tallguy104
Bronze Member
We've got about 3 acres of billy goat country (undulating and frequently steep).
My list of things which I need to get an excavator in for keeps growing and growing, to the point where I'm now thinking I might be better of just buying one, even if I end up selling it on again in a few years once we have the property mostly the way we like it.
The kind of work I want to do:
- create terraces down the hill side (by cutting and filling)
- maintain/improve our dirt and gravel driveway
- dig trenches
Budget is fairly constrained, so I'm considering the minis at the lighter end of the Kubota offerings (0.8-2.5 tonne).
First question is - are the lighter machines I've mentioned going to cut it? I've heard that you can do almost anything with a smaller excavator compared to a larger one, it just takes longer....which I'm okay with. Is this true though? Will the 0.8 tonne KX008-3 be able to get about my property ok (it's 20 degrees in many places), or are these smaller machines much more prone to tipping on slopes compared to larger models?
Do I want the KX or the U series? Is the KX going to have better stability of my slope land? I heard that the U series tend to be more tippy because they had to raise the centre of gravity in order to make them zero-swing. Is this true? If so it sounds like I definitely will want the KX since zero-swing isn't a priority for me. Is there any other reason to choose the U over the KX?
My list of things which I need to get an excavator in for keeps growing and growing, to the point where I'm now thinking I might be better of just buying one, even if I end up selling it on again in a few years once we have the property mostly the way we like it.
The kind of work I want to do:
- create terraces down the hill side (by cutting and filling)
- maintain/improve our dirt and gravel driveway
- dig trenches
Budget is fairly constrained, so I'm considering the minis at the lighter end of the Kubota offerings (0.8-2.5 tonne).
First question is - are the lighter machines I've mentioned going to cut it? I've heard that you can do almost anything with a smaller excavator compared to a larger one, it just takes longer....which I'm okay with. Is this true though? Will the 0.8 tonne KX008-3 be able to get about my property ok (it's 20 degrees in many places), or are these smaller machines much more prone to tipping on slopes compared to larger models?
Do I want the KX or the U series? Is the KX going to have better stability of my slope land? I heard that the U series tend to be more tippy because they had to raise the centre of gravity in order to make them zero-swing. Is this true? If so it sounds like I definitely will want the KX since zero-swing isn't a priority for me. Is there any other reason to choose the U over the KX?