Mini Excavator?

[Diggin It]

Maybe a small dozer would be the answer.

There ya' go!

 

[loggin]

I would suggest getting 35 or 40 horsepower tractor and a regular blade to crown the driveway. You can add down pressure if you need to by adding weight to the blade. Bulldozers are not very fast either and a tractor is certainly a lot more versatile. Adding another machine always increases maintenance. I try to keep things simple.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Jstpssng]

A skid steer would be more versatile for the OP's uses than either the excavator or a bull dozer, although it would have it's own limitations.

 

[4570Man]

A skid steer would be more versatile for the OP's uses than either the excavator or a bull dozer, although it would have it's own limitations.

A skid steer would grade driveway pretty good with a land plane attachment especially if you had a tilt attachment.

 

[finn1]

CTL for the driveway.

I wouldn’t think of using my mini for snow removal, or dozing, as far as that goes. Mine has a fixed blade that does backfilling ok. It’s limited by my skill.

Looked at one the next size up with a six way blade when I was in the market, but it also had a cab and a/c, neither of which I wanted to pay for, since it’s really just a hobby machine. If you’re serious, both are good options though.

One thing to watch for if you’re in the market for a mini is weight. It’s easy to buy so much machine that transport becomes an issue.

 

[DieselBound]

Check out the Bobcat Toolcat. Something like this (this one doesn't have a bed/box; that allows for the 3pt). You can outfit them with a ton of different attachments: they have a 6-way blade, though they note it's for loose materials.
https://www.motorsportsuniverse.com...-bobcat-toolcat-5610-utility-utility-vehicles

I keep fantasizing over one of these. One can attach a box blade, reach out, and scrape from a distance! Or, conversely, attach an angled blade and push snow (while stationary; retract boom, move up, and repeat)! Merlo is the only manufacturer that has these telehandler things with rear PTOs. I'm contemplating building a house and having one of these would be killer. Aside from money, ha ha, the only thing that would stop me is their weight- heavy, and my ground is pretty soft (not a good mix).
https://www.machinerytrader.com/lis.../2016-merlo-p32-dot-6-plus-telehandlers-lifts

Anyway, I love excavators. I love them for doing actual digging. Traveling around they suck: SLOW and a horrible ride. Tracked vehicles are more to maintain. I decided to just rent excavators when I needed one: PLAN, PLAN, PLAN- yeah, it's nice to just jump out and go looking for something to do but that's a pretty expensive convenience (which hides one's inability to properly plan)!

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Things with tracks are ok in snow, and a nightmare on ice. Even if you have metal tracks and weld some cross bars on those, you don’t have much down pressure to get them dug in.

Just for easy math I’ll make up a fictional machine. Weighs 9600-lbs, has tracks 1-ft wide, and 6-ft long in contact with the ground. So, 12-square feet in contact with the ground to support the 9600-lbs. 9600-lbs/12-sqft = 80-lb/sqft = 80-lb/144-sqin. = .56-psi. Good for floating over snow and mud, bud not so good on hard or icey surfaces…

 

[DieselBound]

Things with tracks are ok in snow, and a nightmare on ice. Even if you have metal tracks and weld some cross bars on those, you don’t have much down pressure to get them dug in.

Just for easy math I’ll make up a fictional machine. Weighs 9600-lbs, has tracks 1-ft wide, and 6-ft long in contact with the ground. So, 12-square feet in contact with the ground to support the 9600-lbs. 9600-lbs/12-sqft = 80-lb/sqft = 80-lb/144-sqin. = .56-psi. Good for floating over snow and mud, bud not so good on hard or icey surfaces…

IF you rock or tip on those tracks then the PSI starts to increase dramatically! Roll such that you're pushing on a surface with the edge of a track and you're now seeing a LOT of PSI. A tractor, whose initial PSI is greater, will actually see less of an increase in PSI when rolling toward the sidewalls of the tires- as a percentage it will retain more of its initial surface area in contact than will an excavator. And with few exceptions the excavator is going to weigh a considerable amount more than a tractor.

Worst I've ever gotten a machine stuck was with an excavator. I rocked it back (less track in contact) and it started sinking and it was over in an instant- although I tried I could not get myself unstuck, ending up buried to the tops of the tracks. This was an area that I'd recently had my greater PSI B7800 in and it didn't get stuck. There's math and then there's the real world (where there's an endless number of variables).

But, yes, IF you keep the tracks flat you can realize less PSI and, therefore, be able to traverse soft ground conditions better than in a wheeled vehicle. I rent a 19k lb excavator and I make sure I never get anywhere near where it could get stuck: I can't count on my NX5510 and or my truck getting something of that size unstuck.

Regarding the operation of metal tracks on ice, the entire surface of the track is not riding on top of the ice, the lugs(?) present a small area of contact material and therefore present a very high PSI such that they'll claw down into the ice. On flat ground you're likely fine/OK. On a slope gravity is going to cause the lugs to break up the ice thus making the surface unstable and filling the plates between the lugs with ice (loss of tractionable PSI) and it's then off to the races! I'm thankful I do not have situations in which I have to deal with ice!

 

[Jstpssng]

Difference in weight distribution... I once got my ATV stuck while running down an excavator track. THAT was embarrassing.’
Another time on that same project stuck it so badly with 350 lbs of grass seed on that I had a skidder come pull me out.

 

[DieselBound]

I had some ruts left from a logging skidder that in one place I could almost get my B7800 stuck -high-sided- if I were to run across them perpendicularly. I've graded out the big, wicked ones!

I was once out with my UTV fetching some firewood (dragging out some trunks) and managed to get the UTV stuck. Walked back to the house and grabbed the B7800. Got the UTV out and then with the B7800 I proceeded to grab another trunk and... yup, got the B7800 stuck! (this was the last time I'd gotten that tractor stuck, some 4 1/2 years ago) Another trip back to the house to grab the NX5510. No trifecta, I managed to pull out the B7800 and get the firewood out without further trouble. Thankfully I was the only witness to this embarrassment

 

[finn1]

Snowmobilers seem to do quite well with tracks and low ground pressure, though.

Just a thought. Maybe we shouldn’t over analyze this in the extreme.

 

[4570Man]

Snowmobilers seem to do quite well with tracks and low ground pressure, though.

Just a thought. Maybe we shouldn’t over analyze this in the extreme.

A snow mobile has a lot of track on that ground for such a light vehicle and it’s a very aggressive track and they’re a high hp vehicle. Completely different from a mini x. A mini x is good at self recovery though. I’ve had the counter weight rubbing the mud with my mini x and got it out on its own.

 

[m7040]

Having a minix when you feel like using it is priceless and you will find many uses for it. Having AC and heat is great for comfort and extends the times to use it.
At 80 years old I find it to be a great help for many other tasks other that digging and with attachments I can lift, grab, scrape, level, move rocks and logs and do it even when the weather is bad.

 

[DieselBound]

Snowmobilers seem to do quite well with tracks and low ground pressure, though.

Just a thought. Maybe we shouldn’t over analyze this in the extreme.

But analyzing apples to oranges?

As 4570man noted, they're really light. And then there's the issue of ice, which seems to be the real gotcha- I suspect that snowmobiles are not icemobiles (unless outfitted with studded tracks?).

 

[Jstpssng]

But analyzing apples to oranges?

As 4570man noted, they're really light. And then there's the issue of ice, which seems to be the real gotcha- I suspect that snowmobiles are not icemobiles (unless outfitted with studded tracks?).

They go better than you might think. The problem is that it gives no lubrication to the nylon sliders, making it easy to burn them up.
Nevertheless it's better to have the track "picked" if you spend a lot of time on icy roads-er, trails.

 

[MHarryE]

I think of the blade on my mini being for stuff like backfilling, smoothing, pushing stuff around in areas where I might puncture a tractor tire (but now I have a CTL which is much faster for that). On mine, its also needed for stability when digging. It doesn't have the final drive capability of a dozer. I haven't put but 500 hours on mine in the 11 years I've owned it but I probably have put 25% of its purchase price in undercarriage repairs. When I got it, I only had a tractor along with the mini so its blade got a lot of use. Never been out in the snow except to move trees and stuff like that. No excavating in my area from December through April because of hard ground.

 

[Popisin]

If you have 1000 ft of gravel to housekeep and plow and want to log out and stump for yourself and keep warm while doing it take a look at

M415XT - Mauldin Paving Products

10' Moldboard, 3/4 yd3 Bucket, 84" Scarifier 118 HP Turbo-Charged and After-cooled Diesel Engine All-Wheel Hydrostatic, Two-Speed Drive Front and Rear Universal

www.4amauldin.com

They are out there on the used side too. Like all combo machines they have drawbacks but consider that any implement that you can hang off a skid steer will work on these and they are better at loading trucks than skid steers. I thought about one but my driveway is only 500 feet.

 

[nyone]

I own two tractors with front loader and a micro mini ex. If I'm removing the stumps (and I usualy do) I use the mini ex, dig out the stump and push it over. My mini is under 40in wide so can get in areas that are very tight. But it's slow yet more nimble. We get snow, it's nearly useless in snow. A walk behind snow blower may be quicker and a hell of alot cheaper.

Tractor is good for longer log pulls but pulling the logs on the ground make them fill with dirt.

 

[bkibler]

I've cleared miles of mountain roads in NH using a mini ex and farm tractor. The mini cuts the initial grade (30-45 degree slopes on my hills), removes stumps and boulders, and does a first rough pass at leveling with the 4-way blade. The I come back with the tractor with a FEL, box blade and top-n-tilt for spreading gravel and the finish grade. It's the perfect combo.

I also have a 75hp CTL. It doesn't get used much for new road construction, but it's the best for clearing snow, beats the heck out of driving my tractor backwards. I have separate studded winter tracks for it. A mini ex is too slow to be useful for snow clearing, and the blade is too small for anything but a dusting.

 

[panamaguy]

I've got 20 acres of timbered property on a mountain in Northern Idaho. I also have 1,000 feet of steep road that I have to maintain. I've been using a Mahindra 2015 for the past several years to log and maintain the road among other things. I've always felt this tractor was about 15hp shy of what I needed for size, power and options for what I'm doing. My long term plan was to get a 30hp tractor with a cab for the winter months.. Lately I've been talking to friends who suggested I consider a mini excavator and keep my old tractor. Thoughts? How well can a 6-way blade on a mini move snow and maintain a road? How well can a mini do at pulling logs off a hill?

Wrong machine. I own a IHI 15NX here in panama and with the thumb I put on it it is great machine. I can pick up a 24 inch dia rock and also great for trees but it would suck as a plow.