Mini Excavator?

[LD1]

There is a reason people dont grade driveways and log with an excavator. Just the wrong tool for the job.

 

[Jchonline]

I've got 20 acres of timbered property on a mountain in Northern Idaho. I also have 1,000 feet of steep road that I have to maintain. I've been using a Mahindra 2015 for the past several years to log and maintain the road among other things. I've always felt this tractor was about 15hp shy of what I needed for size, power and options for what I'm doing. My long term plan was to get a 30hp tractor with a cab for the winter months.. Lately I've been talking to friends who suggested I consider a mini excavator and keep my old tractor. Thoughts? How well can a 6-way blade on a mini move snow and maintain a road? How well can a mini do at pulling logs off a hill?

Snow is one thing a mini-ex isnt good at. You would absolutely want steel tracks (or rubber studded), and you can still slide sideways easily. Excavators and snow/ice dont mix well.

Second, the depth of the blade is only a foot or so. That isn’t much volume to move snow. Now for road grading, it would be great. For Log skidding, not great. For moving logs around a yard, great.

Digging, clearing land, great. Accessing and maneuvering in tight spots, great.

 

[Jims1025R]

I have a mini ex, and a tractor, I use them both for what they're intended for. The mini ex is great for making roads, less good at grading and maintaining them. A cheating trick which works for grading and crowning with a mini ex is to get a bucket full, then swing the bucket all the way out, to load that side of the machine a little more, it'll crown a little that way.

My best success for grading was finding an old (1920) Adams horse drawn grader ( no horses came with it). The front wheel carriage was missing, which was perfect. I welded up a fork type trailer hitch for it, but instead put a three point draw bar in there. I hook it to the threepoint lift arms, so I can fine adjust the grading height as I go. I put a hydraulic cylinder on one blade lift arm, so I can use my accessory valve to adjust the crown as I go. The huge spoked steel wheels look out of place, but work really well.

I prefer having a separate mini ex to a backhoe on the tractor. So when I get one stuck, I have the other to pull it out with. And a mini ex is much faster for ditching than a back hoe, ditch on one side, load your trailer (drawn by your tractor) on the other. backhoes are poor at that (unless you have two tractors). But, the backhoe will drive to the jobsite faster!

Before you buy a mini ex, try it first. In particular, judge how powerful it is. I have a JD15, which is a powerful machine for its size. I have run others, which were bigger, but less powerful (breakout force, and lifting). Size of machine may not be proportional to power.

 

[reggart]

Maybe a small dozer would be the answer. I have a box blade for my tractor but the tractor doesn't have dow pressure on the 3ot so it's hard to get a real crown going with the box blade. Makes the road smooth thoygh.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

There is a reason people dont grade driveways and log with an excavator. Just the wrong tool for the job.

I see excavators on road crew all the time for fixing and maintaining base, as well what is a faller-buncher if not an excavator?

Will give it to you that it is pretty uncommon to see a mini excavator do those things outside of the state parks guys.

 

[Jchonline]

I have a mini ex, and a tractor, I use them both for what they're intended for. The mini ex is great for making roads, less good at grading and maintaining them. A cheating trick which works for grading and crowning with a mini ex is to get a bucket full, then swing the bucket all the way out, to load that side of the machine a little more, it'll crown a little that way.

OP is getting a 6 way blade, there is no need for grading with the bucket. It will work just like a bulldozer for grading (well a mini-bulldozer lol).

 

[Rebeldad1]

Excavators are made for digging and a dozer is made for dozing.

I dont think you can consider his tractor a dozer.

I have both a tractor and a mini x. They work very well together, one doing something better than the other. Once you have a mini x you will find many uses. I have a 1/2 mile road to maintain. The tractor i maintain with a 7' rake. The mini x I can grade as needed, clear brush and trees, and yes... doesnt do too bad grading if needed. Cut firewood waist high instead of bending over a real plus.

Around here being a rural area with lots of back county roads etc, the goto equipment the contractors use is #1.. an excavator for around 90% of the work. Roads turn out nice.
I would be lost without both of them together to accomplish what I get done around here.

 

[4570Man]

I dont think you can consider his tractor a dozer.

I have both a tractor and a mini x. They work very well together, one doing something better than the other. Once you have a mini x you will find many uses. I have a 1/2 mile road to maintain. The tractor i maintain with a 7' rake. The mini x I can grade as needed, clear brush and trees, and yes... doesnt do too bad grading if needed. Cut firewood waist high instead of bending over a real plus.

Around here being a rural area with lots of back county roads etc, the goto equipment the contractors use is #1.. an excavator for around 90% of the work. Roads turn out nice.
I would be lost without both of them together to accomplish what I get done around here.

I have a mini and I agree it’s very handy. But the blade is more of a when you don’t have anything else tool. And the excavator would grade out the road. Nobody is claiming otherwise. But a different tool would do it way faster. And the excavator would be really lousy for snow removal. The blade doesn’t hold enough to do anything.

 

[4570Man]

I see excavators on road crew all the time for fixing and maintaining base, as well what is a faller-buncher if not an excavator?

Will give it to you that it is pretty uncommon to see a mini excavator do those things outside of the state parks guys.

A feller buncher is not an off the shelf excavator. They look basically the same but a feller buncher is a dedicated built machine. They don’t skid logs either. They just cut them.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Always heard that a mini x was poor at best in snow. We dont have a flat spot almost anywhere on our road. When it snowed last there was about 6" on the ground. Normally we dont go anywhere, just wait it out.
If needed to clear the snow we chain up 4 wheels on the tractor and have at it.
For fun instead I used the mini x. Traveled very well in the fresh snow. granted a 14" tall blade isn't much but i didn't expect much. It surprisingly pushed more than I expected. Always pushed downhill not uphill. When the blade was overly full I backed up and used the boom bucket to push the snow to the side, repete and do it again. Was pleased to see I could go at my own pace and make it work. Granted I could have used a bulldozer and be faster but I see very little use to buy one for what we do here. I have had a couple in my life and they mostly just sat doing nothing.

The mini x with the right attachments can be very useful and a good match to use with a tractor. I added a 4' rake and a flail mower and really increased the usage of the mini x.

Another thing to consider is with the economy the way it is and supply of mini x's being limited you could purchase one and us it for a year. After that if it's not for you resell it and get most if not all your investment back.