Chinese built 1-ton plus excavators.

[mikester]

My experience with mystery chinese machinery is it will work for 15 minutes followed by continuous breakdowns and lack of parts, documentation and support. If you are looking for a new expensive hobby fixing crappy designed and built machinery and you have a fab/machine shop in your garage then go for it.

If I need a job done I will rent or hire and appropriate sized machine. It's cheaper in the long run because someone else has to make sure the equipment is working to do the job.

 

[MattB4]

My experience with mystery chinese machinery is it will work for 15 minutes followed by continuous breakdowns and lack of parts, documentation and support. If you are looking for a new expensive hobby fixing crappy designed and built machinery and you have a fab/machine shop in your garage then go for it.

If I need a job done I will rent or hire and appropriate sized machine. It's cheaper in the long run because someone else has to make sure the equipment is working to do the job.

Nothing wrong with knowing your limitations. There are some things I would not mind hiring folks to do if only I could find someone to work. Living in a lowly populated area that requires long distance to travel means if I want to get something done I need to do it myself. Couple that with being of modest means (not related to Bill Gates) requires compromises to be made. Selling all for a pearl of great worth means you only have one pearl and the limitations therein.

My experience with cheap Chinese products going back to 70's is a lot of it is low quality but serviceable for a particular task. You find an occasional gem. It actually is a low cost hobby to keep it functional. Besides doesn't every guy want a fab/machine shop in their garage?

ETA: Regarding renting equipment. It used to be that there was a good rental outlet not far away that was easy to rent from. My last rental from them was a mini excavator back in 2007 to do a job I had. They have since went out of business and the only present rental yard is further away and much higher cost and hard to deal with. I understand that there has been a major liability issue in the last few decades that running a rental place has had to deal with. People sue each other much more these days.

 

[mikester]

I'd love a $300K 10 ton mini-x to have sitting around 95% of the time but the reality is it's cheaper for me to line up jobs and pay $3K to rent a new(er) machine for a week and $600 for delivery! No insurance, no maintenance, if it breaks down they send me a repair guy same day or new machine the next day...and 100% write off in the current year for the rental.

 

[MattB4]

I'd love a $300K 10 ton mini-x to have sitting around 95% of the time but the reality is it's cheaper for me to line up jobs and pay $3K to rent a new(er) machine for a week and $600 for delivery! No insurance, no maintenance, if it breaks down they send me a repair guy same day or new machine the next day...and 100% write off in the current year for the rental.

10 ton is not a mini but a midi. Anything over 6 ton is midi. I tend to think the 1-ton is a Baby and not even up to mini rating.

Sounds like you have access to a good rental yard. You must understand that not everyone is in your position. Heck I do not even file taxes anymore so the concept of a write off is meaningless. No one should buy a cheap Chinese brand excavator and think it is a commercial quality piece of equipment.

 

[MattB4]

Got an Email back from Bxpanded. Rather sparse reply,

"Our attachments will not fit those dimensions, unfortunately. Thank you for your inquiry. Have a great day ahead."

I suppose it would be possible to buy their cheapest model number ($279) for the Kubota BX24 and cut off and redo the mounting bracket. Sorta surprised they did not offer to custom make.

 

[dfkrug]

Got an Email back from Bxpanded. Rather sparse reply,

"Our attachments will not fit those dimensions, unfortunately. Thank you for your inquiry. Have a great day ahead."

I also got a reply back, and was told that they use 1" pins for the JD260RT ripper tooth sold for the BX and small JD hoes. That's a surprise as Deere loaders I have owned used 25mm pins, not 1", as I recall. What dimensions did you send?

It seems to me that the pin diameter is the key dimension. As long as the width between the ears is greater than the width of the end of the dipper, it will probably fit. Spacers can fill any gaps. The pin-to-pin distance is not very important.

BXPANDED: "We use 1" pins. You will have to send us your center-to-center pin width as well as the width between the mounts to determine whether or not our attachments will work with your machine."

 

[MattB4]

I sent that the mounting holes were 90mm CTC apart and the inside dimension for spacing of how far apart the flanges (ears) are is also 90mm. Pin/bolt size 25mm diameter by 170mm. I see from some research that spacing of 92mm for the flanges is specified on some of the imported buckets.

1 inch pin holes actually would not be a problem since you could use 25mm pins instead. The problems is the other measurements if they were too much different.

 

[dfkrug]

I sent that the mounting holes were 90mm CTC apart and the inside dimension for spacing of how far apart the flanges (ears) are is also 90mm. Pin/bolt size 25mm diameter by 170mm. I see from some research that spacing of 92mm for the flanges is specified on some of the imported buckets.

1 inch pin holes actually would not be a problem since you could use 25mm pins instead. The problems is the other measurements if they were too much different.

I measure 3.25" (83mm) CTC for pin-to-pin spacing, and 92mm for the ear spacing. As for 1" vs. 25mm pins, using 25mm pins in 1" holes is doable, but sloppier than I like. I wonder if the person at BXPANDED was only approximating pin diameter. I suspect that both the JD and BX hoes have 25mm pins.

BTW, BXPANDED has several ripper teeth: JD260RT, LSRT, KBXRT, etc. Some of the products seem to have a special kidney link included, and some seem to be designed to fit the QA bracket and not pivot.

 

[MattB4]

I took my measurements from the mount from the imported ripper tooth I bought. I use it with the quick hitch. While good for breaking hard soil and digging out rocks it is not so good on roots (no cutting action). That is why I was intrigued by the Bxpanded type.

Oh well, it looks like the folks there are not interested in selling to the little mini ex's buyers.

 

[dfkrug]

While good for breaking hard soil and digging out rocks it is not so good on roots (no cutting action). That is why I was intrigued by the Bxpanded type.

I agree, the serrated edge looks like a winner. Maybe some TBN user with the BXPANDED tooth can testify. It has been out for quite a while now.

I have used my ripper tooth to rip roots and destroy sandstone rocks. Love it. I don't want the QA attachment as mounting/dismounting is very easy, and I don't want to lose the greater force I have.