cost prohibitive get a machine bigger than a JD 50.

If you can get leveled with by just putting the blade down you should be totally fine. We often work on slopes where even with the blade down you are still leaving pretty hard. We normally work up hill in those cases so that you don't pull the machine over.

 

[Code54]

A mate of mine was doing an urgent job using a 22 ton excavator and mulcher on a steep block. It was fitted with a ROPS FOPS frame over the cab and he was wearing the seatbelt. The machine slid on a buried log. When the machine dropped off the end it rolled onto a stump which went under the ROPS and into the cab. That was Xmas eve 2000 and there has been an empty chair at the table ever since. Lesson for everyone working on hillsides, make sure the machine is working on stable ground with little or no vegetation under the tracks

That is a terrible shame and I hate to hear that. Things can happen quickly and have devastating results.

 

[4570Man]

Here's a picture looking up at the hill. It gets worse below where I was standing? But I doubt much work would happen below that.

 

[Industrial Toys]

When I had my drive shed built. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Quite impressed with the little NH mini ex

 

[Code54]

Here is the hill I go up and down all the time. Also cleared a bunch of big trees off of it with the mini. I was dropping a few trees that day and using the mini to move them around.
Hope it gives you a rough idea.

 

[4570Man]

When I had my drive shed built. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Quite impressed with the little NH mini ex

View attachment 529428View attachment 529429

The second picture is probably equivalent to the worst I might have to be on. Most of it is less.