rent a mini excavator or hire it out?

[rswyan]

thanks for the replies, At this point im leaning towards renting the miniEx due to the fact i enjoy trying and doing things even if i havent ever done it before.

You'll have a ball with it .... here's a couple of tips (the first ones having to do with tippiness)

These machines can feel a little tippy at times, on an incline - but they (at least the Kubotas I've used) are designed to be extremely well-balanced - provided you know how to take advantage of it.

Think of the boom, dipperstick, and bucket as a large, long lever or counter-weight - it can be both an asset and a liability:

1. If you are going up or down a hill, keep the boom, dipperstick, and bucket on the uphill side as a counter-weight - extend as needed to provide stability and balance. The greater the extension, the more leverage there will be. Always operate in "slow" travel speed on hills.

2. Hopefully the machine you rent will have a dozer blade - typically you want to place the dozer blade on the side that you are digging on - you want to set it firmly in ground and take the weight off the tracks on that side.

3. On an incline, don't dig on the downhill side without having the blade set as described above and the machine leveled. Generally, I try to avoid digging downhill if at all possible. If you are digging on the uphill side, you'll be ok (with the blade set on the downhill side, and the machine leveled) .... as long as you don't go nuts when encountering large immovable objects ....

4. Use caution when on an incline and rotating to dump the spoil .... a fully loaded bucket is more of a counter-weight than an empty one

5. Always wear the seat belt when operating.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

appreciate the tips, you or anyone else think of anymore please post them as i need all i can get. :laughing:

 

[sodamo]

I bet you have fun. As said, just be on the cautious side. Take a few to practice. To me, the combination moves just weren't intuitive at first, but at some point my brain seemed to learn and translated what I wanted to do into how without me actually thinking each move of the controls. At that point, the whole process became fun.

Enjoy and be safe.

 

[MaJYk]

If you have ran a backhoe or x of any sorts before, describe how you remember the controls functioning to the rental place. It will accelerate your learning curve if they can switch the pattern to something your subconscious will remember .

 

[aczlan]

If you have ran a backhoe or x of any sorts before, describe how you remember the controls functioning to the rental place. It will accelerate your learning curve if they can switch the pattern to something your subconscious will remember .

Excellent point. I ran a Cat backhoe a couple of times in 2007 (mainly moving stuff around or bringing the boom up after it leaked down when moving the machine, less than 3 hours on the backhoe).
I went to run the backhoe on a 4000 series Deere CUT a couple of weeks back (covering up a trench that was dug with a trencher) and had a hard time as I was trying to use the CAT pattern on the Deere controls...

Aaron Z

 

[Foxtrot08]

Rent it and have a blast with it. Soon enough you'll be wanting to buy one.

Mini-excavators are just fun to run, very, very easy to learn how to do the basics with it, takes time to 'master' it. If you want to have some fun, take a golf ball and put it on a pile of dirt and see if you can pick the ball up with as little dirt as possible. Or, get a gallon milk jug and see if you can pick it up by the handle.

They sound like stupid games (Well, they are.) but it's great practice on being gentle with the machine. All modern machines are electric over hydraulic, I don't know of any machines that where produced in the last 15 years (or more) that are manual still. As for not running 'hammer down' - remember, excavating equipment =/= tractors or cars. They're designed to be run at 80% throttle or more, then scaled back by the operator as needed. (Which is why Dozers have a Decelerator, instead of an accelerator peddle.) If you don't feel comfortable that high, I understand, but with a mini digging dirt, it will be a breeze.

Which model bobcat are you looking at? Some models have expandable tracks - make sure the rental place goes over everything with you, maybe even practice a bit before you load it on the trailer.


Make sure which control style you want to learn. There are 2 major control styles - Cat or John Deere. I personally run John Deere control styles, mostly because that's what I was taught growing up. On most machines, you can change control styles with a flip of the switch, which is why you need to pick which one to learn. (One is not better then the other, it's 100% personal preference.) It has to do with which stick swings the machine and which stick runs the boom. Typically, your right joy stick - side to side, will do the bucket curl, then up/down will do your stick in and out. Your left stick, side to side, will swing the machine right/left, while in and out will raise/lower the boom.

On the floor, in the center, you will have your forward/reverse levers and peddles, then a foot peddle to swing your boom like a backhoe. The other peddle should be your 3rd valve, but depends on the model. On the left side, infront / beside the joy stick, you will have your blade control - see if the machine comes equipped with a 'floating' blade, this will be very helpful with grading.

8 machine hours over 24 hours is a lot, it shouldn't take you more then an hour to two hours to dig what you want, then you can go mess with the stumps.

 

[newbury]

Rent it and have a blast with it. Soon enough you'll be wanting to buy one.

That will be one of the hidden expenses, you will find it's so great to have you'll end up buying one

 

[Foxtrot08]

That will be one of the hidden expenses, you will find it's so great to have you'll end up buying one

We rented one... and bought two.

Oops. :laughing:

 

[chad22]

We rented one... and bought two.

Oops. :laughing:

I agree rent one, even just to have some fun with it. I'm hoping someday I can afford to buy a used mini ex to play around with. Even though I have my home made excavator. I would like something that I can drive and spin around 360 degrees.

They really look like lots of fun.

Ps. I see a nice big excavator on an ad here for purplewave.com wish I had that kinda money. I would try my hand at bidding on it. :licking: (A guy can dream). :laughing:

Chad

 

[melli]

Rent one...as long as the hole required is in easy ground, as a newbie, you'll only use 2 hours tops, which will give you plenty of time to fart around. I rented a 331D and it took about 2 hours to get the hang of it (some sort of rythym). Just go slow, and I tell all my test pilots to remember two things...when things go south (for instance, you find you've jammed the arm and the machine is trying to turn over), hands off controls! Then slowly, figure out how to recover. Secondly, if you do roll over (seatbelt on), turn off engine pronto (save motor).
I ended up buying one, as it is so bloody handy. Relatively easy to work on...

Always try to keep blade in front of you and lower it when digging...these things shake a lot, and with blade down it stabilizes you. If on hill, I keep blade behind me on downhill side. If picking up something heavy, like a stump or large boulder, I keep it low to ground, especially if you spin around on turntable. You can always carry the most with blade in front of you...can jam a really heavy stump up against blade, and use bucket and blade to lift.
I'd avoid trying to spin on tracks in one spot...if tracks aren't tight, likely to pop one off. Can use arm to lift tracks, then spin, but that takes a little skill. Cheers.