Importing and modifying a new mini excavator from China

[dfkrug]

I have a AGT DM12-C and want the swing boom to be DCV and the auxiliary to be electronic.

Very strange offset upper pivot for the OEM hyd thumb on the DMC-12. It looks like they did not remove the mechanical thumb brackets (as I did) to install a hydraulic thumb. The geometries are totally different.

 

[WI-citizen]

Very strange offset upper pivot for the OEM hyd thumb on the DMC-12. It looks like they did not remove the mechanical thumb brackets (as I did) to install a hydraulic thumb. The geometries are totally different.

This is why I think they installed parts in the wrong place at the factory.

 

[WI-citizen]

Has anyone else had any luck with switching the auxiliary and the swingboom DCV and electronic?

 

[dfkrug]

Interesting update on the runaway "feature" of the track drive motors on virtually all of the 1-2T Chinese mini-excavators.

It seems a few people have been successful getting their Chinese mini-X supplier to replace both drive motors with new ones that have have an added valve block with counterbalance valves. These are essentially hydraulic brakes.

Everyone who buys these machines from an importer like Agrotk or Kymron needs to request this very important safety upgrade. Auction buyers are kinda SOL, but direct requests to the factories in China is something to consider.

Any followers of Howard Kettner on Utube? He posts his upgraded motor replacement here:

Looks just like the upgrade I posted before:

 

[2manyrocks]

Do you know if most of these chinese mini exs are copies of some particular excavator or how they originated?

 

[dfkrug]

Do you know if most of these chinese mini exs are copies of some particular excavator or how they originated?

when I was communicating with China directly, I asked that question, but never got any answers. That was using Alibaba messenger emails, plus some direct emails with 3 or 4 different makers.

I suspect that the earliest designs got shared (or copied) and modified so many times, the first person or factory that made the first units may not even be known in Shandong (the province where these all seem to be made). Or just kept secret.

Notice that some parts of these units have changed very little or not at all (e.g. the buckets). Other parts have many variations (e.g. the house bodies).

I love to see all the improvements. First came the EPA-legal gas engines, which all makers now seem to offer. I feel that I personally may have had a part in that. Next was oil filtration, then cooling, which are now common features. I also pointed them towards Lovejoy-type pump couplings, instead of direct spline drives, which is what I have.

The next Big Thing may be to get them to provide better drive motors with braking. Someone is gonna get hurt.

 

[Wiggawam]

Does anyone know where to find a fitting for the hydraulic tank return? I originally thought it was an DIN L18 but it appears the threads measure out to ~27mm and not the 26.5mm that the spec calls out for. Needless to say, the the female L18 will not thread on. I am trying to add some filtration without rebuilding the entire hydraulic system.

Alternatively, has anyone just cut another hole and added a bulkhead fitting for the return?

 

[RandyT]

Does anyone know where to find a fitting for the hydraulic tank return? I originally thought it was an DIN L18 but it appears the threads measure out to ~27mm and not the 26.5mm that the spec calls out for. Needless to say, the the female L18 will not thread on. I am trying to add some filtration without rebuilding the entire hydraulic system.

Alternatively, has anyone just cut another hole and added a bulkhead fitting for the return?

Cam Sweet from Garage Connection and Central digger supply had a video some time back about some of the import diggers have an L18 with 27 mm threads not the standard 26mm thread. And that fitting was not available outside of that one fitting supplier from China. His issue involved the hydraulic cooler and filter kit that he sold for the H15, and some were being built with the 27mm not the 26 mm fitting.

 

[dfkrug]

Alternatively, has anyone just cut another hole and added a bulkhead fitting for the return?

I welded in my own fitting. Go to post #31.

Make sure that fluid return does not aerate the oil, by being placed too high on the reservoir.

 

[Wiggawam]

Cam Sweet from Garage Connection and Central digger supply had a video some time back about some of the import diggers have an L18 with 27 mm threads not the standard 26mm thread. And that fitting was not available outside of that one fitting supplier from China. His issue involved the hydraulic cooler and filter kit that he sold for the H15, and some were being built with the 27mm not the 26 mm fitting.

I found manufactures of the fitting in China, the fitting does exist but it is a crimp/swag fitting only. Mine is definitely the nonstandard L18 fitting on the tank. Time to cobble something together it seems.