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The mini excavator thread

Tinstar said:
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.
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Best way to unload round bales from a stock trailer.
 
WaterH said:
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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Your friend is right. Less wear on the machine and the ground to lift and spin. If you just spin in place on hard ground, you're more likely to throw a track...especially with a more worn undercarriage or rubber tracks.
 
WaterH said:
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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It's called a jump turn and it's easier on everything. If you do it right, you can barley see the mark in grass
 
arse_sidewards said:
I'd say your friends with people who don't know what proper track tension is. :flipoff2:
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Or the track tensioner rod got rusty and now no longer seals which more likely the case. Non one likes to walk a track off and with how easy it is to tension them there is no excuse for them to be loose unless they leak
 
WaterH said:
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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Jump turn.. I’m no expert, and trying to get better at it.. still have to think about it.

I’d say it’s a bit less damaging to the dirt.. I find it works best when Themis lots of traction and you’d be trying to do a burn-out with both tracks otherwise.

Tracks aren’t supposed to come off.. but it happens. Only time I’ve had a problem was with a bunch of ice was jamming things up.. I wasn’t driving, but I had to fix it.. 3’ of snow and shitty weather.. I just wanted to get it out of there so I put a come-a-long on it and drove back into the track.. haven’t had any problem since.
 
Krackle959 said:
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.
IMG_4592.jpeg
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Nice.

I need one for my Kubota KX057, where in Maine and how much?
 
BUCKLAND said:
Nice.

I need one for my Kubota KX057, where in Maine and how much?
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I asked him to build it last summer, said he was 9-12 months out. It cost me less than he builds them for others since I drew all of his CAD files for his side hustle jobs. It’s about $3k or so for a 48”, about half of what Kubota dealers here want. He’s in southern Maine, I’ll ask him if he wants to build another one, and how long. He owes me a rake for my KX040.
 
two things that knock rubber tracks off are sidehilling, and hitting stobs/stumps sticking out of the ground while turning. you probably wont have to worry about sidehilling there.
 
Funny, I always found the people that operate backhoes and excavators make the best helicopter students. Now I understand why. There’s too many controls to stop and think about each one. You got to get where you don’t think about moving this stick or that one. You have to think, I want the bucket to curl and your hand just does it. Of course I’m not at that point yet, so it takes me forever to make it do what I want. About the only upside over a helicopter is if you get dyslexic, you can just let go of everything and everything stops. If you let go of everything in a helicopter, it stops too, but it doesn’t start again.
 
WaterH said:
Funny, I always found the people that operate backhoes and excavators make the best helicopter students. Now I understand why. There’s too many controls to stop and think about each one. You got to get where you don’t think about moving this stick or that one. You have to think, I want the bucket to curl and your hand just does it. Of course I’m not at that point yet, so it takes me forever to make it do what I want. About the only upside over a helicopter is if you get dyslexic, you can just let go of everything and everything stops. If you let go of everything in a helicopter, it stops too, but it doesn’t start again.
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How true is that? If you have some freak sneeze attack or something while flying does shit go south?

I assume there is some sort of throttle like on the mini ex where you set the spinny rpms and it holds them there
 
WaterH said:
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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I agree with the others that is significantly easier on the machine. Experience has shown that its much easier on the ground/grass, doesn't leave nearly as much black marks on concrete driveways either.

Easy to test, track off into some deep mud, then try to turn without raising up one end of the machine.
 
2big bronco said:
How true is that? If you have some freak sneeze attack or something while flying does shit go south?

I assume there is some sort of throttle like on the mini ex where you set the spinny rpms and it holds them there
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Most modern helicopters now have governors for the throttle, but that’s not the main problem.

An airplane can be “trimmed” to fly straight and level. If it was to hit a wind gust that pushed the nose down, the plane speeds up. When the plane speeds up, the horizontal tail develops more down force which brings the nose up back to its original trimmed speed. (At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.) So all planes kind of have an auto pilot. (It works better on some than others)

On a helicopter, if you have the stick perfect for level flight, a breath of a wind gust could start the nose down and if you do nothing, it will continue until the helicopter is upside down. Basicly, the airplane “wants” to fly straight and level while the helicopter “wants” to turn upside down.

I don’t cover my mouth when I sneeze while flying a helicopter. I’ve also let a wasp bite me while I was flying. (That SOB)

Let me know when you want to start lessons.
 
WaterH said:
Most modern helicopters now have governors for the throttle, but that’s not the main problem.

An airplane can be “trimmed” to fly straight and level. If it was to hit a wind gust that pushed the nose down, the plane speeds up. When the plane speeds up, the horizontal tail develops more down force which brings the nose up back to its original trimmed speed. (At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.) So all planes kind of have an auto pilot. (It works better on some than others)

On a helicopter, if you have the stick perfect for level flight, a breath of a wind gust could start the nose down and if you do nothing, it will continue until the helicopter is upside down. Basicly, the airplane “wants” to fly straight and level while the helicopter “wants” to turn upside down.

I don’t cover my mouth when I sneeze while flying a helicopter. I’ve also let a wasp bite me while I was flying. (That SOB)

Let me know when you want to start lessons.
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I think taking helo lessons would lead to me buying a helicopter and promptly going broke trying to maintain and fly it everywhere
 
the one time I was in a helicopter I knew I didn't ever want to be in one again!
 
2big bronco said:
I think taking helo lessons would lead to me buying a helicopter and promptly going broke trying to maintain and fly it everywhere
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I’m probably being a drama queen in that post. I would say you could let go of the controls for “one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three”. At that point, it would be getting pretty exciting.
 
WaterH said:
I’m probably being a drama queen in that post. I would say you could let go of the controls for “one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three”. At that point, it would be getting pretty exciting.
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Is that the same with larger 4-6+ passenger ones or are they generally easier/safer?
 
2big bronco said:
I think taking helo lessons would lead to me buying a helicopter and promptly going broke trying to maintain and fly it everywhere
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The r44 owner who flew to my house described maintenance costs that were very much in the ballpark with a twin engined diesel 40’ boat, and about a quarter of the fuel burn with the chopper. I describe riding experience as being like a flying 4 door geo tracker cab in terms of noise, comfort and build quality, so it might be right up your alley.. :laughing:
 
WTF? said:
The r44 owner who flew to my house described maintenance costs that were very much in the ballpark with a twin engined diesel 40’ boat, and about a quarter of the fuel burn with the chopper. I describe riding experience as being like a flying 4 door geo tracker cab in terms of noise, comfort and build quality, so it might be right up your alley.. :laughing:
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Yeah the r44s are what I priced out as the nicest thing I could afford. It would be pretty pimp to be able to leave my house and fly into the springs at the rubicon to party with friends for the night... or casually show up at koh in my choppa with pit bikes strapped to the landing gear.
 
I'd like to try and build one to die in. That or a contraption resembling a bush plane.
 
bgaidan said:
Alright. Question on quick connects. I'm adding them to my chinese mini. I think I finally found the right adapter fittings (after spending $40 on the wrong ones :mad3:) and I need to order the quick connects now.

I'm seeing the ISO "Agg" style ones in 7241 or 5675

7241
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5675
1706628008150.png


I'm not even sure the difference between those...


Or flat face style ISO 16028
1706628081884.png



7241's come out to about $11 per set (1 male, 1 female)
5675 are about $15/set

And the flat face are almost $30/set



My 50hp tractor uses the agg style so that's all I really have experience with. I think skids I've used in the past had flat face.




Any reason to not go with the 7241's as the cheapest option or is there a benefit to either of the other two?
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So what did you come up with?

Links?
 
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