Mini Excavator Blade Use

[Ghostrider16]

I have a brushy (low field brush/weeds, nothing major) area I want to "plow" a walking path/small road through. I'd say about 50-75 yards long. Would a mini ex blade be appropriate (or at least work) for that job? Not sure how much dozer work that blade can handle.

I'll be renting one to take out some stumps and wondered if it could be used for that as well. I'll likely be renting a 5-6 ton machine.

 

[spitter]

mini ex blade aint worth a hill of beans for an kind of gradeing.:thumbdown: IE { backfill blade}:drink:.

 

[grsthegreat]

I agree. They hardly are even good for backfilling a trench that they dug. A good operator can fill and grade with the bucket and only uses the blade to steady unit while digging.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have only rented and used a mini ex once. I thought the blade did a pretty good job at grading the dirt back after filling the hole but I don't think it would work worth a flip for bulldozing brush. You Kubota MX5800 with a brush hog should do a pretty good job at that.

If the path has small trees the Kubota MX5800 can't cut then you could probably use the mini ex to clear those out with the bucket teeth. After you get some practice you can stick the teeth in the ground and just rake along the top by pulling back on both sticks evenly. Then you have the brush and trees to deal with. If you pick it up with a thumb and pile it to the side you can make your path but it will be unsightly looking due to the piled debris.

 

[mike48130]

Like others said, not for bulldozing. But, you can clear everything with the bucket, and use the blade to level out if you don't have a tractor.

 

[laurencen]

have a Bobcat e32, the blade will do some leveling but crude results but it will knock the top off, for leveling I have the grading bucket with swivel, takes some time to master the control but you get pretty good at it

 

[tree farmer]

When I build ATV trails on my timberland, I dig the sticks, brush and roots out with a toothed bucket and loosen up a few inches of soil with the mini ex, then grab an old 8 ft. railroad tie crossways between the bucket and thumb and smooth it out. To grade a slope, just grab the rr tie at an angle. Be careful trying to use a mini ex as a dozer. The final (track) drive motors are made to move the machine around with, not heavy pushing. Blowing up one of them is several thousand bucks...……...Dan.

 

[Snobdds]

As a person that actually owns a mini with a 6 way blade...their handier than pockets on a shirt.

It's not a dozer, but ****, I have move a lot of dirt with my mini ex blade. I mean a lot of dirt.

If you have the time, it will work to level out ground.

 

[nyone]

I also own a mini ex and use the blade quite a bit. I pushed about 90yards of stone with it to make a driveway through a swamp this summer alone. Some of those pushes where 75ft long. One thing i built for my blade thst you almost never see on mini blades is side wings. It makes the blade act more as a box blade. I built them just to push stone but they have been so handy i may leave them on. There simply a piece of flat stock thats bolted on the side of the blade.

 

[Ortimber]

As a person that actually owns a mini with a 6 way blade...their handier than pockets on a shirt.

It's not a dozer, but ****, I have move a lot of dirt with my mini ex blade. I mean a lot of dirt.

If you have the time, it will work to level out ground.

I also own a mini and agree with this. A 50-75 yd long trail would be a breeze.

 

[two_bit_score]

I also own a mini ex and use the blade quite a bit. I pushed about 90yards of stone with it to make a driveway through a swamp this summer alone. Some of those pushes where 75ft long. One thing i built for my blade thst you almost never see on mini blades is side wings. It makes the blade act more as a box blade. I built them just to push stone but they have been so handy i may leave them on. There simply a piece of flat stock thats bolted on the side of the blade.

They look real handy!

 

[/pine]

As a person that actually owns a mini with a 6 way blade...their handier than pockets on a shirt.

It's not a dozer, but ****, I have move a lot of dirt with my mini ex blade. I mean a lot of dirt.

If you have the time, it will work to level out ground.

Agree 100%...if it's a 6 way blade and has float it will work great for light scraping and final grading...

 

[Kingsqueak]

I only have rental stints for seat time but a Bobcat E50 as an example, the blade would possibly do it, but it's tricky for sure.

I think using my grapple to loosen and clean up and then smoothing with either my blade/rake or even just back dragging my materials bucket is easier than it was messing with the blade on the mini-ex. The Bobcat had float but I don't think it had angle and it was hard to feather it so it was doing too little or too much a lot of the time...again I'm no "operator".

For stumps, I would get a ripper/frost pick or a very narrow trenching bucket with a thumb for either. For the grading work, also rent a grading bucket with it. Pop your stumps, rough the holes in with the blade and then finish it with the grading bucket.

 

[jjp8182]

Having rented a Kubota KX040-4 with 18" bucket to dig some large stumps out at my place, I found that even with the 6 way blade using the bucket became about as easy and quickly became faster than using the blade to back fill & grade an area. The blade on the KX040-4 (which is about a 4.5-6 ton machine) was about 5-6ft wide so it's not exactly narrow compared to a blade that would fit behind an MX5800 either.

If anything I'd look into renting a grading blade for the machine at the same time in order to avoid repositioning the machine as much as possible. Even at top speed I've found the mini/compact excavators to be slow (i.e. not much more than walking speed) ...actually it bordered on annoyingly slow (also found it far easier to drive across the yard with the foot pedals rather than the steering/drive sticks).

Alternatively if you don't mind a few teeth marks from a trenching bucket that'd work as well to make a path -- and a 18" to 24" bucket should work for both stump removal and scraping a path (especially on that size of machine). Other than at maximum reach it should be possible to keep the flat/bottom of the bucket on the ground to reduce the amount of tooth marks that are left behind, when reaching out to max reach and raking in a path.

Just my :2cents:

 

[Mtnryder]

The Kubota blade works great. The 6K even has a float feature and can be angled. I did all my new home backfill, grading, and 150 foot of driveway.

 

[Cataclysm]

I have a brushy (low field brush/weeds, nothing major) area I want to "plow" a walking path/small road through. I'd say about 50-75 yards long. Would a mini ex blade be appropriate (or at least work) for that job? Not sure how much dozer work that blade can handle.

I'll be renting one to take out some stumps and wondered if it could be used for that as well. I'll likely be renting a 5-6 ton machine.

I own/make a living with a 11,800 lb Kubota U45 mini-x. As has been stated, use the bucket/teeth to clear the path and dig the stumps. Back drag with the blade to smooth. It will be a cake walk even if you're not an experienced operator.

 

[4570Man]

As a person that actually owns a mini with a 6 way blade...their handier than pockets on a shirt.

It's not a dozer, but ****, I have move a lot of dirt with my mini ex blade. I mean a lot of dirt.

If you have the time, it will work to level out ground.

Most mini excavators only have a up/down blade and being a rental that’s almost certainly what it’ll have.

 

[Snobdds]

Most mini excavators only have a up/down blade and being a rental that’s almost certainly what it’ll have.

It can be done without a 6 way blade. You just have to know how to feather the tracks where one is moving slightly faster than the other creating an angle. :thumbsup:

 

[Industrial Toys]

I saw a video. I never realized it if true, but "apparently" that blades main purpose is for stability.

 

[Kingsqueak]

I saw a video. I never realized it if true, but "apparently" that blades main purpose is for stability.

When pulling hard on something like a stump or boulder, it makes a big difference. If you're ever in one, pull against something solid with and without the blade set. Also, on a slope it helps to dig in.