This is an open question, not personally directed at you............!

Why wouldn't a person simply buy a backhoe, then you would also have a tractor and a bucket.

 

I guess I would say a backhoe is a front end loader with the ability to dig holes. It works decent at doing both but, it isn't optimal for doing either. An excavator is purpose built to dig holes. They are more maneuverable, can usually dig deeper and with greater reach, and, they can work on steeper terrain.

 

Aside from my attempts to avoid buying anything Chinese, I would worry about warranty service and especially, parts availability in the future.

Also, when the time comes to sell the device, I would think a domestic make would bring a better return than a Chinese device.

I run farm tractors and I admit I know nothing about mini-x's but I believe the cheap man always pays the most.

 

All is true....., however in this case the need doesn't justify the expense, and as a younger man I might simply build on from scratch, that having been said I'm more than capable to fix anything that can possibly break.

 

Because an excavator is a tracked crawler and a TLB (Tractor Loader Backhoe) is rubber tired. Even with outriggers, a tractor might not be stable enough for the slope intended like an excavator is

 

Good question!!!
I had the 140 for years, great piece of equipment for what it was.
I used it on the same piece of property all that time, but it was to large for me to easily transport between properties.
After I get the excavator that I have need of in more than one location I'm also going to purchase an on the larger size compact tractor with front loader, and I can transport much easier and also use in separate locations.
I very much liked my backhoe for what it was, but as the saying goes for backhoes " best tool for doing everything equally not well!!"

 

As side note inu personal opinion if you do get a backhoe, especially if your going to use the loader much spend the extra money and get a four wheel drive.
They are a real sow without it.

 

Ive owned an AGT H12R for 6-8months(have 11hrs on it), paid 5k(.25hrs on the meter) for it +200 for delivery to my door since my trailer was still a hair too small for it. It weighs ~1800 lbs. Has the 420cc rato engine.(harbor frieght predator) . For my needs it was well worth the cost of a cheap used car. You would need to have somemechanical abilities since you are pretty much on your own once purchased. But my back is thankfull!

ETA, so easy my wife can run it...though she still learning.

 

I belong to a forum called
www.tractorbynet.com It's for homeowner-type equipment and is great resource for info from those who own and operate various brands of equipment. I did a word search for 'excavators' on the forum and got a lot of hits. Here's a link:
Search results for query: excavator - TractorByNet

By refining the search to 'Chinese+excavator', the posts that MUST contain both words are listed out. Here's an example:
“Terror” Chinese excavator - TractorByNet

Importing and modifying a new mini excavator from China - TractorByNet

Might be you can find some firsthand info about Chinese equipment that you could find useful.

 

Thanks for the great information!!
Here are a couple pictures of what I just went and looked at.
The orange one is a yanmar diesel, I think 1.5 ton.
The blue one is a 1 ton 13 hp gas.
He didn't have one at this location but I'm probably interested in the next size or two up from the orange one.
I'm considering buying both that are pictured because as a pair I could get the both for less that 14000.
Seriously the one im interested in that he didn't have there is a 6000 pound unit and it alone is about 15000.

 

Unfortunately, ain't it the truth!!!!

 

Think I in the correct place, if not apologizes.
Going to look at some Chinese mini excavators for sale in a bit and wondering if anyone has any experience with them??
Thinking somewhere between 1 and 6 ton.
4000,to 14000 bucks.
Probably looking to the top end, diesel, two stage pump, swing boom, and large as reasonable in that price range.
Any experience and/or thoughts.
Just sold a 140wb kumatsu, now just looking for something for around the house.

You sold a nice TLB. I'd be careful of going too light and small on an excavator if you were used to the 140WB. Anyhow, my neighbor bought a used CAT 305CR last year for just under 20K. Hours around 2500. We did some repairs like got the seat rails moving, new seatbelt, got the storage door hinges working, repair welds and new teeth and chain hooks on 3 buckets, and new pins and bushings on the dipstick. The end of the stick was whooped from previous owner letting the pins and bushings go bad for too long so that required a replacement of the steel on the end of the stick - maybe why it was cheaper than normal. All in all he ended up at about $22K. I used it to replace a 4' x 20' culvert pipe and it was wonderful to use compared to my small JD backhoe and loader. I was able to work from one side of the ditch. It is a 12000 lb machine and likely a bit bigger than you desire. He changed all the fluids and filters. I can see a thumb addition in the future. there are many YT videos of chinese minis being reviewed. Letsdig18 bought one that looks pretty beefy. He has much larger name brand machines. Andrew Camarata bought and reviewed one also and also has bigger stuff.

B14R I recently bought is made in Spain. Nice piece.

 

You sold a nice TLB. I'd be careful of going too light and small on an excavator if you were used to the 140WB. Anyhow, my neighbor bought a used CAT 305CR last year for just under 20K. Hours around 2500. We did some repairs like got the seat rails moving, new seatbelt, got the storage door hinges working, repair welds and new teeth and chain hooks on 3 buckets, and new pins and bushings on the dipstick. The end of the stick was whooped from previous owner letting the pins and bushings go bad for too long so that required a replacement of the steel on the end of the stick - maybe why it was cheaper than normal. All in all he ended up at about $22K. I used it to replace a 4' x 20' culvert pipe and it was wonderful to use compared to my small JD backhoe and loader. I was able to work from one side of the ditch. It is a 12000 lb machine and likely a bit bigger than you desire. He changed all the fluids and filters. I cab see a thumb addition in the future. there are many YT videos of chinese minis being reviewed. Letsdig18 bought one that looks pretty beefy. He has much larger name brand machines. Andrew Camarata bought and reviewed one also and also has bigger stuff.

B14R I recently bought is made in Spain. Nice piece.

Great thoughts and I might consider something like that, not sure if I want another project though.
Would the cat be to big to pull around with a 1 ton truck??

 

I've been watch various subjects on YT, and the Chinese flavor excavators and other semi heavy equipment are a popular topic on YT. I've watched a few just for S&G's, and the "tubers" seem to be honest in their assessments of the machines. I've never operated one, but they look like they would be fun/productive to use, and save a person some manual labor. Might try looking for some reviews on the models you're interested in over there.

 

I'm with Gman on this one, but I am also an operator and spent a good deal of time in smaller excavators.

You don't want to go too light, get the heaviest one you think you will be able to easily move. If you don't have weight to counteract the digging/lifting of the machine, you won't be doing much of either.

Light machines do not dig very well, especially in hard pack, the won't lift much weight with short, narrow tracks and they won't pull tree stumps well either.

If I were buying one, I'd rather have an older well known equipment company. Check with rental places but not the big rental chains. The big rentals are a little lax on their maintenance, but a small locally owned one typically uses their equipment longer so they take better care of it.

If you don't want to spend Cat or Deere money, look at Bobcat. They make decent minis and are typically a little cheaper.

 

If you are not concerned with repairs and warranty then they are ok. Mostly have weaker hydraulics and much jerker controls. I have a Kubota KX91 and it is an excellent machine. We also have a Kubota TLB (Tractor Loader Backhoe) and 50hp Kubota tractor with loader. A TLB is a swiss army knife, and does an ok job. A skid steer is 100x better than a tractor loader and a mini X is 100X better than a backhoe for its intended purpose. I VERY rarely use the backhoe if the mini X is able to be used.
I used the mini in places I could never take a TLB, now the drawback is the mini X is slow transporting. 5mph is sprint.

 

I've been looking at these for quite some time and it seems most excavators below about 6 tons are pretty much all made overseas- China, India, Indonesia, Phillipines, etc.... As long as you look at what options they come with, which engine they come with so you can get parts, thumb and hydraulics availability, and if the reach and lift capacities are up to your task you should be good IMO. I've rented a number of these over the years and had very few problems with any of them. However, I have found the very small ones like the 1- 1.5 ton units are overwhelmed easily and can limit what you can do- like digging out stumps or digging deep ditches for utilities or similar projects. For the projects I use them for I've found the best compromise between cost and usefulness is the 3.5- 4 ton units. Most parts besides the engine are just hydraulic hoses, valves, and cylinders. Most of those are easily replaced and sourced. The only thing I worry about buying one new is the electronic controls, which could be a problem if you don't have experience with these...

I'll be looking forward to what you get and your review on the unit...

Bob

 

Many thanks Bob,
I must admit I'm very surprised as to the amount of animus (for lack of a better word)
This post has generated from a simple question obviously directed toward individuals with ACTUAL experience with or at the very least a possible curiosity in owning such a thing .
If it's not your thing I'm not sure what the compulsion is to send your time commenting.?.?
That having been said, Fortunately the the informative (such as your post) out ways reactivate.

 

Rjj
I haven't ",yet" been around the Chineee excavators.
I've been around thier tractors, thier bulldozer, they're ATVs.
And yes
You can't buy the engine and main pump for the price they are available for.
Owning many excavators and skid loaders.
I'm quite familiar with. What's important and what's a expensive rarely used option.
You mentioned Swing boom?
Forget that extra 500-1000 lbs of weight depending on size of machine.
Compare
Engine HP
And Pump GPM
That's always the true deciding factor for a excavator .
Try to find one at a dealer, nit a private individual with no resource for parts.
Typically chineee equipment is no frills, keep it simple, design
Aa far as others mention "buy a domestic brand" ????

Show me one lol
Korea
Japan
China
Dominate farm and diet equipment.
They just ship em here, mayb. Assembled here. But still all 100% Asian.
Cat.kubota, john deere, case, lol
The only thing American on them is the kind of currency you need to pay for them.
Understand this, you can buy a sea container full of 6000 lb excavators thru alibaba for about $3000 per unit
Instead of buying from someone else that buys them from a importer if you want to deal with the customs paperwork yourself .
Good luck

 

All very true, and again I have absolutely nothing against "buy American", have and do so often, yes even power equipment!!!!
It simply wasn't the point of the question.
I have actually considered that if I find something I believe in enough, maybe buying in quantity as from what I can tell there is a general appetite for such a thing in my area.

 

All very true, and again I have absolutely nothing against "buy American", have and do so often, yes even power equipment!!!!
It simply wasn't the point of the question.
I have actually considered that if I find something I believe in enough, maybe buying in quantity as from what I can tell there is a general appetite for such a thing in my area.

I have looked into importing a machine (or 3) and selling a few to help me pay for the one I would keep. There are lots of tricks they use to hide the final costs and getting a handle on import fees and a customs handler has been elusive in my experience. Most of them advertise that they use Kubota engines or similar in order to meet EPA requirements, but I've found there are certain options you need to specify like hydraulic cooling fans, what the amount of swing is, and several other items I've forgotten. The better dealers (usually factory direct) do offer spare parts but service is on you to figure out. This is usually not a huge problem as these are pretty simple machines and quite similar in design to all others in their class.
Try Alibaba as they offer certain guarantees that your money won't disappear into a black hole if you follow their instructions and you will get responses from a number of competitive manufacturers to your inquiry. If my project hadn't faltered several times over the last couple years I would have one by now and may still invest in one soon, but I have other pokers in the fire at the moment that may hold up my purchase. It may be advantageous if several people were to purchase at the same time to keep shipping and customs costs down as you need to pay for a container in any case and they are very good at getting as many of these machines as possible in a single container, along with spare parts like buckets, spare filters, etc.... also, I wouldn't consider one without a front blade and a few I looked at were missing this important piece ....

 

Yanmar is what John Deere puts in their compact tractors.