Looking to buy a Mini-X. Your experience and opinions, please

[crashz]

I've been looking for a smaller "tinker'er" machine. 3-4 ton. Something cheap and beat up that I could fix and use. Nothing up here in that category.

However, if you search the Northeast, you may find a fairly decent used mini that fits. Seems like there are tons of mini's that fit your needs up here. Most seem like they are in the 5-7 ton range and are 2000ish hours. Mid 20's to 30's on price. But buying this far away is tough.

 

[laurencen]

my current machine is a Bobcat e32, prior to this I had the Bobcat 430, it was a decent machine but no cab the bucket was pinned on, had the machine for 4 years, did lots of work and 2 years ago traded it on the E32, this machine has a cab, heat and air and great soundproofing, the machine can be trailered easily behind the F350,

I would never buy one without a cab having one with a cab, sound proofing is great and use it any weather, for attachments I built a wood splitter, claw for root work, have the breaker, the machine has hydraulic X change

when trading the 430 we got 29,000 in trade and originally paid 15,000, bobcat had zero percent for 5 years on the balance, reason we went with Bobcat the dealer has always been helpful with most parts in stock or overnight delivery, at the time I looked at Cat and Deere, neither would offer a demo unit to try other than the dealer, Bobcat dropped one of for the weekend

2 years and 900 hours only issue thus far was a speaker fell from the cab when breaking concrete, dealer gave me a pair of speakers and hardware to install

Laurence

 

[Bigfoot62]

I'm also a farmer and was in the market for a 6tonish mini ex about 11/2 yrs ago. I have 3 fwd loader tractors but never an excavator. Did a lot of research and ended up buying a new Volvo ec60e which is a full conventional tail machine . Being on the farm I wasn't to concerned with zero tail swing . . .

Did you buy new or used?

I don't have to have zero or minimal tail swing either. The Takeuchi TB260 that I'm looking at is a conventional tail swing and weighs just over 12K#

 

[Bigfoot62]

However, if you search the Northeast, you may find a fairly decent used mini that fits. Seems like there are tons of mini's that fit your needs up here. Most seem like they are in the 5-7 ton range and are 2000ish hours. Mid 20's to 30's on price. But buying this far away is tough.

I hear you, but I'm not buying a machine before trying it out. Recently went to a huge auction in Fort Worth, TX. From the online listings, I had 27 excavators on my watchlist. (6-9 ton machines) After driving over there and actually looking and trying them out, I cut it down to only FOUR that I would consider. For example, 3 wouldn't even start, and 3 would start but only idle. One had over 8,000 hours on it.

 

[Bigfoot62]

my current machine is a Bobcat e32, prior to this I had the Bobcat 430, it was a decent machine but no cab the bucket was pinned on, had the machine for 4 years, did lots of work and 2 years ago traded it on the E32, this machine has a cab, heat and air and great soundproofing, the machine can be trailered easily behind the F350,

I would never buy one without a cab having one with a cab, sound proofing is great and use it any weather, for attachments I built a wood splitter, claw for root work, have the breaker, the machine has hydraulic X change

when trading the 430 we got 29,000 in trade and originally paid 15,000, bobcat had zero percent for 5 years on the balance, reason we went with Bobcat the dealer has always been helpful with most parts in stock or overnight delivery, at the time I looked at Cat and Deere, neither would offer a demo unit to try other than the dealer, Bobcat dropped one of for the weekend

2 years and 900 hours only issue thus far was a speaker fell from the cab when breaking concrete, dealer gave me a pair of speakers and hardware to install

Laurence

Appreciate your input.

The nearest Bobcat dealer is a 2 hour drive for me. That discourages me from looking very hard at them. Now, if I found a real deal on one, that would be different. The dealers that are closer by (an hour away) are: 1) Deere, 2)Komatsu/Takeuchi, 3)Volvo/Kobelco/Case, and 4)CAT.
I want a cab, but don't know if I can swallow the price. If this was a piece of equipment that was going to make me money, I would probably just bite the bullet and get a new cab machine with A/C.

 

[Seven Gables]

New I went into my dealer with the price l was prepared to pay for a 250 hr used Volvo, one I found on machinery trader it was in Florida. Explained in all seriousness why I couldn稚 see paying 15,000+ More for the same machine new .He made me a deal I couldn稚 pass on. through their remarketing program? I believe it was called my own financeing though . B

 

[laurencen]

Appreciate your input.

The nearest Bobcat dealer is a 2 hour drive for me. That discourages me from looking very hard at them. Now, if I found a real deal on one, that would be different. The dealers that are closer by (an hour away) are: 1) Deere, 2)Komatsu/Takeuchi, 3)Volvo/Kobelco/Case, and 4)CAT.
I want a cab, but don't know if I can swallow the price. If this was a piece of equipment that was going to make me money, I would probably just bite the bullet and get a new cab machine with A/C.

at 60 years old a cab is a must have, the days playing/digging in wind and cold weather are in the past, once you use a cab likely you never go back. i looked at Cat, dealer was a dick and was not in any mood to deal, all the dealers are 45 mins from our acreage, Bobcat dropped off a demo machine and a deal i could not refuse

 

[Bigfoot62]

New I went into my dealer with the price l was prepared to pay for a 250 hr used Volvo, one I found on machinery trader it was in Florida. Explained in all seriousness why I couldn't see paying 15,000+ More for the same machine new .He made me a deal I couldn't pass on. . .

Cool!

 

[Bigfoot62]

at 60 years old a cab is a must have, the days playing/digging in wind and cold weather are in the past, once you use a cab likely you never go back. . .

Bobcat dropped off a demo machine and a deal i could not refuse

Understand. I'm right there with you. Except down here, it's not the cold as much as the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes!

Good to have a dealer like that. The Takeuchi/Komatsu dealer offered to do the same here. I asked if he could drop off the machine and just forget about it for a couple years. LOL

 

[laurencen]

Understand. I'm right there with you. Except down here, it's not the cold as much as the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes!

Good to have a dealer like that. The Takeuchi/Komatsu dealer offered to do the same here. I asked if he could drop off the machine and just forget about it for a couple years. LOL

well thats 3 reasons to have a cab