I been reading the big boy excavator threads about not putting pressure on them--up to now--when i push trees over, I,ve I been just pulling up to them, digging blade in so I,m stable, cutting roots and pushing with boom/dipper/bucket reverse curl, back and forth and resting in between with machine up at angle and poised on >track motors<...till tree finally surrenders...probably 8 trees so far...ouch!
I've been reading those threads too. I've got a Komatsu PC-40 that I use to dig in water lines (8' deep) in the rural areas up here in ND, I have to dig over my track motors because it is hard to see what I'm doing while digging over the blade. I do dig over my blade when digging out trees or electrical lines, anything down to about 4-5' deep though. Jim
Yes it is different with mini excavators . Sometimes you simply have no choice because of the blade . If you are going deep you can hit the blade with the boom ram . Some trees i have taken on with my mini have been way overkill , i dig the roots with the finals at the rear using the blade to anchor the front . When it comes time for the push i put the blade behind me and lift the idlers off the ground . I then get up into the tree and lift the finals off the ground . Then i lower the boom as i stick out which uses all my hydraulic horsepower and machine weight to topple the tree . You must have the bucket , stick and boom at their strongest positions to achieve this . The blade digs into the ground and stops the machine pushing itself away . By doing this there is no pressure on the tracks or drive motors as they are free of the ground .
I think that with mini excavators it is a little different because of the blades. I was always taught on the big machines to work from the position that forward was forward whenever possible. I follow the same suit on my smaller machine, but I do use the blade to my advantage, to anchor me or level me. I do like the security of having forwards be forwards in a pinch though, I would hate to make the old track back instead of forward mistake in the wrong spot. my $.02
With our mini we always plan the major digging, where we are going to put the blade etc but often we are working on angled driveways so the blade goes down hill (on a piece of plywood or timber) to level the machine and then we maybe working 360 degrees from that spot. Generally around a site we are working in all different directions so I don't worry about where the drives are....it would do more damage and waste time turning around all the time. I'm more concerned about lateral stresses on the bearings (at both ends) so never screw on uneven hard ground, bricks, broken paving, demo waste or kerbs....only go straight. We often spread sand for the skid and this helps the mini as well.
Good advice, I need to replace a rubber track which has lots of tread, obviously because the PO was driving it as though it was indestructable.
I always when possible dig with the blade at the front of the machine mainly from a safety point of view (stabiliser and knowing which way's forward!!) I do use the blade to level the machine up a lot so if i'm not digging over the blade then I am usually digging accross the tracks.
I always try to dig with the blade up front. When I have to cut bush roads up steep slopes I dig with the blade at the back and pull down and smooth the muck pile then push myself up onto it and then blade down hill to make a smooth road. It saves having to go back down, turn around and go back up to grade down again if I was digging blade first uphill. Because part of mineral exploration is cutting and grading trails and walking the machine of longer distances on 4x4 roads I figure I'll have to replace my track motors sooner than if it was just doing town jobs. Just have to charge a bit more.