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The mini excavator thread

This popped up on marketplace today. Probably just above the mini category but still interesting. I can't say I've ever seen pivoting stick like that.
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bgaidan said:
Mine doesn't store well closed. You CAN get under the hooks and roll it up and be fine, but it's also easy to drop it flat on it's back or miss the hooks and roll it right over on its face...and you risk damaging the cylinders if it lands on something hard.

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^That is from when I picked it up from the PO.

I now store it fully open with the teeth jabbed in to the ground. As a bonus, it keep the cylinder rods from being exposed to the elements.
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My 3rd valve is aftermarket and apparently wired to be always hot. I have to kill the engine and then hit the buttons to relieve pressure before I can connect or disconnect the aux. lines.
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that's the way I wire them for the same reason.
 
bgaidan said:
This popped up on marketplace today. Probably just above the mini category but still interesting. I can't say I've ever seen pivoting stick like that.
1706660084644.png
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I guess that is like the boom swing. (Allows you to dig off center on the side) I was just doing that to make a trench for a power cable. I’m not very good at working mine yet, but I’m really getting good at tearing up the yard.

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WaterH said:
I guess that is like the boom swing. (Allows you to dig off center on the side) I was just doing that to make a trench for a power cable. I’m not very good at working mine yet, but I’m really getting good at tearing up the yard.

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You getting the dock put in?
 
Black Sabbath said:
I had rented a mini ex to yank out a whole lot of over grown brush around my last house. Got them all pulled out and loaded on the trailer and headed to the dump site. Wasn't until I got there that I realized the error in my ways. I now had a giant intermingled mess of branches and rootballs with no equipment to offload. Fortunately still had the loppers and saw in the truck but still took me an hour or so to get it into pieces I could drag off by hand.
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I did that once, and only once on my non dumping flatbed.

Spent 2 hrs pulling that shit off and got poked a million times from whatever bastard pokey things grow in brush.
 
Fixed my blown out hose.. easy-peasy.

Spent 10x as long washing the machine and the wash pad as the repair took.

Everyone with a machine need a set of caps and plugs in whatever flavor your machine uses.. got mine on Amazon.

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Moved the machine into the shop to replace the rear main seal on the engine. Have a plan to undo lt the pump and slide the engine out a bit and just leave in sitting on its shelf. Gonna pull the radiator to clean it out and also I won’t have to worry about whether or not the fan will clear it. Most everything is easy to get to.

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Picked up my 42” tilt cleanup bucket, test fit it and put it away until spring. Made of AR500 steel by the fabrication shop supervisor at work. He has a side hustle of fixing other companies blades and buckets, also builds buckets all the time. It’s the same design we use at work for cleanup buckets on the 318-322 machines with a roto-tilt setup. Only picture I took of it was in the bed of the truck, oh well.
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urjb said:
Fixed my blown out hose.. easy-peasy.

Spent 10x as long washing the machine and the wash pad as the repair took.

Everyone with a machine need a set of caps and plugs in whatever flavor your machine uses.. got mine on Amazon.

1707020180395.jpeg
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I need that. It would be good for my 8 wheel drive too.
 
Black Sabbath said:
I had rented a mini ex to yank out a whole lot of over grown brush around my last house. Got them all pulled out and loaded on the trailer and headed to the dump site. Wasn't until I got there that I realized the error in my ways. I now had a giant intermingled mess of branches and rootballs with no equipment to offload. Fortunately still had the loppers and saw in the truck but still took me an hour or so to get it into pieces I could drag off by hand.
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Before dump trailers were common, I would lay an old winch line across the bed of the trailer, stack the brush ect. When you are ready to unload, choke the cable around the brush, hook the cable to another vehicle or tree and drive out from under the brush. Worked pretty good vs unloading by hand. I used it to unload round bales as well when rounds became a thing. Still have the old winch line.
 
Why spend twenty bucks on caps when you can drag the hoses thru the belly of the machine while doing an install. Pumps and hydraulic motors are cheap and easy to install.
 
cj3a said:
Why spend twenty bucks on caps when you can drag the hoses thru the belly of the machine while doing an install. Pumps and hydraulic motors are cheap and easy to install.
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the sand helps to polish the parts

just like how the saw they use while making hoses "doesn't make dust"
 
[486] said:
jam a stick in the hole, whittled to a cone shape to fit good

actually learned that one from the battleship new jersey youtube channel which is kinda silly
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Works great for keeping the oil inside a diff when you kill a shaft but still have to drive to work in the morning.

Also taught to me by a boat guy. :laughing:
 
I was questioning my moves about 3/4 thru removing the radiator.. mostly because I was doing it wrong.. but after I got it out I’m glad I pulled it.

Machine would run hot on hot days.

Pic after I’d attempted to clean it with the pressure washer. Hydro cooler covers this side.

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So all you excavator experts, what’s your opinion on turning? My friend from Canada says you should jack up the machine with the boom and swivel the cab while running the tracks the other way. (The cab stays while the track frame swivels) Then he sets the track back down in the new heading. My other friend that actually makes a living with heavy equipment says just try to make arcing turns. (No turning in one place) Both say that’s how you don’t tear up the yard.

My friend that likes jacking up one end says not only does it not tear up the yard, but it is way easier on the tracks. He told me the tracks will come off less. I watched him do this kind of turn and it appears to me that it tears the yard up just as much. I didn’t even know the tracks coming off was a common thing. (He says it happens lots)

What does Irate say?
 
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