explanation is in italics, skip to the question if need be! I'm new to heavy machinery. I have 15 acres on a steep hill with a house. 4-5 months a year we have snow. The access road to the house is paved/steep. I clear 1/4 mile right now with a Jeep. It piles up at the end of the season, so moving snow once in a while would be important. We get some ice too. I'd like to be able to recover the Jeep with the excavator if need be. The other months of the year I have enough work lined up to justify buying something old instead of renting. I cut and clear 10 cords of wood a year, and currently split and trailer out the wood. With a thumb on the excavator I could carry the whole log out, or attach a trailer to the excavator and tow out that way. Theres also a number of trails I want to build for the dirtbike. So a mini excavator is making a lot more sense. I like the idea of getting in tough places with the mini. I would get a large grader bucket for the winter snow moving. My only issue is getting traction on packed snow and ice. I know rubber tracks won't work at all. I called Gripstud and they pointed me towards a particular short screw in stud. Would these work? Does anyone have any experience studding a rubber track? Should I go for a steel track instead? Any and all advice is welcome when it comes to tracks on snow and ice, in the steep. I looked at the tracks for a ski slope shaper... they are all deep metal tracks. If this doesn't work, i'll go with a backhoe/loader and tire chains.
posted in the wrong thread...
Bearcat, I have run mini excavators and while they are amazingly handy, I have to say I doubt its going to do all what you hope it to do.. There's no doubting the digging abilities and being able to get into some tight spots, but on traction IMO they are terrible. I'll explain, what I have seen and done,is basically they typically only have enough power to do some minimal back grading, not even enough to dig down any bit at all. The front blade is typically used for 2-3 uses stability, a place to scape the dirt to, and smoothing. Now a skid steer, is another animal, great for clearing snow and can have digging attachments. The only draw back to me is there relative low ride height. As for traction studding a rubber belt sounds like an idea as like a snow machine, however those belts are thick so I'm sure putting them in would be a real lesson in patience. Steel tracks are awesome for traction, but not on pavement the will chew it up. I have a 4x4 backhoe that I put 2 link chains on and have an good sized hill drive and have never been let down..