Talk me out of an excavator!

[DrDave1958]

Rent one for a week. That will answer your question of whether or not you need to own one. Weekly and monthly rentals are much cheaper than the daily rate.

 

[Rustyiron]

Generally 3 days of rental will get you a week. The same for weeks, 3 weeks/month.
It might be limiting to find one with a mulcher. They're subject to abuse of the expensive "teeth".

 

[Pete SkyViewFarm]

We just purchased a new property thats 48 acres, approximately 25 acres in hardwoods, 20 in pasture, and half of a 5-6 acre pond. I've got the pasture maintenance covered, and have a grapple to clean up downed trees, etc. I've gotten really interested in a 3-5 ton mini excavator with a flail or mulcher head to clean up the woods and pond bank. I've been watching videos lately and they just seem so useful for keeping the underbrush in the woods cleaned out, which makes for a much nicer property. On the flip side, I don't NEED to clean out the underbrush or most of the pond bank, and their very expensive.

Am I better off just leaving the woods natural? Hiring someone with an excavator to come clean up a little? maybe just the pond bank? Or are these things really as useful as they look and a great investment for a landowner?

I bought a new cab kx-121-3 back in o6. Except for a new battery and normal maintenance it’s been pretty much trouble free. I don’t have a mulching attachment but I have repaired stone walls, fixed drainage for 100’s of feet to contain seasonal brooks, stumped a couple acres (easily dug out 8-10-12 inch stumps. I had a neighbor with a big cat dig the bigger 18-34” stumps), buried dead cows / sheep, fed logs to my wood processor, dug out or buried boulders that were exposed in places I didn’t want them. I’ve dug out my 6040 and 1720 ford when I got them buried to the frame deep in mud feeding cows / sheep during April mud season. It cost me 41k then, may sit for a week or 3 but I like the convenience of owning vs renting which is priceless

 

[Gord Baker]

If you cannot pay for it fully from your Petty Cash, don't get one. It will sit doing nothing but depreciate most of the time. Rent, farm out or borrow if Really needed.

We just purchased a new property thats 48 acres, approximately 25 acres in hardwoods, 20 in pasture, and half of a 5-6 acre pond. I've got the pasture maintenance covered, and have a grapple to clean up downed trees, etc. I've gotten really interested in a 3-5 ton mini excavator with a flail or mulcher head to clean up the woods and pond bank. I've been watching videos lately and they just seem so useful for keeping the underbrush in the woods cleaned out, which makes for a much nicer property. On the flip side, I don't NEED to clean out the underbrush or most of the pond bank, and their very expensive.

Am I better off just leaving the woods natural? Hiring someone with an excavator to come clean up a little? maybe just the pond bank? Or are these things really as useful as they look and a great investment for a landowner?

c

 

[akadave]

If you can afford it get one. There's nothing more convenient than being able to use good equipment at any time and even for small projects.

 

[kenhar]

Depending on the size of timber to be removed, a mini excavator may not satisfy your needs. I have a 175C dresser track loader (34,000 lbs) with a 4 in 1 bucket that will do anything a comparable size excavator will do and more. It won't dig a ditch less than 8' wide because of the bucket width. It will push brush, downed trees, dirt or anything else, then level the ground you just tore up. Excavators have there place but there are better options for clearing ground. A used dresser track loader is about half the price of a similar size Cat.

 

[Paul_M]

I bought a 3 ton Komatsu a few months ago. It is a great machine. I also bought a flail mower that I’m still working on adapting to it. The thing that surprise me the most, is how slow it is. Most units 3 tons and smaller can only travel about 1 mph. If you have a big property like we do, be prepared to spend quite a bit of time just getting to the place where you wanna do the work. When I upgrade this one, I’m gonna be sure to get a unit with a “high speed“ option.

 

[Rustyiron]

Used equipment of this category will appreciate over time as long as you don't neglect it's appearance and function.
It's quite common to basically have free use of it during your ownership other than fuel and grease.
About 28 years ago I bought a used low hour excavator (Hitachi ex 60) for $12k and sold it a couple of years ago for $22k with maybe $2-3k of misc repairs over the years.
This story is not uncommon and the first caller was a full price offer with 3 others waiting if he dropped out!

 

[EyelashViper]

We just purchased a new property thats 48 acres, approximately 25 acres in hardwoods, 20 in pasture, and half of a 5-6 acre pond. I've got the pasture maintenance covered, and have a grapple to clean up downed trees, etc. I've gotten really interested in a 3-5 ton mini excavator with a flail or mulcher head to clean up the woods and pond bank. I've been watching videos lately and they just seem so useful for keeping the underbrush in the woods cleaned out, which makes for a much nicer property. On the flip side, I don't NEED to clean out the underbrush or most of the pond bank, and their very expensive.

Am I better off just leaving the woods natural? Hiring someone with an excavator to come clean up a little? maybe just the pond bank? Or are these things really as useful as they look and a great investment for a landowner?

I've got 57 acres (WI) and bought a Kubota mini a few years ago. I do regret that -- because I should have bought one sooner! I do not clean out the underbrush in our woods, but I do use it (with a Toolcat - which I would not live without) to harvest fallen trees for firewood. A primary use for me has been cleaning up trees that pop up all over the pasture like mulberry and black locust (trees that spread like weeds). Much easier than chainsaw and stump grinder when you want clean up some stuff - just knock it down (carefully - some people don't think about the leverage a tree has on your tiny little machine ) and throw it on the fire. Finally, don't underestimate the usefulness for managing your burn piles. I love mine - and could sell it for more than I paid for it as these keep going up it seems. No regrets.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

If you can afford it, and if you really can make use of it, an excavator is nice to have--I'd love to have one, but can't justify it. I can rent one when I need it and not worry about maintaining it and storing it when it's not being use.