RonL
Active Member
Just got back from the mountain where I took delivery of a new Cat 304E2 CR. As usual I was trying to get months worth of work done in weeks. I was clearing a site and shooting lines in preparation for building a barn/workshop. I have a Cat 416C IT, Cat D3G, Cat 272D XHP, and now the mini on site. The mini got most of the use.
The mini has a manual quick attachment on it. In my mind this wedge system seems like it would be less prone to wear. The mini also has a hydraulic thumb on it, which was the most important feature that I wanted. I used the thumb to pull out and stockpile stone. I used the thumb to pick up and drop stumps to knock off the dirt and then stockpile them. I pulled the smaller stumps with the mini but used the 416 to pull the bigger stumps. The mini did alright, but it was obvious that the 416 weighed twice as much and twice the horse power. As I dropped trees I limbed them and made piles of the smaller limbs. A local gentleman came by every day with his truck. I loaded the piles of limbs into his truck and he hauled them off to his burn pile. Using the mini with thumb it took about 5 minutes to load the brush pile into his truck, a big work saver. I have a sawbuck with 16 inch divisions on it to cut logs into rounds. I used the mini to pick up the trunks and put them in the sawbuck. I cut up the trunks into 16 inch rounds as I went along. The mini proved itself useful for many tasks.
I have an apartment building in the city that I need to do work on. The 304 and the 272 are about the largest units that would be practical for this use. Once this work is done they will go back up to the mountain. I have about 5 thousand feet of stone wall that I want to rebuild and about 2 thousand feet of new stone wall that I want to build. I figure the mini will be ideal for this purpose.
Once I reset the controls to what I am used to on the 416, the mini became second nature to run. Having all the controls on the two joysticks makes the unit very productive. I am very enthused about this unit.
RonL
The mini has a manual quick attachment on it. In my mind this wedge system seems like it would be less prone to wear. The mini also has a hydraulic thumb on it, which was the most important feature that I wanted. I used the thumb to pull out and stockpile stone. I used the thumb to pick up and drop stumps to knock off the dirt and then stockpile them. I pulled the smaller stumps with the mini but used the 416 to pull the bigger stumps. The mini did alright, but it was obvious that the 416 weighed twice as much and twice the horse power. As I dropped trees I limbed them and made piles of the smaller limbs. A local gentleman came by every day with his truck. I loaded the piles of limbs into his truck and he hauled them off to his burn pile. Using the mini with thumb it took about 5 minutes to load the brush pile into his truck, a big work saver. I have a sawbuck with 16 inch divisions on it to cut logs into rounds. I used the mini to pick up the trunks and put them in the sawbuck. I cut up the trunks into 16 inch rounds as I went along. The mini proved itself useful for many tasks.
I have an apartment building in the city that I need to do work on. The 304 and the 272 are about the largest units that would be practical for this use. Once this work is done they will go back up to the mountain. I have about 5 thousand feet of stone wall that I want to rebuild and about 2 thousand feet of new stone wall that I want to build. I figure the mini will be ideal for this purpose.
Once I reset the controls to what I am used to on the 416, the mini became second nature to run. Having all the controls on the two joysticks makes the unit very productive. I am very enthused about this unit.
RonL
