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I will refer you to post #908. The list is long.

I ended up doing a lot of jump turns with my AGT Kat12 . I finally sold it. Never bothered to see if I had an alignment problem because there were so many other problems. Over tightening the tracks can also tweek the alignment . There is no info I could find on this matter of tightness. I was...

Sand molds for aluminum I've done were a mixture of ..sand, bentonite clay and baking flour. I'll see if I can find the exact recipe. Probably online some where. Look for green sand mold recipe. Melting pot can be a large coffee can or any steel pan for that matter. Remove the dross( floaty...

Simple answer is ......yes. The scrap was free for the taking but I had to take it all. still not a bad deal.

I put 350lb of old tire weights in mine. I went to every tire shop around and took all they had. The big barrels they had cant be recycled because weights now are lead or zinc, steel or aluminum. All mixed in the scrap barrel. Pick out the lead and melt with a propane weed burner into dollar...

One more thing to check is track tightness. Minis will spit their tracks off in a heart beat if not tight. Tighten very tight. Dog house looks nice and open so should be easy to do your mods.

I plan on posting how the DDP goes. Tracking , carrier service , transport time, paperwork , the full catastrophe.

The Co. I'm getting it from is SDYD in Shangdong . They are a subsidiary of SAAO, who make much heavier machines. When I first got in touch with them most of the office must have been out sick because I got one of their engineers. The more I told him what I wanted the more interested he got...

The company said they would give me credit on future purchases for labor with notarized bill . Of course this is strange , but might work, who knows. I'll be doing all the labor .

Well folks I finally nailed down the brass tacks on my excavator. Here are the specs * Kubota 902 *Telescoping tracks *320 MM wide tracks *Side swing arm . 56 degree each side. *Hydraulic oil cooling and filtration. *SAE controls/ Backhoe. *Three Japanese Pumps *Northern Hydraulics valve block...

Tap a whole in the tank, if you can get to it, and have a hose made would be my choice. Quick and simple . Put a quick connect on it and put it next to one of the 3rd function ports.

It happens. I keep my bucket low to the ground when traveling either forward or backward down hills. This technique has saved me a few times. When traveling across a slope more than 10 degrees I put out stretched arm as low up hill as possible. Where I live there is no such thing as a flat spot...

Nope ! Infact I speced out a 2-ton to 2.5-ton machine and companies are bidding on it. Importing myself of course. Not importing"myself", just a new machine. Oh never mind.

Most of the bolts on my Kat 12 didn't have lock washers even. Some are almost impossible to tighten unless your arms are like pencils. Liberal use of Loctite red is suggested. Improperly crimped hoses happened to me as well as leaky seals on travel motors. Don't expect to work these mini's like...

D and J........turns out it was too good to be true. 1.8 ton machine and could never get them to send me a Proforma Quote with all my specs listed. Kept getting Alibaba ordering notices. Finally was able to get in touch with a human at the Co. this morning. Told them " No Specy No Doughy" .Order...

The 2-ton I'm going to have built will have the Kubota 902 in it. Extra cost was $1250.

Quick up date. I approached a few more manufacturers to cover all my bases. All these companies whether suppliers or parts manufacturers are in communication with each other apparently. I have been flooded with quotes on the specs I wanted + attachments. I now have 2 companies willing to ship...

Me Too, not alot of info when you start asking the hard questions.Most of the companies can only send stock fotos. Still prying for all the specifics.

Sadly the buckets look like the cheapo's. Yep to using Ali Trade Assurance. Price was DDU, Shipping Door to door -duties, taxes unpaid.Trying to calculate duties and taxes plus other fees is giving me fits. I know the HTS code is 8429.52.10 and i still can't figure it out. I think they are a...

Thanks Matt Ive looked up Typhon 2 Ton but it lacked some things i wanted . I'll look again, thx. I specced 2 speed travel, Telescoping tracks, no tail swing , arm swing, SAE controls, D902 Engine, Hydraulic oil cooler, 2 third function out lets on boom. 22 gpm pump rotary, + 1 piston pump...

Does any one have any experience or knowledge of Shangdong Youda Machinery Manufacturing Co? Short hand is - SDYD? They have quoted a 2-ton machine with lots of customization by me ,with attachments. at DDU $11,000. 2 year warranty on all parts of machine. I can post all my add ons if any one...

I've switched non pilot hoses easy peasy. Was wondering if pilots were the same. Thanks J.

I've narrowed my option to a 2-2.5 ton "import by me" because I think the one tons cant be expected to be worked hard.

So I've got a ? for anyone who might know. Can pilot operated controls be switched from ISO Ex to SAE Hoe controls? Ive narrowed down the companies to import from but all their controls are ISO. I'd like to have SAE since I'm switching back and forth all the time . Any help would be appreciated.

That simple fix they sent you is great. My Kat-12 has a lot of trouble on inclines. Be careful on really steep terrain and keep you cg as far forward as possible. Use the hoe to throw cg forward or to one side. Concerning fluid; AW-32 can be bought at any auto supply and is cheap.

My honest opinion/speculation is the auction machines are rejects or over runs that are not inspected.Same importer.. Tiller- King in Texas. I'm not trying to smear AGTs rep. As I said in a post way back in this thread, (" maybe my machine was built on training day").

Iv'e replaced 2 hoses that blew off because of improper crimping, both drive motors leak at assembly seals not fittings, tank temp gauge leaks(replaced seals,still leaks), curl cylinder has severe weep(tied shop towel around that), slew motor has leak somewhere not sure where. I basically leave...

$3000 for your QH12 is what they should be priced at.

I'm in central VA. so shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the pep talk.

I have an AGT KAT12 . Timber, this has noting to do L and L but for anyone interested in my experience with an auction bought mini, go to the thread called " Agrotk excavators : Does anyone have one ?

Does anyone have a shipping agent they can recommend?

Been awhile. Looks like the thread has exploded , glad to see it. Im going to import either a 2.6 or 3 ton machine. Rhinos are looking the best . Anyone else done any research ? AGT has a STR-35 but once bitten twice shy.

Haven't posted posted in awhile. My kat 12 from AGT is on it's last leg. 85 hours and just about everything is leaking . Bolts wont stay tight.. Bla bla bla. Good luck every one . Will be selling for parts that are still good.

dfkrug, you are correct . Pardon my brain fart. If one wanted to slow down the jerkiness you would go from a 4.75 gpm pump to something like a 3.25 gpm at 2500 RPM.

D'oh, if you find one that will swap out with the briggs coupling I'll try it. Be nice to slow the jerkyness down. Burdans Surpluss may have one I"ll look. You'll need to replace all motor and valve hose fittings to ones that have larger id constrictors. You might get better travel speed.

Looking at the photos tells me that these are rebadged clones; I suspect. I now know of 17 different named 1 tons that are mechanically lookalikes.I' m not sure as to why these are being dumped at auction. $4200 is half what Agrotech sells the same machine for. At this rate of dumpage I should...

I have an Agrotech imported by Tiller-King. Bought at auction. Maybe mine was assembled on training day.

Yep , looks like the bubble has burst . I'm waiting for the 2 tons to get below 8 grand and I"ll pull the trigger. Might not have to wait too long.

Last week the bolts holding the ring gear in place got so loose that the upper section almost came loose from the track assembly.

I've had my Kat 12 since May 2023. My honest opinion is to look at other brands. I've had to put lock washers, locktite and lock nuts (where I could get to the bolt end) on just about every thing bolted. The bolts on the track base got so loose one day that the whole top portion almost...

Hey MattB4, My oil never gets above 45c and the dog house stays cool enough to put your hands on. I've run my mini for 6 hours at a time and have no issues (stoping only to fill the gas up). You may have noticed that I enlarged and added more holes in the dog house, this really solved the...

You'r gonna need an oil cooler if you want this thing to last more than a few jobs. Add a cooling fan to the dog house.

If you're thinking of Tiller-King, aka Agrotech , don't hold your breath. They don't seem to offer much in the support area. I've got one , and since it was bought at auction ,they claim they didn't even make it even though they sell the same machine. Fortunately these machines are stupid simple...

Can't wait to see it Timber.

Translation : I't is forbidden to use machine in RANE, WATER will cause machine to melt.

Welcome to the WTF club. I too thought the language these things spoke was the same as bigger machines. I can almost assure you more is yet to come. Please be careful.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the out the door price? Looks like a nice machine.

It's unlikely you will find torque specs for the bolts holding the sections together. When you split the sections, use a torque wrench when you loosen each bolt and choose the middle of the road break point as a guide when reassembly. I would be willing to bet that each bolt has a different...

You'r gonna want an oil cooler and oil filter. Pain to install but worth every penny. Multiple back posts from others can give you some suggestions , but you'r going to have to use your own gray matter for your machine. As dfkrug mentioned, WELCOME TO THE CLUB.

I use AW32 . you can buy a 5 gal pail at any auto store for about 70 bucks. Tractor supply sells universal hydro oil and seems to work fine too. I have one piece of equipment that specifies 15w40 in the hydro system. One of those things we all have an opinion on but nobody can really answer ...

Wow. Your updates are what we all wish factories would include. ** I purchased 5 ruggedized Mill surplus muffin fans like yours . Used 2 on my oil cooler, none lasted more than an hour or two. Seems there was too much vibration for the tiny bearings to handle. I hope you have better luck. I...

Probably. I've never needed to do this before. Not so sure I am willing to test this simple fix. The 300#of lead I added is apparently a substantial CG changer. This is going to make me much more careful on slopes , which I will now go up a** first. If I start getting input from my butt that...

Thanks ArlyA, It was ridiculously slow motion, such that I had time to jump off and watch it turtle itself. I laughed until i realized I would have to fix something.

I have a word of caution for anyone thinking of adding weight to the a** end of their mini. It helped a lot when digging perpendicular to the tracks. My trailers are low and the ramp angle is shallow. I've always loaded blade and boom forward even though larger ( 3 to 6 ton) minis load a** end...

Sorry to get your goat dfkrug, it was meant as a joke. The active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol is Bismuth subsalicylate. The Gov. classifies lead as environmentally hazardous. Hazard Class 9. As we know now lead does not leave the body, ever. Any exposure including...

A 10 will do but i put on a 30 and it doesn't impair the flow. Amazon can be a source for parts like filters , Hose and fittings. Assuming you are putting it on the suction line you will most likely need 5/8" barbed to 3/4" npt. I added 300lbs of sheet steel encased lead to mine. If you can...

It does make sense that the cooler should look more like a radiator with top and bottom inlet/outlet configuration. From what i can tell all the small coolers are arranged like mine. The coolers are small ( 11" x 12" ) and the plates are less than an 1/8" thick Od. I was more afraid that the...

I smell a mini in TimberFarms future.

I would be willing to bet that they are made within a couple of miles of each other. The small amount of info Iv'e gleaned is the majority come out of Shandong Province. My Agrotk appears to have been made by Qingdao Zongjin Engineering Machinery Co. Minimum order is 6 pieces @ $3600.00 per with...

I've had some luck just removing the cylinder. You should be able to find a manual online for free . Keep looking .

Newest up grade is travel stick extensions. Mine were about 6" long. Made smooth control sketchy at best when loading on my trailer. Threaded 3/8" bar stock ,lock washer and nut. Then welded on sections of old Foosball rods. " Knew I would find a use for the last two I had." Really smoothed...

Yes the buckets are small but there is a cheap fix. I cut a piece of old road grader blade and welded it on as a cutting edge and cheeks as well as adding more 3/16" plate to sides. The odd shape of the side doesn't interfere with picking up things with the thumb. Looks funny but doubled the...

To anyone trying to cool oil and get the heat out of the dog house , I found this on line. You can get AN10 to 5/8" barbed fittings to connect up your oil suction line. These fans push/pull a lot of air. Oil doesn't care if it's horizontal or vertically drawn. Found it on Amazon. storefront...

Agt,Cgf and Fj Industrial all sell a similar machine. The swing boom is a real bonus in my opinion. All seem to come out of Shang Dong. Quoted weight is 946Kg.

ALL good points , duly noted. For the record my excavation work is a retired and bored mans hobby. My mini will likely see less than 100 hours a year. It is a great additional tool so far.

Thanks Timber. It's first off the reservation job is next Wednesday. If everything goes according to plan, It will be halfway paid for after 2 days. French drain job and downspout trenches. Very tight spot to get into. Right tool for the job.

New access works great, nice and big . Im now wondering what the proper tension should be . Any one have a clue. Access I felt needed needed a cover to keep out bebris.

Access was tiny. So out comes the cut off wheels.

My mini has about 6 hours on it now. While motoring down to the pond I'm cleaning out , the left track started walking off. I caught it in time to get it back on with a digging bar . Crawled it slowly back to the shop and realized there was no way any wrenches would fit into the access hole...

Hopefully the toaster is finished. The last of the new grates are put in.

My Agrotk is now finished. Oil filter, oil cooler, forced air to cool the dog house, hose swap to backhoe controls, hose wrap and ,last thing was enlarge track adjustment access. Impression after all the cutting, drilling , making grates, etc. If it had cost between $750 to $1000 dollars more...

I agree. For those who already own one , bid on a few . keep your bid at about $2500 to $3000. You might get lucky and get a whole "Spares" machine. My question now is ,who is going to be the first importer of spares to service all these machines. Looks like a golden opportunity for some one...

It looks to me like the top of that panel behind the seat might work . You need to find some hydraulic quik couplers , they are like air tool couplers but for hydraulics. Then disconnect cooler to remove panel.

It's called Safeplast na ,also called spiral hose wrap . Sold on amazon by Safe-Spiral store ,25 bucks for 25 feet. Holds up well in the sun.I've used it before. Good stuff.

Almost forgot, I motored around on the mini for 15 mins this morn to see how hot I could get the oil. Track motors really heat up the goo. Never got above 35c. Feel pretty confident I've added a few more years of use to this mini.

Still going to cut some more openings for more air flow.

I wired everything on the left side..No other way to do it and keep things tidy. Wired right off the alternator and put in switches for each fan.

No oil filter. everything you see is my own handi work.

Main cooling fan draws 6 amps and blows 1750 cfm, according to the maker.Not sure about the amps but it puts out alot of air.

Here is the old suction line. Way over spec. Was able to reuse the old fittings , but it took some careful cut off wheel work. Look at the cross section of " THAT! " hose . Hit it a couple times with an 8 # sledge and it kept its original shape. Only way to cut it was with a grinder cut off wheel.

make sure to prime all your new oil filled stuff.

The small fans put out 300 cfm combined and only draw 1.5 amps combined.

New oil cooler.

I've got some pics of what has been done so far. First up is oil filter.

Thanks dfkrug, I didn't know if maybe the under carriage or slew bearings would be in danger of early wear out.

Oil cooler is mounted behind the seat . Only place there was room really. Hopefully will have pics some time later today to show my progress. Still cutting openings to let the heat out but wanting to leave enough structure to keep it rigid. Has any one added more weight to the A** of a mini...

Had a couple hours to fab my oil cooler . Still needs to be painted, assembled and installed.

Thanks ,I'll check it out and let you know.

As far as i can tell on my mini everything goes through the valve block . Is there a way to increase the RV pressure on these mini's ? I've looked and can't find it. I know I should know this but.........

My cap had a 1/16" hole in the cup and not even compressed air would go through the cap. I did save the parts though just incase.

Ive had motorcycle headers burn out before their time .So duly noted, but your kind of turning it in a poor mans cat converter. The wrap is cut in a spiral.You just wind it on the hose clockwise. It is cheap insurance against uv break down of the hoses. Measure your hose and add about 18" to...

This is what you find when you disassemble the Briggs gas cap. The round canister is full of charcoal. Unfortunately " all the charcoal fell out and I couldn't figure out how to put back all the other bits back either ". I "mistakenly " drilled some more holes in the canister to let some of the...

Put exhaust wrap on the Briggs muffler. Only deceased the temp by 25 degrees. I'm gonna put the cage bake on for safety.Double safety wired it on. Also made an extension for exhaust pipe to get it out side the machine.

Hose wrap installed. For anyone who needs an estimate, I used a total of 50 feet.

My pockets are about as deep as the ornamental pocket on my wife's fancy jeans. Just big enough for one sleeve of Pennies............. My next door neighbor is about to turn 97.He remembers everyone on the road got together for barn raising, hog butchering, plowing ,etc. The farm across from me...

I fully understand people hating CE machines if they cant work on their equipment , but rebuilding a clapped-out name brand is even worse. I've done it. Don't be fooled by thinking name brands aren't sourcing their parts from China.A lot of name brand " small " equipment is completely made and...

No filter - No cooler , nada. Already have the parts ordered. The House is packed so tight gonna be cutting lots of holes . It gets blazing hot inside even after 5 minutes. Found a 10" fan that puts out 1750 cfm. I can't put anything on the return line, not enough room. Everything will be...

Disappointed in you guy's , nobody is razzing me for having a mini that is 1950's " Toaster Blue ".

I'm switching my posts to the importing and modifying thread. Looks like i'll be doing a lot of modifying on my Agrotk Kat12.first impression is not to bad seeing as it cost so little. Seriously needs mods to be durable. Some things look like class project level. With some thought and upgrades...

I noticed that all the hoses are in the arms, wish all minis had this feature.

Found the engine house latch sans nuts. This thing just sat there for G** only knows how many thousands of miles . I went over every nut , bolt , and Hydraulic fitting on the machine before even starting it again.

Didn't take long to figure this one out. Oh! Thats where that goes.Of course , easier to fill the hydraulic tanks on multiple machines by zipping off the tops.

I wondered why the trailer floor was covered in oil. I removed the cover plate/floor of the machine and found this.

Here is how I switched from Excavator to Backhoe controls

Made it back without incident. 5 1/2 hours each way. My assessment of AGT Industrial/ Agrotk is not a bad machine for the price of a zero turn mower. I'm sending pics that I hope will help others.

Hey Folks , got some pics for you.

Thanks Timber, Typed in Tiller King . com And it routes you to AGT Industrial. Must be the same guys.. 33" Bucket no teeth out of stock. Might just fab my own . Good price if they had them , $599 Delivered. Thank god for plasma cutters.

Just heard from RB.Auctions . My mini is repaired. Total cost to them parts plus time, $687.00, word to All is protect those drive lines. I will be picking it up next Wednesday. Wife is coming to take pictures and buy crab cakes in Maryland. Might even split the trip into 2 days and see the...

Anyone know of a good seller to buy a silt bucket from. Have some cow ponds to clean out. Nothing on Ali express. Could go with Alibaba but don't know how long it would take.

Super, thanks for the heads up. Was wondering what to do about those needle shirt destroyers.

Sorry I missed this . Excellent idea. Similar to what i was thinking but Better. I suppose an auto fan from Ebay or Amazon would work. Probably nothing over 5 or 6 amps?

My engineering frame of mind is that a day spent repairing would be better spent in prevention. Most of my machines have been bullet proofed in some fashion. Thanks for all the tips so far. RB.Auctions say my mini will done as soon as possible. We shall wait and see. I'll post any improvements...

I will certainly be welding up some covers knowing what I know now.My experience with CE stuff is it's very well engineered now, but to meet that " Got to have it" price point , they then start subtracting things that are not needed for the machine to function. Not much thought is given to...

Have you ever dealt with them? Seem like a giant company, just hope they'r to big to not give a **** about us small fish. I was told they would have to check with some vendors to find the parts. Would be a lot less trouble to cannibalize.

So heres what I haven't told you. I pulled a trailer for almost six hours last Friday to pick up my mini from RB Auctions. I started it and proceeded to move it when fluid shot out of the right hub motor lines. The restrictors going in to the 50MM bosses on top of the motor had been sheered off...

Sorry Timber, yes it was shrink / film wrapped.

I had set my limit at $5,000 but had been in a bidding war with a guy who was buying them all.Turned out his limit was $5,000 and bidding increments were $250. You'r right Timber you need to figure on about a grand per 5 grand. Don't forget auctions will charge 2.9% if you put it on a card...

Just one bucket so far . I have a complete home style machine shop so will likely make a lot of my own stuff. That being said most attachments are so cheap it may not be worth my time. Steel is expensive and I'm not getting any younger.......

I'm planning on an oil cooler, and the filter. What is the current opinion on cooling the B&S with a forced air system? "Gets mighty hot in thar".

Thanks Guys, look forward to being part of the group. I will post Pics of the hoses I swap hoping to help.

My bid was $5,250 , so almost another grand for all the other BS.

Don't have any pics yet but when I do i will post them ,or rather my wife will...... I paid $6,138 all told. Auction was in MD. , almost in DE. I'm in the piedmont of Va.

Hey Everyone, New guy to TBN. Just bought an AGROTK KAT12 from RB AUCTIONS. I'm wondering if any one has a picture of what hoses to swap to TLB controls. Same valve block as most of the other CE mini's out there. Just trying to save some time . Thanks in advance.

Just purchased an Agrotk Kat12 Mini EX from RB Auctions. Same controls as H12, QH12. Does anyone know which hoses to swap to Backhoe controls.As an aside, I have owned and serviced many Terramites if any one needs help.