Looking at mini excavators specifically the ire 20 with yanmar motor. Diesel. Mainly hoping to replace manual labor for things like removing debris, Cutting stairs into incline's planting trees. Possibly lifting Rocks 200-300lbs. Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with this type of equipment? How hard is it to get replacement parts?
I have an ire20 with a kubota engine. Replacement parts that are specific to that model are basically impossible to get but nearly ever "2 ton" Chinese thing is similar enough that most stuff cross references. Think of it less like a machine ready to work and more like a nearly finished excavator kit. There will be loose bolts stripped bolts random silly Chinese shenanigans and hoses that need to get strapped better. Many people have reported their swing motor bolts were loose, mine were not. Mine had 2 loose hose fittings going out of the swing motor. The machine has metric fittings so if you buy it at auction try and buy the random pile of hoses usually in a blue plastic trash bag, they seem to go for about 100-$150 and include basically every hose fitting and most of the hoses. It does not have enough counterweight for lifting 300 safely, there's room to add more. The thumb will bend if you get frisky. Get a gauge and adjust the relief on the thumb circuit so you don't destroy the thumb cylinder pins when curling the bucket into it. From the factory mine was 1600psi and I turned it down to 600. I have 19 hours on mine and so far I have switched every grease fitting to the normal style, changed the hydraulic oil, switched the control pattern at the valves and removed about 10 small trees and moved several truckloads of brush and logs and dug some of my rocky back yard to build a patio area. I recently setup the auger and drilled some post holes very easily. Overall I'm very satisfied with it for my purposes and I have several jobs lined up besides doing yard work. The one thing that is truly crude and seemingly an afterthought is the foot valve controls for the thumb and blade. They are just loosely bolted to the valve body and spool to actuate the plunger. I replaced my fully threaded bolts with 25mm long m8 shoulder bolts and brass washers on either side and it significantly improved the foot controls. Getting the foot control bolts out to get the floor pan off is annoying if you don't have some automotive experience working through keyholes. You will have to rotate the valve spool to get the front bolts off as they do not clear the relief valve adjustment bolts.
Thank you for the in-depth reply. This is great information and I have not read most of this anywhere else. Much appreciated
I purchased a ire 20 with kubota engine at an auction and put about 3 hours on it an lost power to pilot controls,lights and gauges.I found fuse panel and all fuses were good.On fuse #5 there is only a wire on one side of the fuse not the other.I can’t seem to find a loose wire anywhere.It makes no sense to me any help would greatly appreciated.
Sorry, I'm no help but I am curious if you figured out the problem as I just bought a new ire20. More info we can all share the better.