Talk me out of an excavator!

[bdhsfz6]

We just purchased a new property thats 48 acres, approximately 25 acres in hardwoods, 20 in pasture, and half of a 5-6 acre pond. I've got the pasture maintenance covered, and have a grapple to clean up downed trees, etc. I've gotten really interested in a 3-5 ton mini excavator with a flail or mulcher head to clean up the woods and pond bank. I've been watching videos lately and they just seem so useful for keeping the underbrush in the woods cleaned out, which makes for a much nicer property. On the flip side, I don't NEED to clean out the underbrush or most of the pond bank, and their very expensive.

Am I better off just leaving the woods natural? Hiring someone with an excavator to come clean up a little? maybe just the pond bank? Or are these things really as useful as they look and a great investment for a landowner?

I can't talk you out of buying one, or getting one either. The choice is yours. IMO, you can't go wrong with a mini ex, as long as the budget will handle it.

I've wanted one for years. In my case though, financially, it came down to a choice between a mini ex and a second tractor. I'm at the age where swapping heavy implements is getting harder and harder. The ability to have a tractor with implements installed, dedicated to seasonal work is a big relief.

You can't mow, plow snow, spread cinders, grade a mile of private road, haul firewood, use a PTO generator, etc, etc. with a mini ex. If you do a lot of digging or spot work though, there's nothing better.

In the end, I bought the second tractor with a hoe. I manage to do most of my earth work with FEL & hoe, and occasionally rent a mini ex for the rest.

Everyone has a different set of circumstances and I guess you need to decide what would work best for yours.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

[Hay Dude]

I can't talk you out of buying one, or getting one either. The choice is yours. IMO, you can't go wrong with a mini ex, as long as the budget will handle it.

I've wanted one for years. In my case though, financially, it came down to a choice between a mini ex and a second tractor. I'm at the age where swapping heavy implements is getting harder and harder. The ability to have a tractor with implements installed, dedicated to seasonal work is a big relief.

You can't mow, plow snow, spread cinders, grade a mile of private road, haul firewood, use a PTO generator, etc, etc. with a mini ex. If you do a lot of digging or spot work though, there's nothing better.

In the end, I bought the second tractor with a hoe. I manage to do most of my earth work with FEL & hoe, and occasionally rent a mini ex for the rest.

Everyone has a different set of circumstances and I guess you need to decide what would work best for yours.

Best of luck with your decision.

Great post.
I am on the downside of my working life and am trying to justify 1 tractor per task. I currently have 3, and would like a 4th. The money I have to save for 4th tractor keeps me from buying pretty much any other big purchase.
1 on baler
1 on disc mower
1 on rake/tedder
1 on 15’ field mower (yet to purchase, but saving/looking)

Hooking/unhooking implements is a PITA and takes time. Nothing beats just climbing in the cab & GO.

However a midi ex with mulcher would eliminate probably 50+ hours of brush clearing with weed wackers.

The time is coming. I bet when I can finally buy that 4th farm tractor and midi-ex, the first thing I will say to myself is “I can’t believe I waited this long” lol

 

[EddieWalker]

Great post.
I am on the downside of my working life and am trying to justify 1 tractor per task. I currently have 3, and would like a 4th. The money I have to save for 4th tractor keeps me from buying pretty much any other big purchase.
1 on baler
1 on disc mower
1 on rake/tedder
1 on 15’ field mower (yet to purchase, but saving/looking)

Hooking/unhooking implements is a PITA and takes time. Nothing beats just climbing in the cab & GO.

However a midi ex with mulcher would eliminate probably 50+ hours of brush clearing with weed wackers.

The time is coming. I bet when I can finally buy that 4th farm tractor and midi-ex, the first thing I will say to myself is “I can’t believe I waited this long” lol

I was watching a YouTube about workshops and the guy showed his collection of routers. He had dozens of them. He said that it's better to have a router for every bit then have to waste time changing bits.

For some reason, this made a lot of sense to me. I only have two routers, and I feel that I need to buy a few dozen more!!!!

 

[Jaybr]

only a 3-5 ton?

I don't understand why people spend huge bucks on SUV's and 4' short box 4x4 PU trucks and then the go buy a SCUT or micro-mini-X. No space left in the garage?

I have space in the tractor barn, that's not an issue. It's really a combination of cost and how do I transport when needed? I don't want something so big that I need a 1 ton or larger truck and a CDL to move. A buddy of mine is slowly clearing a 25 acre track he bought to build a new house. He bought a used 20 ton excavator for the clearing and it requires a tractor trailer to move it.

And a 4 ton will run a mulcher just like an 8 ton, it's just smaller

 

[Bearsixty7]

I've lived in VA most of my life and don't remember even seeing controlled burns around here. I guess they do them occasionally, but it's rare enough I doubt there is a prescribed burn association. I will ask a forestry agent.

Most of the Chinese units I see are 1-2 ton, I'm thinking more in the 3-5 ton and they do handle mulchers as long as they're sized appropriately. Plenty of videos on Youtube of 4 ton Yanmar/Kubota/Takeuchi minis running mulchers and flails

Post 27

Talk me out of an excavator!

We just purchased a new property thats 48 acres, approximately 25 acres in hardwoods, 20 in pasture, and half of a 5-6 acre pond. I've got the pasture maintenance covered, and have a grapple to clean up downed trees, etc. I've gotten really interested in a 3-5 ton mini excavator with a flail...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[IXLR8]

You folks don't play fair. I have a tractor w/FEL and backhoe, wife wants a mini-ex. I'm looking to purchase a 5 acre wooded parcel and I don't think my tractor is enough to do the job clearing it out. With all the talk in this thread, and others, wife may get her mini-ex after all. I have a trailer that will handle either a 3 or 4 ton unit, so that is the size you have got me researching.

 

[Jaybr]

You folks don't play fair. I have a tractor w/FEL and backhoe, wife wants a mini-ex. I'm looking to purchase a 5 acre wooded parcel and I don't think my tractor is enough to do the job clearing it out. With all the talk in this thread, and others, wife may get her mini-ex after all. I have a trailer that will handle either a 3 or 4 ton unit, so that is the size you have got me researching.

If my wanted a mini-ex, or was even bought in to the idea of one, I’d already have it

 

[IXLR8]

If my wanted a mini-ex, or was even bought in to the idea of one, I’d already have it

Not only is she bought into it, she has offered to pay for half of it, as long as I let her use it. Which scares me a bit.
One time I was out of town on business and she called me complaining that she couldn't get the backhoe to move on the tractor. I told her to take the locking pins out. When I got home, she had dug out a small section of our hillside and had used the thumb on the backhoe to lift railroad ties out of the back of my truck and put them in place to form some steps from one section of our yard to another.

 

[Rustyiron]

I was watching a YouTube about workshops and the guy showed his collection of routers. He had dozens of them. He said that it's better to have a router for every bit then have to waste time changing bits.

For some reason, this made a lot of sense to me. I only have two routers, and I feel that I need to buy a few dozen more!!!!

I do this with my little angle grinders, got about a dozen. A much easier economic decision than hay dude's 4th tractor!
HD, I would think that you're field mowing would happen well after haying is done? Maybe your opening up the perimeter.... where the sticks and branches are hiding.

 

[Jaybr]

Not only is she bought into it, she has offered to pay for half of it, as long as I let her use it. Which scares me a bit.
One time I was out of town on business and she called me complaining that she couldn't get the backhoe to move on the tractor. I told her to take the locking pins out. When I got home, she had dug out a small section of our hillside and had used the thumb on the backhoe to lift railroad ties out of the back of my truck and put them in place to form some steps from one section of our yard to another.

Nice! Mine uses the tractor some but not at that level. A couple weeks ago when I was out of town she txt me asking where the keys were, which made me a bit nervous. I called her and one of the contractors working at the house had backed his work van into the yard and got stuck. She hasn't driven the new Yanmar yet, so thankfully she jumped on the Kioti. She tried to pull him out but that wasn't working so she went around behind and picked up his backend with the loader and pushed it out. I was watching the whole thing on a Nest camera and just waiting for something bad to happen, which did not.

 

[Jaybr]

I’m back at the new place this morning so snapped a couple of pics of what I’m dealing with.

This is the dam, the section on the far left is the neighbor and completely cleared.

View attachment 2891034

 

[Jaybr]

And the other end of the pond, I'd like to clean up the bank so it's accessible. There is an old overgrown road/path along the edge of the pond most of the way to the end.

 

[Jaybr]

This is a grove of trees next to the house that is overgrown, there is another grassy area to the right. It's not a very wide section and I'd like to clean it up and turn it into a "Stand of Trees"

 

[Jaybr]

This is just one of the pasture areas, if you look at the far tree line you'll see it's overgrown with bushes and briars along the edge of the pasture. Once you get a few feet into the woods it's open and fine. There are 1000's of feet like this around the property.

The fallen tree is from an ice storm a couple weeks ago. I've cleaned up some of them, but there are a lot of fallen trees to take care of from that storm. That's chainsaw and grapple work, not something I need an excavator for.

 

[WVH1977]

I know you said you did not want a big machine, however if you look around that might be the best deal.

I wanted a mini-ex some kind of bad but they are so expensive. My cousin up the road had a Hitachi EX100 sitting in his field with weeds growing around it. He did not want to mess with it anymore. It is now mine and I have $7500 tied up in it. 5900 hours now and works like a champ.

I thought it was huge when I got it to the house. A little intimmidated by it at first. Now, I just hop on it and knock out big work fast!! It makes great work at burning big piles of trees and brush. I dig out big stumps with ease and just use the bucket to move dirt back over hole and drive tracks over it. Come back with tractor and box blade for easy leveling. Also, I just leave it out in the weather. Not worried about storing it in a barn. Been outside its whole life.

 

[Jaybr]

I know you said you did not want a big machine, however if you look around that might be the best deal.

I wanted a mini-ex some kind of bad but they are so expensive. My cousin up the road had a Hitachi EX100 sitting in his field with weeds growing around it. He did not want to mess with it anymore. It is now mine and I have $7500 tied up in it. 5900 hours now and works like a champ.

I thought it was huge when I got it to the house. A little intimmidated by it at first. Now, I just hop on it and knock out big work fast!! It makes great work at burning big piles of trees and brush. I dig out big stumps with ease and just use the bucket to move dirt back over hole and drive tracks over it. Come back with tractor and box blade for easy leveling. Also, I just leave it out in the weather. Not worried about storing it in a barn. Been outside its whole life.View attachment 2891044View attachment 2891045

That sounds like what my buddy did, not sure what he paid but not near as much as a new mini. Not sure what brand he has but it's a 20 ton unit.

 

[Jaybr]

This is an overhead view of the place, 48 acres total and a good mix of pasture and forest.

 

[loggin]

This is how I approached that question for myself. Of course it all depends on your situation and how often you will use the machines.

I need a tractor but wanted a backhoe because they are sort of like a swiss army knife tool. I don't use the backhoe often enough to justify having another engine, drivetrain and hydraulic system to maintain so I opted for a frame mount backhoe attachment for my tractor. Likewise to have to maintain a separate machine like an excavator made no sense for me so I figured that for the times I would need one I would just rent or hire the machine with operator when needed.

This set-up has worked well for me so far.

One danger of having a machine is you will always find creative ways to use it... Kind of like "make work projects" just because you can..

Just my 2 cents, I hope this helps!!

 

[Carl_NH]

Just looked at FB Market around VA and there are a number of nice 4-5T machines - like a Bobcat E32 for $30K and a few Cat 303.5 in the same price range with 2K hours or less. Then a few bigger machines e50 JD and a few others in the 40-50K range, then a decent New Holland 37C with 1000 hrs.

So lot's of decent options if you want one!

 

[Tinstafl]

I have been thinking about this very thing. I have a pond with a dam that needs to be cleaned out periodically. An excavator would make it much easier.