What is the best mini excavtor company on the market? I really like takeuchis, but would look at bobcat,cat, case, maybe kubota. I definitley want a hyd thumb on it, and it to be thumb control on the joystick. Also idont know if i should get a zero tail swing or not, looking a 125-145 size machines. Im going to get a used one first so it will propbaly not be very new, if you guys could give me some help that would be great
I dont really see the benefit of getting a mini ex and not getting a zero tail. You dont use a mini because you have too much room, so why handicap yourself with a conventional machine. As far as brand I think they all make a good mini ex, I have a Tak TB153FR which I like. I have run the CASE mini ex quite a bit and I like that machine as well, great hydrualic control system on it. I have only parting experience with others you mention.
Yeah, i agree, you should get a zero tail, the takeuchi,case,bobcats are my first and second choices, ive run a tb135 a couple of times and loved it
Yanmar is all that i would own as far as minis go.
Another best mini ex thread??? anyway I have had a good run with my Kub and the only downside of zero swing is slightly less productivity and the operators station is usually smaller than non-zero swing machines. The general consensus is to buy the best machine you can find with the features you want. Dealer back up is important if downtime is a big problem, by which I mean if you use the machine on your block of land now and again downtime is not such a factor but if you are working on contracts you need to get the job done on time. Not sure about the bigger Taks but the 1.6 tonne Tak has a blade that sticks out a mile and the side extensions are bolt on, whereas the Kub blade is closer to the machine and uses pins for the extensions. I reckon first step is to visit the dealers in your area and see what they are like and perhaps try on a few machines.
We've had 3 323 Bobcat Excavators. Have 2 new ones now. Not zero swing but a hell of a machine for the size. Expandable tracks, Blade extentions. Great economical machine with minimal to no problems. I've only had one hard hydraulic line leak underneith the seat which was from the BLADE to TRACK divertor valve...nothing major at all. however, the Auxilary's is on a pedal next to the Track pedals...im unsure if the 'newer' 'updated' 324 is the same or have the toggle switch. If you can look past that then the 323's are a great machine.
has anybody tried cat 304.5 ? is this ok? sorry i cant make a new tread
We have two Kabota 121-3. one with 3400hrs and the other with almost 5000hrs. both bought new. Both are very well made machines that give very little trouble, no majors. I'd recommend them for sure.
Kubota U45S all the way. When we have close quarters digging to do we rent them. They are zero tail swing and they come with an angle blade as standard which comes in mighty handy when backfilling. We have never had a moments downtime with these machines. If I had to purchase a mini this is the machine I would own, no exceptions.
Any one of them that runs without trouble, reason I say this is because this question is like the dodge VS chevy garbage. I have a baby mini JCB and an IHI mini, both have worked excellent. I do agree zero tail is nice, but find what best fits YOUR needs. Try different ones out and if going new find a good stealer(dealer). If going used DON'T get into a hurry there are plenty out there.
A JGS mini excavator
Lol
Cool, do u have pics?
I would like to find a decent used machine but uncertain of what sized machine to get, I'm thinking in the 6-7K lbs range. I'm looking for just personal use, for now, as I'm building a house and have 20acres of property. I'd like to put in some drainage, dig some ditches and clean out some existing ones along with digging up several stumps. Any opinions of which models have the least cost of ownership as far as maintenance and repair bills? Easiest to operate and what functions to look for when buying? I haven't looked into it but about the only thing I'd be interested in other than diggin with this machine would maybe be some type of cutter to keep limbs and brush at bay around the edge of my field. I have been looking side cutters for my tractor but maybe there is an option for one of the machines that may work better and reach higher, any info would be appreciated.
with 20+Ac you dont say what your going to do with the land? if your clearing trees and removing stumps and brush that not a job for a mini. If your just doing some utility trenches and the soil doesnt have any big bones or stumps over 12" then a mini will work. but for real stumps that are over 20" at ground level a 12,000lb mini will have a hard time pulling them and moveing them in general. dealer support and age of a machine will give you a good usefull machine as for cost of ownership that depends on how it was maintained and treated and how many hours.
I like the Bobcats the best mainly because of the horsepower. I've run the 435 zts and even with a 3 ft bucket it was very nice. I had to bring in the stick as I spun over the side of the tracks then extend back out when loading a truck, but for the production its a minor hassle if you want to call it that at all. Takeuchis are eh, not a lot of power, terex is/was a new holland and they are decent. Kubotas are good machines and so are cat's. Chasm, I tried a 304.5 and it was a good machine but even still about 10hp less than a bobcat 435/341.
Most of my property is cleared field and no rocks so easy digging but I have some old shallow ditches that have over grown with sweet gum trees and several will probably be larger than 12" base. I have a FEL on my tractor that will lift the stumps once loose but just curious of how well a 6-7K lbs machine could tear up the roots around a big fresh cut stump? If too much trouble then it may be best to hire a dozer to lay over the trees and uproot.
I have a baby mini(4000lbs) that has taken many roots out, just takes longer then the big guys. I also have an 8500lb machine that has pulled many roots doesn't take nearly as long has the baby, but still would not beat my old 40,000lb machine(no longer have that one) My point is that a shovel can dig out a stump just depends on how hard one wants to work and how much time they're willing to use doing the work.
Sorry, but with my admitted limited experience of owning only 3 Bobcat mini excavators, the Takeuchi and Kubota machines are head and shoulders above Bobcats. IMHO, Bobcats have even been surpassed at their original game; building compact track loaders by several companies. Saying Tak machines are low on power makes me laugh.
HP does not mean much in a mini ex and certainly is not, in my view, a deciding factor. HP ranks right up there with what size of cup holder it has. Pump design and configuration are much more important than hp. I have never heard anyone say that a TK is low on dig power. The TB153 I know, specs at the top or very near the top in bucket breakout. I am pretty sure that is consistant with most TK excavators in their weight class.
My 7300 lb cat would sometimes have problems breaking through 3.5 to 4 inch roots or bigger roots. If you use a small 1' bucket it will go through roots better. I picked up stumps that would tip the machine even if you had the blade down and held it as low as you could. I would just bang them against the trailer and let sorta of roll onto the trailer. It would also make poping noises from the chasis when over loaded. A skid steer could not pick up the stump I am talking about another man tried and had to leave it at the job. I would guess the stump was close to 3500 lbs. I did have to de-dirt it before I could even get it to lift. My 11,000 lbs TB145 Tak. Is one hell of a small machine. Being made as a TB250 now. Seems like ALL the rental companys use tak machines. Just look around they take abuse and put out. It comes with a 2 foot bucket. But I like to run a 1 foot bucket for trees and pipe work. It will pull through any root I can think of. As a matter of fact sometimes if the root wont break it will just pull the hole tree up and over and out of the ground. It is so strong that I have not been around any tree removal that stopped me. I dont dig up 3 and 4 foot diameter tree with it though. Any thing that feels like it could crush me on the machine, I will use a saw on then dig it up. I think you will be able to clear your drainage ditches with the smaller machine. Just dont get pissed when you lock onto something and the arm pulls the machine foward instead of digging it up. Cause that is normally what happens if the machine runs right.... As far as the zero tail swing. I think it sucks. The machines run rougher and bang you around more. With a normal tail swing the weight is balanced better and you have a bigger cab and it is nicer to sit in all day. But it also sucks when you hit something with the ass end of your machine as you WILL DO. Hopefully it wont be a truck or building cause it really screws them up..... and if you hit the corners with the CAT machines there weak fiberglass tail corners will break all to pieces and they will cost you close to $400 to replace. Even if you tap a Small trees in woods it will ruin them and your machine will start to look bad quick. The tak has an armored rear end that can take a hit..
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/for/3144269601.html Here is one heck of a deal on a small excavator. 2002 Takeuchi TB-135 Mini Excavator 1770 hours, owner operated, tracks have 100 hours, thumb, quick connect hydrolics, two foot bucket, no leaks, backfill blade
WOW that looks like 1 heck of a deal!
Best mini? $13,000 seems like a very fair asking price. I forgot to put the price I saw in the other post. I do know that newer CAT excavators seem to get a higher resell price. But they also start out at a higher price when new. For those that dont know you can pull any trailer up to 10,000 lbs without a special CDL license. So a 7000 or so lbs machine and trailer is about the limit on a normal Class C license. When you move into a 8000 lbs machine and heavier normally it will put your total trailer weight over requiring a class A CDL same that tractor trailers drivers need. Some guys will use just a flat bed truck like a F700 to move the slightly larger machines without a special license. Those trucks weight around 12,500 lbs and a 11,000 or 5 ton excavator will still keep you under a 26,000 gvw for a single truck. Most states will require you to register the truck as a commerical vehicle if it weights over 10,000 lbs and is used for business. But you can still drive the truck with a Class C FYI. I also would like to make another comment on the ZERO tail swing machines. IF you do site work around buildings and work close along walls, I would advise to only look for a ZERO tail swing machine.. I have been able to get by without it, but there have been times when I could have worked a little faster with it. It allows you to focus on just the front of the machine, making sure you dont hit anything with the boom and bucket. It is more simple to use.... The conv. tail swing you must keep an eye on what is around your rear and sides mostly. I sometimes put the back fill blade towards the tight side so that it help me from walking the machine to close to an obstructon. Also as machine size increase so does the boom size. The larger the boom the harder it is to use under power lines and such. BUT you can dig a lot of jobs sitting further away form the work area which can be a great thing. You can reach more without moving and you can dig deeper... The less you have to move the faster you can work and you dont have as much chances of ruining grass / yards / hitting buildings or lines as you complete the job.
I have a Volvo that is about 5 tons. I have dug many a stump of all kinds left by loggers and all sizes for a few inches to two feet and maybe little larger. When I get above say 18 inches know to take lunch with me and since not in hurry will open them up and let them dry out. Would I like a bigger machine for that size stumps, yes sire. Now I have taken down trees with same size stumps much easier than digging the cut stump. If you can do safely take down the tree as you will have leverage to help pop the stump out the ground. Of course this is not as safe as you have a tree up there somewhere and you certainly don't want to sit under any limbs falling. Have use this with good results with sweet gums here. If you hit a root the small machine can not handle move away from the stump and first break it where smaller and keep moving in as you will now only be breaking one end of a root and not two as the first break is. Do use smaller bucket for digging stumps. You can dig stumps you will not be able to lift. But you may can slope the hole and pull them out.
I would like to suggest JGS is the best mini excavator.
:lmao
Cat, Komatsu,, New Holland are some good players which are providing these mini excavators.In my point view these have very little difference.
I love my Kubota kx 121-3 with thumb quick connect and cab. Joy sticks could be raised as to not hit my legs, but really a nice 9 month old machine.
I got some seat time in one of these a couple of weeks ago, BooYaaa!!!!! Put me down for one of these, and it had the 6 way on it too. That's a game changer for mini ex's in my book. Cover ups take up a good percentage of my time OTJ, and this bad boy has the potential to cut that time waaayyyy down. Love it. http://www.kubota.com/product/KX121-3S/KX121-3S.aspx
Okay, now a 6-way blade? That IS a game changer in the Mini-Ex world! Angle blades were one thing but a 6-way adds a new dimension....pun intended.
So i finally bit off a job i would have rather not done. I get a call to help put in about 140 ft of sewer line. Customer tells me, he is a builder and that he was going to rent a machine and do it himself. I tell him my price and he cuts it by half and i take another look at the job and figure i can do it for that. Ok i say thinking i could knock it out in about half a day. Every thing starts out great. We are working in a low area cause the house sits down below the road, the lot is slighty sloped about 5' over the 140 ft run. Well we dig up the sewer tap first then check the heights and figure out that the grade is only going to allow about 12"s of drop over the complete span. I prefer a 1/4" drop or about 2.5"s per 10'. So we get about 40' out and water starts entering the trench and we are 5' down as we approach the main we are about 9' down. Trench and ground is unstable and there is several feet of water in the tap hole. I set up a pump and began draining it. We look back down the 1' wide trench and it has collapsed in a section about 5' long. I work my way back to that area to clean it up. This makes matter worse. 5 more areas fall into the trench. I seem to be winning the battle then the ground under the machine gives way and i have fell into a six foot gap. As the ground is cutting loose, i swung the dipper the right way as the cab is slamming into the side of the bank. Luckly the hoe is strong and i was able to pick the machine up and walk the tracks till i got it on stable ground. I did not give up but a day and a half later we managed to get the trench level and i got to stop digging. New experience for me. I have never had a trench collapse before
Cutting your price in half makes you look awfully bad, unless you cut your work substantially. I cut a demo bid by half (my idea) and got the job, however I cut the job from 4 days to 2 days by changing the way it is to be done.
I have a cat 420 backhoe and I am interested in getting a mini in the 5-7 thousand pound class. this machine will be for site work only, just stuff I cant fit my backhoe on. I was wondering if zero swing was something I wanted? I think for sure I will only look at zero swing machines. also I am wondering what years or manufacturers offer control pattern switching? im buying used and I have no real manufacture loyalty just want to find the best deal from any manufacturer . Anyone feel free to chime in this will be my first excavator any experience and guidance is appreciated . so if this is a thread jack but I didn't want to start another whats the best mini thread
The customer wanted to take care of setting the pipe and wanted me just to just dig the trench. I first quoted it as if i would help set the pipe. He said he could do it which was fine but i did not plan to dig the trench over and over again. Lesson learned here is watch out for bad soil and don't cut your price if it was fair to begin with. Which sometimes is hard not to do. I think i was a little to eager because i lost a job the week before due to pricing. It might come back and bite you. He was smooth in the way he approached me to. Talking about the self machine rental and all. If i had known about the water and soil issues i would have known that the normal home owner rental excavator would not have done the job any way. Most places in atlanta do not carry 5 ton machines and if they did it would have cost at least three days not one. You know what they say hind site is 20/20.
That makes sense. I'm guilty of wanting a job too much from time to time as well... live and learn I suppose! I have a job where the concrete guy cut his price (forming/finishing) by 2/3 when the customer confronted him with another bid. He matched the price, but the customer was none too happy about his first price and that much fat in the bid when they were supposed to go "way back." That was the basis for my post.
Look at it this way, you'll only learn by doing. It may not have been a money maker for you but you hung in and got the thing done. Next time you look at a job like that you'll know better how to price it a d even have a better idea on how to handle it. If a job is wet like that, I personally like to put the pipe in a d bed it as I dig, that way if the trench collapses its no big deal.
Yanmar is the only way to go! Have owned other brands ,but I am sold on yanmar.Just sold my VIO-30 for more money than I paid for it.,after using it for 6 years. Will be looking for another one soon . Good luck Yanmarman
I haven't really seen anything on the IHI 35n. Of course I could be blind and it was right in front of me. does anyone have an opinion good/bad and the pros and cons on them. I have seen one advertised on craig's list and before I drive to take a look at it I want some ideas of what to look for on this brand. Thanks in advance.
Did you ever get a machine? Agree with others who say a small machine can get it done...if you have a little time. Surprising what a 6-7k machine can do. I have found my 331 not wanting in my land clear. I only had one delay with a 5 stump monster, but once I used a tree as a pry bar, it popped out...had to drag the sucker to the burn pile. I always tip the trees over...much easier than trying to pop a stump out. I could get my production up big time by cutting stump off after felling. Size didn't matter... http://www.flickr.com/photos/90546471@N04/8408997903/
As a complete newbie here is what I have learnt reading the threads from a purely subjective non technical POV. In no particular order; CAT - great but expensive Bobcat - has its followers but they need to put more effort into their product Yanmar - do what they are designed for. Very few negatives in threads Takeuchi - same as Yanmar Kobelco - not a lot of info but are capable to do the job. New Holland - made by Kobelco? Kubota - like the bobcat but has the ability to do the job. IHI - hit and miss JCB? With all their positives and negatives what is glaringly obvious is Must have good dealer support e.g. Great customer service, access to parts that are reasonably priced. No matter the brand or what you use it for this appears key to a good experience Must have a hydraulic thumb. This mod/option alone sounds like such an increase in ability and versatility that they should be standard issue. I am in the market for a 3000kg/6600lb machine so I am soaking up as much info as HEF can provide. Cheers
I have a bobcat, and I agree with you about the support and service....been waiting two weeks for my machine e 50 to be returned from a warranty repair to the a/c...They act like they are doing me a favor for standing behind what the warranty states.....A pain.... My Kubota dealer is much more attuned ...Tony
I really like the Bobcat machines. Owned one for years. Recently went to upgrade and tried out an e32 and it was nice and smooth. Easy to run fast with quick work cycles. Smaller than i wanted, so i tried out an e45? i think it was, and it was very slow to respond. Felt like they did something with the controls that gives them a delay. The biggest thing for me was, over the last few years, any time I needed parts for my Bobcat, I called Kubota and checked the price on the same part. Always dramatically cheaper from Kubota. I would advise anyone to do the same. I went with Kubota. Super nice hoe
kx 121 Kubota. I've ran them all. Fast, strong, great size for towing. Go to the 161 if your truck can take it> Best minis on the market- hands down!
I own a 2012 Bobcat E50 and a 2015 CAT 303.5.....both machines are great offering in my opinion. The CAT I can haul with my diesel pickup and still hit the Pa. Weigh limit so that's a huge plus IMHO and the E50 is for the bigger jobs where brute force and speed are important. My 2 cents..