Looking to buy a Mini-X. Your experience and opinions, please

Bigfoot62 · Apr 4, 2019

SirMaxwell said:
Will you marry me? :cloud9: :cloud9:

NO!!

Bigfoot62 · Apr 6, 2019

I've made an "executive decision."
I'm going with the Takeuchi TB260. This unit is a 2015, with 900 hrs on it. It's been in the rental fleet of the local Take dealer. (and I'll have access to the maintenance records) I had opportunity to check it out Thursday. I'm really impressed. Total purchase price is $34.5K, including a dealer installed new hydraulic thumb. Comes with a 1 year/1500 hour warranty that covers everything but wear parts. I think this one will serve me well.

Thanks to all who have helped me think through this process. I really appreciate your input.

Seven Gables · Apr 7, 2019

Congradulations on the Takeuchi, sounds to me like you got a lot of value their. Let us know your experience with it over some time. Also since you've been around excavators for a lot longer than me is their any areas than tend to wear faster, need greasing more often, or that maybe get overlooked that you would advise to keep close attention to? Thanks, B

Bigfoot62 · Apr 8, 2019

Seven Gables said:
Congradulations on the Takeuchi, sounds to me like you got a lot of value their. Let us know your experience with it over some time. Also since you've been around excavators for a lot longer than me is their any areas than tend to wear faster, need greasing more often, or that maybe get overlooked that you would advise to keep close attention to? Thanks, B

Thanks,

Will do.

Seven Gables · Apr 18, 2019

Just wondering if you've had a chance to put the 260 to work? Any surprises? I'm assuming no news is good news. B

Bigfoot62 · Apr 18, 2019

Seven Gables said:
Just wondering if you've had a chance to put the 260 to work? Any surprises? I'm assuming no news is good news. B

No, haven't used it yet.
In fact, it was just delivered this morning, in the rain, and it's still raining. I walked it across the highway and parked it. That's all.
I plan to get some seat time before the weekend is over, though.

Update:
Thought the rain was passed, but it fooled me. Guess that I needed a cab after all!

Got to use it for a few minutes, picking up limbs that had fallen out of a dead tree. Seems to be everything that I wanted. It does have one little quirk, though. It blows the horn whenever it wants to! Thought I was accidentally doing it myself, but no.

laurencen · Apr 19, 2019

for sure a cab is a must, dug trenches in the rain and snow

Bigfoot62 · May 4, 2019

Last week, I was able to get in about 24 hours of seat time on the TB260. Absolutely love it. Cleared some fence row, took down a couple of dead trees, and re-piled two old burn piles.
Like I said earlier, this thing is fast. Fastest excavator I've ever been on. I know that it'll be a great asset on my farm.

Code54 · May 4, 2019

Funny thing is once you get one you try and figure out how you did things before you had it. They are SO darn handy and a massive time saver!

Bigfoot62 · May 4, 2019

Code54 said:
Funny thing is once you get one you try and figure out how you did things before you had it. They are SO darn handy and a massive time saver!

Yeah, last Saturday, I took down a dead oak tree in my front yard. Between the X and the 5090M with the grapple, total cleanup time was about 3 hours. Spent maybe 10 minutes on a chainsaw, just to cut it into manageable pieces. Without the hoe and grapple, it would have been an all day job.