Morning everyone, new to the forum. This place has been a great resource the past few weeks. Decided to get an mini ex for my 5 acres of wooded land that needs a bunch of management. I am not in a situation to rent one which was my first plan but due to work schedule and the fact it requires a ferry ride to access the area which adds about $300 per trip plus waste half the first and last day of the rental (if not more). Ended up getting a used grey market machine 2010 Hitachi ZX30U-3. The machine has little over 3900 hrs. Relatively rust free and although used looks pretty decent. Everything works well and the Yanmar 3TNV88-BPHB fires right up and runs smoothly (all IMHO as a amateur first time owner). Has new hydraulic thumb and dig bucket put on by the dealer. 1.) ZX30U-3 vs -2, Is there much difference? Have sourced operations manual for the -2 however cant find one for the -3. I know these are similar to JDs, is 35D the best equivalent? 2.) Where is good price for steel track rubber pads? So far am seeing ones for around $50 a piece which will add up quick. At 44 pads when the time comes want to make sure to get a good/fair deal. Thanks for any help, will probably have a few more questions as I dive in. One funny thing the seat back actually has a Japanese version of the manual and several laminated safety papers. To bad I hadnt learned the language in school.
How much would it cost to put some rubber tracks on it?
If you have wooded land, why would you ever want rubber pads?
Not sure. Thats what is on it now. My first excavator so still learning a big learning curve. Just thought they were designed that way, if I take them off it's just steel tracks then and good to go? Primarily working on forested land, gravelly areas and dirt. Alot of solid rock under ground but were talking house size rock structure so be driving over the few exposed areas.
Don't know, looks like the steel chain option came with two bar grouser pads, and the rubber pads are an add on option. Intertractor is your friend, looks like they sell track groups and rubber shoes. The rubber shoes are listed for less than half what you posted up. If that's what you have, you can leave it or pop the rubber pads off, save them for if you need them, for concrete pads or asphalt driveways, like that.
Thanks Ill look into them. Appreciate it. Here is a pick of the new old critter
Welcome to HEF Quint ! The ZX-3 machines are equivalent to the "D" series Deere.
Looks good!
Thanks MG and Lantraxco. It was one of the better looking ones in my area even with the higher hours. Hopefully get some time this weekend to start playing around a bit. Appreciate the input and the forum in general, lots of good info.
My gray market machine is very similar to yours and also came with those rubber pads... they got destroyed in 100 hrs on the rocky soil around here. Wish I woulda pulled em all off to use for asphalt/city jobs. tool_king had a manual for that machine... give him a shout out or maybe he’ll drop by. make sure to use zinc free hydraulic fluid
Thanks 673moto. I already reached out to tool_king and he hooked me up with some manuals and parts list. I had read other threads where he helped out some others. Very grateful for him helping me out now as well. Thanks for the advice on hydraulic fluid. Looks like JD and Hitachi use the zinc free stuff and its not very good at all to mix with the other kind. I plan on changing out the fluids and filters soon due to it being used so Ill be reading up for a bit.
I just did a full fluid/filter change a week ago. .. easy job... got a filter kit off ebay but had to go to Deere a couple hours away for the hitachi super ex hydraulic fluid. Don’t forget the final drive gear oil
Luckily have a hitachi/deere center about half hour away. I figured delo 15w40 for the yanmar oil (like to keep it same as I put in my truck) super ex for the hydraulic fluid What all did you use for the final drives and coolant if ya dont mind?
75-90 gear oil but I can’t remember what type coolant ( I serviced all my equipment last week and it got hectic)... I’ll check tomorrow
Thanks. Looking in the 35D op manual it calls for JD cool-gard so may just grab some of that while Im picking up hydraulic fluid and filters. Thankfully I only have one excavator to service ...... for now
So quick question for you or anyone else that reads this. Looking in the 35D manual it calls for GL-5 for final drives and the ZX27U-2 manual I picked up calls for GL-4. Both manuals are pretty much exactly the same and the maintenance section the only difference Ive scene so far is this. Thanks
Picked up pretty much everything from Pape (JD/Hitachi) yesterday. Pricing on par with internet pricing and in some cases cheaper. The hyd fluid was pricey. Had no problems getting everything except the water separator which I will have to order (only thing that wasn't in stock). Copied from the zx30u-2 manual with added numbers that showed up in stock system. Filter Elements ZX30U-2 Full Flow Filter 4129280 (replaced by AT308568) Hydraulic Oil Suction Filter 4617512 Pilot Filter 4294130 Engine Oil Filter 4641043 (replaced by MIU800651) Fuel Filter 4626336 (replaced by MIU801267) Water Separator 4632694 (only one I didnt order so not sure if part number changed) Air Cleaner Element 4417516 (replaced by M131802)
Amateur question but what do each of these buttons do? I think the top two are Set and Select for the screen menu. Not sure about the two round ones. Wanted to add from what I have scene online those could be the auto idle and workmode?
Not quite the same but close
My machine is like the photo... and the button above the auto idle toggle the screen to show the weight that’s being lifted by the boom. Cool feature but I have no use for it good luck figuring out your machine. Have you taken measurements to compare against different models? Yours looks like a 35 series
Good to know and thanks for the input. I did see that one photo in the 30u-2 ops manual but it looked different like ya said. I have not taken measurements but if I recall there is a placard or sticker that says 30u-3. Will try and re evaluate this weekend. I did see the photos of the gauge cluster in the ops manual and the 35u-2s were pretty different if I recall. Who knows with these foreign machines though. Another thing someone maybe the dealer I got it from put the hyd thumb on the right foot pedal (left is not hooked up to anything) and then there is a toggle switch mounted lower right side that switches the pedal to boom swing. Think I would rather have that as a normal rocker switch on the panel to the right of the seat. Mine only has two rocker switches (rabbit mode and another for lights). Should be able to add one for swapping from thumb to boom swing I would think.
In post 6 of this thread I posted a picture of my machine. Was curious if anyone knows the type of wedge coupler that is installed. The bucket and thumb are sany which makes sense (the dealer I got it at is a kubota/sany dealer). Was just trying to look around for deals on other buckets but not seeing that same type of coupler anywhere. Even searching for Sany couplers shows the pin type or some other type of quick connect coupler. Thanks for any input.
Pretty common and oft copied design, any manufacturer data on the bucket itself?
Yeah the bucket and thumb tags has the Sany info. Unfortunately I wont be near it till this weekend and dont recall what the model numbers and such are.
Try looking up Weldco Beales on the web, it looks like their coupler and that’s what Deer/Hitachi minis typically are equipped with and yours looks the same.
Will do thanks.
Odds are it’s compatible with the Deere... remove the bucket and take pics and measurements. I’m installing a Deere wedge quick coupler this weekend and can get you pics/measurements to compare.
Here’s a Deere wedge bucket
FYI. Recommended oils for my 12.8k pound Kubota U55-4. I use the Shell Spirax for final drives and Mobil EP2 grease. Good luck with your machine. A
Thanks Allan. Weekend before last got oil/filter, air filter, hydraulic filters, final drive gear oil changed and greased everything. Didnt get the hydraulic oil changed yet but will do that next weekend. Tightened up the tracks to within spec. The final drive oil looked like crap, imagine its probably been in there for a real long time but it was atleast full to spec so that was good. What tiny bit of gears I could see with flashlight looked good. Spent the first weekend clearing out a couple bamboo brushes. Why people randomly plant bamboo is beyond me. Stuff is horribly difficult to get rid of permanently. Second weekend got about half of back yard area cleared out which consisted of moving several large rocks, tearing out about 3 stumps, ripping out rotten split rail fence with attached chicken/dog house thing, and moving bunch of dirt to try and level out the area. Machine seemed to work pretty good considering the operator has about 3 hrs under my belt. Not gonna pull stumps real easy but I have time to work at them for a while and sure as heck beats doing it by hand. Was pretty happy I could pick up and move the biggest rock in the yard which was few feet long. All the others are about half that size so it should work out ok.
Forgot one thing. So when greasing the machine I noticed that the bucket cylinder where it attaches to the bucket link (hope I got those right) there is a raised boss around the zerk fitting. The zerk seems to be at an angle and I cant get the grease gun on it or a socket to get it out and rethread it due to being to close to the raised boss on one side. On the right side there is another zerk fitting on that same pin. Is it possible to get enough grease in there from the side fitting or are both necessary to get good grease throughout that pin.
Think somebody put an angled fitting on there when a straight is needed? I’d try to remove and put the right fitting in.... until then, more grease in the end of the pin