Mini Excavator?
- Thread starter reggart
- Start date
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.
Just my 2 cents.
4570Man
Super Star Member
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- Apr 7, 2015
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- Crossville, TN
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, Kubota L3800, Grasshopper 428D, Topkick dump truck, 3500 dump truck, 10 ton trailer, more lighter trailers.
A skid steer would grade driveway pretty good with a land plane attachment especially if you had a tilt attachment.
finn1
Platinum Member
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- May 10, 2009
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- Upper Michigan, Marana Az.
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- Kioti CK4010 hst, Cab, Deere 26G excavator, K1500 w/ Boss 7’6” plow, F450 dump W/ Boss 10’ straight blade Super Duty plow, F250 reg cab, F350 cc drw, Case TR310 CTL
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.
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
Elite Member
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)!
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
Platinum Member
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…
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
Elite Member
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!
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.
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
Elite Member
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
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