I just purchased a mini excavator that has a 30deg incline/10deg lateral limit. I want to clear out some brush/downed small trees and some of the ground getting there will be at the 10deg limit and a little over as well as where the brush is located. I will be moving it to the burn pile. To drive across the slope should the bucket be on the uphill side and extended to help balance or on the down hill close in for a crutch or catch if it tips?
If it tips and the bucket is in front of you, you can keep it from going over. If the bucket is behind you, you just tipped over. ALWAYS wear your seatbelt.
What is it lately with all these guys asking how they can tip over their little diggers?
Perhaps I didn't explain clearly. I'm going laterally. To the left or right is downhill and to the right or left is uphill. So do I put the bucket on the downhill side to stop if from tipping or uphill side to balance it out. Again not going up or down, going across the incline.
Well, I'm not responsible for you tipping over and killing yourself because y don't really understand your machines limits, but keeping the bucket stretched out a little uphill will balance you. Turning will be a blast, though. Really the best way to traverse a slope in a excavator is keep parallel to the slope with the hoe tucked up in as tight as you can. Just like a skidder, the only way to know your machines limits is to run it right up against them, thousands of times over thousands of hours. Until then, you're really just guessing. And I put my excavator/dozer/skidder in positions and places where I'm still guessing, 50k hours later. Good luck and wear your seatbelt.
Gehl used to sell a mini excavator (model 303 IIRC) with a tilt house. Just sayin'
I cut my excavator teeth on old 880B and 1080B Case hoes with levelers. Couldn't keep the seals in the fackin things, but you sure could sit on a slope and throw dirt, IF you started your swing long enough ahead to get the bucket up the hill. The swing drives were definitely not the best part of those old Drotts.....neither were the ****** brakes, but that's another story lol.
We called them tilt a whirl’s
I also recently purchased a mini excavator, with the colder temps I have it in the shed not planning on using it until warmer temps next year. Like you I have some steep hillsides, almost everything here is hillsides. My only experience so far is driving it about 10 ft into the shed but I do have a seatbelt coming, with the lousy postal service at this time of year its on the 9th day of delivery. As others stated a seat belt is a good idea to include on your excavator. I have a tooth bucket, rake, auger and a couple other attachments for the excavator. It appears you may want to use a rake to clean the burn pile and maybe an auger for more trees but whatever your intended uses would it be possible to drive the mini along below the intended work area then ascend more straight to the points you plan on working. I've seen videos of free-wheeling while going downhill which is another concern, practice in less steep grades for some experience, I will be watching what others recommend but I think the mini excavator can be a good machine for many uses.
The OEM limits don't mean a whole lot in the real world. What is the machine you have bought and what are you likely to have on the end of your stick.
Crawl up the pile and load trucks Crawl down the pile and get fuel crawl up the pile shape earth Why are we on a slope again ?
Cross the slope sideways with the tracks following your fence line, I would face the seat downhill and lower the bucket to about 6" above the ground. Then when working on the hill, I would face the tracks downhill with the blade down. If you can lift the machine level with the blade, the slope isn't that steep. Wear your seat belt. Going up a steep hill, use a heavier tooth bucket with the arm extended all the way out and the bucket a few inches above the ground. If you slip a bit, be ready to dig in with the bucket and claw your way up if needed. Blade would be on the up hill side. Or you can go backwards using the arm and bucket to help push you up and back as needed.
You can mitigate risks with some planning. I try and find trails that have less side hill on them and those are my roads. Then I turn up off of those and I can climb like the devil as long as I'm heading straight up the slope. Heck I even stop and build those as roads and level them out because they're handy. Let's face it. The little 5-ft wide bench is not going to hurt you as long as you think about what runoff is going to do.
You have a blade and a bucket. Excavate a nice flat trail to use.
My entire property is on a hill. I previously cut some small trees down at the far end. I've hauled the trunks for firewood but there is a lot of branches left over I want to take to the burn pile. I have to drive side hill the entire way to get either above or below the area. Some areas are more steep than others. The closer I get the more steep it is. I plan on using a thumb to grab them and carry. Not much in weight, just bulky wild plum trees with thorns. That far end is where they are located. The burn pile is half way between top and bottom. My question is when driving across the hill should I carry them on the uphill side for balance or downhill for a crutch if needed? I've read both ways.
Run off is definitely a problem.
Yea I'm not concerned about the up and down. But I have to travel across the slope the turn to get to the brush. Then half way back and up to the pile.
I always run the boom up hill when crossing, even empty if you stick it way out it will give you some extra balance, even more so loaded. In fact, carrying anything on the down hill side is a good way to tip the machine. If you have the boom up hill and it gets too steep you'll start to lose traction and the machine will probably be tough to keep on course, this is your warning sign. Going across the hill on a diagonal also lessen the effective grade. You'll figure it out, running an excavator is an excellent lesson in physics.
From the looks of it, if you're not worried about driving your mower back and forth, I wouldn't be worried in the slightest with an excavator. Now, if you start screwing around, that might be a different story.
Thanks much! My only thought on running with boom down is to catch it if it tries to tip. I never thought about losing traction as an indication of instability. On the uphill track making it turn uphill. I plan on practicing a lot before going for the brush. I'm adding some inclinometers to keep an eye on the slope.
The load you have changes the conditions. An empty 12" digging bucket is not that much counter balance up above you. A 2' wide bucket is better. A 3-4' bucket is a lot better. You still want to keep the bucket low to the ground and extended out up the hill. A 3' wide bucket full of gravel is a very good counter balance. A thumb full of brush, not very good. A large 2-3 man size rock, or huge log has the weight, but not if you loose it and it rolls down onto you. A weight on the down hill side seems like not a good idea. But as always, you can have the item/load pulled in towards the machine and barely off the ground. If you tip, which is fine, you're only going to tip less than a foot or you can let go of the load. If it's so steep it seems sketchy anyway you look at it, then go down the hill to a flatter area, make the traverse, and go back up, or excavate a traverse, and build a level route, or forget your plan. Be ready for plan B. If your entire property is on a hill, maybe go ahead and excavate a flat route through. Then you can get in there on a UTV, tractor loader, or 4wd truck.
I prefer to have the counterweight on the uphill side, with the bucket/load tucked in low and tight to the machine. I like having a positive stop.
I had a thought regarding the various opinions on bucket uphill vs. down. The setup of the machine is going to dramatically change the way it reacts, two main factors being conventional vs zero tail swing and width of undercarriage. My advice to keep the bucket up hill is mainly based on newer zero tail swing machines in which the undercarriage is wide and the weight is tucked in close. A conventional tail swing machine, especially an older one with narrow undercarraige and huge overhang (Yanmar B50, B37 etc) is going to handle completely differently, and you may indeed want the weigh up hill and bucket down.
This is an AHM with the Kubota diesel. Weighs about 2100# track is 37" wide; 48" long. Not zero tail swing. In reading through all the reply's I think I go bucket uphill with 160# of suitcase weights in it on the way to the trees and then maybe some on the way to the burn pile. After loaded up have to see how it handles.
Oh my, I looked those up, that is going to be real tippy be very careful. I would go up/down the hill whenever possible. The other issue is those little Chinese excavators are not well designed or use the best quality parts. I'm afraid you'll be throwing tracks off constantly if you do much side hilling.
Yea there will be quite a bit overhang with the bucket 90 from the tracks. While this is my first excavator I own 3 more Chinese made machines. What I see is they are built like tanks, dumb tanks. Very strong and heavy duty but the technology is behind. Neither my chipper or stump grinder would shut off with the "Emergency Stop" button. The chipper had several wiring issues. Anyway, the brush was an afterthought. I bought this for some levelling and drainage work that needs to be done. I be playing with it for a while before I try a sidehill operation. And is has a water cooled Kubota diesel. Thanks for the input!
am i the only one who will suggest making a burn pile closer to the brush. why track it so far?
a lot of trees in between