Anyone own a mini excavator

[Shady]

I have a bunch of trenching to do,stumps to remove and a few other things a mini excavator would come in handy with.

Ya I know rent it but I am lazy and like to move at my own pace lol.

So I am considering getting one of the china import mini excavators a 1 ton unit. Its new with a hydraulic thumb dealer wants $5200 for it. Brand is Rippa

anyone have one do they work well well in texas soil ? My soil is fairly hard and full of small rocks.

Would you buy it again ? any problems with it?

 

[Dawico]

Those Rippas get decent reviews but need some tinkering. Heat seems to be the biggest issue.

 

[andre3k]

I have a Sany 3 ton excavator. I've put about 150 hrs on it so far. If you have property, it's an indisposable tool. As far as stump removal goes, small excavators are good for smaller stumps. Big excavators are good for removing everything. I don't know much about the smaller Chinese units. The Tractor Forum guys have a long thread about importing and using them.

The rocky soil might be an issue, depending on the dryness of the soil and size of the rock.

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[OutlawStar]

Ya I know rent it but I am lazy and like to move at my own pace lol.

Just my own lack of experience, but how much could it possibly cost to rent a similar or better unit for a month or 2 versus buying a chinese unit for $5200 that might die a horrible death before the tasks are done? I've only operated a rented bobcat for 2 days many years ago, and I was not the one that rented it.

I only went to sunbelt rentals and $430/day doesn't seem right; are they really renting them out at a rate of ~2weeks it'd be cheaper to just buy one yourself? Surely theres a really cheap monthly rate?

 

[vmax]

You won't be able to dig up stumps of much size with those.

I vote renting...
You can get a bigger machine and get your work done Instead of fussing with something too small that you may end up over working and it break.

 

[Polkwright]

It'd be a lot more fun to blow the stumps.

For that much I think you could hire a local with the equipment to do it all for you.

 

[reddog]

Can't speak for an excavator, always thought they were built to do to many things not real well. 15-20 years ago I bought a backhoe to go on my tractor, machine with the loader on comes in around 8K or so, so plenty of weight.

 

[Lonesome Dove]

Rental yards sell their used machins on a regular basis. They can supply you with a history of maintenance and repairs. Most are sold at very good prices. And they will all be top-tier brands.

 

[andre3k]

I would agree with others in renting a machine or a stump grinder. The break out force of those machines isn't much. My mini is powered by a 20 hp yanmar diesel, and it can struggle with medium size stumps. This is what I call a medium size stump and it took a long several hrs to dig this one out. That hole was about 4 ft deep and there was more root left.

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[Mike_from_Texas]

A 2000# excavators is really pretty worthless unless you have really soft soil. And there’s no way you’re gonna dig up any stumps of any size with it.

I rented a 6000# one and it wouldn’t budge post oak stumps on my place and I’m pretty sandy for the first couple of feet.


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[Axxe55]

I have a bunch of trenching to do,stumps to remove and a few other things a mini excavator would come in handy with.

Ya I know rent it but I am lazy and like to move at my own pace lol.

So I am considering getting one of the china import mini excavators a 1 ton unit. Its new with a hydraulic thumb dealer wants $5200 for it. Brand is Rippa

anyone have one do they work well well in texas soil ? My soil is fairly hard and full of small rocks.

Would you buy it again ? any problems with it?

$5200 seems like a good price if buying!

 

[Mike_from_Texas]

$5200 seems like a good price if buying!

Not if it won’t perform the intended job.


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[Shady]

I know the internet is full of crap sometimes lol that is why I was asking about info from someone that owns one.

There are youtube vid showing the small 1 tons doing everything I want it to do but I take the internet info with a grain of salt.

I know that owners of kabota john deer and bobcat are going to poo all over them because they do not want them to work because its impossible for something that cost 1/3 of the machine they own could possibly work.

thanks for the info and input.

 

[toddnjoyce]

With a lot of the “mini” specific machines, I sometimes wonder if there’s more value in a good tractor/loader/backhoe package if you’ve got recurring needs otherwise, I’ve found it easier and cheaper to rent the right piece of equipment to do the job once.

 

[TheDan]

Those 1-ton excavators look really tiny. I'm not quite sure what the use case for those are.

5 day laborers with hand tools would be faster and cheaper.

 

[Shady]

With a lot of the “mini” specific machines, I sometimes wonder if there’s more value in a good tractor/loader/backhoe package if you’ve got recurring needs otherwise, I’ve found it easier and cheaper to rent the right piece of equipment to do the job once.

they fit into way smaller places are more maneuverable than a tractor+ backhoe attachment. And in most cases the backhoe attachment costs more than a mini ex. I have a decent sized 1970's tractor with no power steering and although I love it and use the shit out of it. with its bucket and boxblade It 100% A pain in the ass lol.


just like with my zero turn everyone says get a comertial 15K unit to cut my 3 acres of land. So I went to lowes and bought one off the floor that does everything I needed it to do and it was on sale closeout fort 2K

 

[TheDan]

they fit into way smaller places

yep, I started watching videos for use cases after seeing this thread. Saw some people driving them into buildings to help with demo. That's pretty cool. Saw other videos of people using them on their land and it just looked like a PITA. Looks like they would be useful for trenching (but not as useful as renting a ditch witch), or for loading debris/mulch/etc into a trailer. The buckets on them just aren't very big, tho, and considering how clunky they look to operate I can probably out shovel it manually. I can see the utility of it if I were too decrepit to shovel, but I ain't there yet.

Also where does the "1 ton" rating come from? All the ones I've seen say the lifting capacity is around 500lbs. If I had one I'd want to be able to at least pick up one end of a car with it. Guess I need a "3 ton" to get 1500lb capacity

I'd be happy to be proven wrong, tho... They look relatively simple and easy to repair if something goes wrong. All very basic engine and hydraulic components.

 

[andre3k]

Also where does the "1 ton" rating come from? All the ones I've seen say the lifting capacity is around 500lbs. If I had one I'd want to be able to at least pick up one end of a car with it. Guess I need a "3 ton" to get 1500lb capacity

I'd be happy to be proven wrong, tho... They look relatively simple and easy to repair if something goes wrong. All very basic engine and hydraulic components.

The rating is based on the machines weight, not the lifting capacity.


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[AZ Refugee]

As long as your expectations are met I think it's a pretty good unit for $5,200.00. I recently purchased a subcompact tractor with a loaded a d backhoe. It's not a 580 Case by any stretch of the imagination, but within its limits it performs well.for me and I was able to pull some good sized rocks out of my yard. I would think the Rippa would do as well if not better. Good luck with it.

 

[BigRed]

I would agree with others in renting a machine or a stump grinder. The break out force of those machines isn't much. My mini is powered by a 20 hp yanmar diesel, and it can struggle with medium size stumps. This is what I call a medium size stump and it took a long several hrs to dig this one out. That hole was about 4 ft deep and there was more root left.

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You need dynamite (or "similar material").