Best mini Excavator for the money

[Colorado Digger]

Bobcat!!

all you need is a bobcat.:tong:tong

regards,cd

:usa:usa

 

[Ryanrb25]

^^^

could agree with you anymore. Our 4 435's are unreal.

 

[renegade]

I ran a bobcat 331E for over 2 years. Great for building boulder walls, digging ponds, digging stumps and trenches. Having the extendahoe really helps out and the grapple attachment is worth its weight in gold. This was a solid machine and had over 10,000 hours on it. It never had any problems in the time I used it.

 

[scrappydoo]

The Cat minis are made in Japan by Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi and are basically the Mitsubishi mini. Cat have now taken over the whole of the construction side of SCM and all units coming out are marketed as Cat. I have had a Yanmar Vio27-5 (purchased new in late 2006) and did 2500hrs on it. It was a great unit that 'punched well above its weight'. The weakest point is the final drive unit. If your doing a lot of tracking change the oil in final drives when you change the engine oil(we changed every 200hrs) not when Yanmar say at 500hrs. We did both final drives and a fan belt in 2500hrs. I've traded it in on a new Hitachi ZX35U Dec12 2010 and we currently have 297hr on it. Hitachi advise changing final drive oil at 1000hrs and engine oil at 500hrs. We do both at 250hrs. Out unit has a/c CAB, extra counterweight, 12/18/30" digging buckets, 4' tilting batter bucket, 4' skelton bucket, hydraulic thumb grab and a ripper tyne. Unfotunately Hitachi do not come with factory quick hitch as the Yanmar do and ours if fitted with Aussi manufactured quickhitch which is a 'load of rubbish". The Hitachi is more than equal to a CAT in performance but nothing comes close to CAT for service and parts but we try to turn ours over at around 2500hrs so parts shouldn't be an issue other than pins and bushes. The Yanmar was cheaper and I only went for Hitachi because it has better over the side performance than Yanmar in this range of diggers. When we upgrade and go up a size I believe we'll go back to Yanmar for the simple reasons of it has more slew power and a really good OEM quickhitch. Very similar to operate and have the same motor, both have as good a little cab as you can get on these small units.
My thoughts only and I'm the one putting up the dollars in our operation.
Firetrack

Thanks for this post, I have a 11 year old kobelco with 3500hrs that I'm going to replace soon, it has been a good machine.
Thinking of replacing it with a Terex, Hitachi or Yanmar. Yanmar being the first pick at this stage.

 

[67kato]

I have a john deere 35D with 2 speed, cab, AC, hydraulic thumb, quick coupler and blade. The thumb and coupler are must haves. Last year we made a hydro-ax for it. In my opinion it does everything good. I bought it new and it has about 1200 hrs now. The best part is that we pull it around with a Dodge 3500 (cummins of course!) and it only uses about 10~12 gal fuel / day yet still bills out like our big iron.

 

[WV earth mover]

Our smallest is a case cx31B which is really a kobelco according to the data plates but was about 2000$ cheaper and was sold at the same location . Bought it in aug 08 and has done alot of hammering and augering never bought a part yet . We went with case mostly due to dealer location and the fact that they also sale kobelco which is our other excavators . I dont think anyone makes a bad one anymore.

 

[Ditchdigger67]

I have a bobcat 337 w about 3800 hrs, it has been a good one but it has always seemed a little slow to me but It's the only mini ex that I have owned so far

 

[Jlillie2]

Go with a hyd. thumb would be my suggestion. I use a Werk Brau thumb and coupler and have had three of them now and like them a lot. But I would not waste the money on a rigid thumb on a mini. The aux. hyd. are all ready plumbed to the stick on most mini ex's. I think for my thumb and coupler was around 2500.

Ha! My machine was less than that. B-)

 

[2004F550]

Two Bobcat 435's one with 4000 hrs and one with 1500 hrs, they've been great machines for us and we ask a lot of them

 

[pitbullinc]

Hitachi good.

 

[yanmarman]

Yanmar try one you;ll be hooked

 

[95zIV]

Yanmar try one you;ll be hooked

Really? AGAIN? one of these days, you'll either put up some proof of what you keep spouting, or you'll realize that people are not just gonna go out and buy a machine that has such a lack dealer support.

 

[Colorado Digger]

minis

i will be in the markey for a new 10 -12lb machine next year. my oldest bobcat 435 is turning 6000 hrs so i am thinking i better get a new one and keep it as an extra. i have had more mini work this year than ever. our mini mini hasn't workrd this yard since we bought it 10 years ago. i think it is a bobcat 320. who know how many hours it has on it but it always starts and is a hard worker.
i would be keen on trying other brands. but i am somewhat loyal to the american made bobcat. although the e50 is now over 60k and i can by 210's and other stuff for that price. a good used mini in rhis weight class can be aquirred for 17-25k.
we willl see what happens.
i just don't know ...the cat bucket linkage where the thumb comes off every time you change the bucket is funky. yanmar has a hydro q/c but that weight class is not turboed. i do like the sv100 though. that is 20k lbs. the kubota seems to be popular but no dealer support as with case. the deere mini is owned by a car dealership and limited dealer support. a tak is possible, but every one i have ever seen has a flimsy thumb around here.
who knows
regards, cd

 

[KSSS]

As far as the thumb on the TK goes you can put whatever you want on it. I have a Werk Brau thumb on mine. Its a HD thumb.

 

[yanmarman]

95zIV is gay

Been in the excavating biz more than 30 yrs, owned all the major brands And I love my yanmars!VIO-30 with 4300 hrs. and has never let me down. Bought 2more in 2010 got rid of other peices of unk.Why is dealership so important?Do you have that much trouble with your equipment!Thats what i thought, Queer boys should stay indoors.Why is everybody so down on yanmar.I brage about mine an people here get mad why? I like this forum ,but the people running this show are looking for people bashing other brands than looking for real equipment operators.I would say that most of you fake! See Ya Moe

 

[Colorado Digger]

why don't you do all of us a favor a keep your insults to yourself. better yet find aotner place to lurk. yanmarman the only thing you have done on this forum is talk s..t about your yanmar's.... then you start bashing other members.
you finally apologized for your actions and now here it goes again. get a clue man. i am personally tired of it. i have tried to stay away from any thread you are involved in because of your confrontation style. you call me colorado wigger, and 95 gay. come on man .... what is that.... get a grip.
fake..ahh ok. where are yout pictures of the yanmars working? maybe you should stay off the forum before you **** all of us off even more.don't bother firing back with any more of your bullshi.. . get a clue or go elsewhere.

 

[DGODGR]

Been in the excavating biz more than 30 yrs, owned all the major brands And I love my yanmars!VIO-30 with 4300 hrs. and has never let me down. Bought 2more in 2010 got rid of other peices of unk.Why is dealership so important?Do you have that much trouble with your equipment!Thats what i thought, Queer boys should stay indoors.Why is everybody so down on yanmar.I brage about mine an people here get mad why? I like this forum ,but the people running this show are looking for people bashing other brands than looking for real equipment operators.I would say that most of you fake! See Ya Moe

This is the first time I have ever seen you post anything other than "brand X sucks and Yanmar rules" (MILDLY paraphrased). I prefer to see some supporting comments as to why you have drawn whatever conclusion you have. This helps the reader determine how much credibility to lend to the post. Asking why the dealer is so important is like asking why the brand is so important. IMO that comment alone says a lot about you. The only thing I can say about the rest of your post is that it makes you sound like you are not even half as old as you claim to have been in the "biz". Do you even think about what you have written before you push the "post reply" button?

 

[Alan]

Yanmarman, you need to either refrain from comments such as that last load you aimed at 95Ziv or take a hike.

You claim 30 yrs experience with equipemnt but you use language like a mouthy 20 yr. old.

So try, really hard, to clean up your act and stop talking trash.

 

[willie59]

Yanmarman, I feel it's necessary to remind you, and anyone else on this forum about the forum rules, this being one of them;

Personal attacks of any kind on other members will not be tolerated. While disagreements in opinions and procedures may arise, they must be handled in a mature and civil manner.

Your post about 95ZIV is a willful and direct violation of these rules. As a result of this I have banned you for a period of 7 days to cool off. Take this as probation or whatever you want. But I strongly suggest you take this time to administer an attitude adjustment as behavior such as this will not be tolerated in the future.

This is not the first time you have stepped on the rules and we have allowed you to remain. One in specific is this;

This site is designed for the exchange of information. It is not however, intended to provide members with a forum to trash one manufacturer or employer over another.

Which you have "bashed" other brands on numerous occasions, even in your post above. It's pretty obvious you intended to either use or imply the word "junk"

got rid of other peices of unk.

As much as I would like to edit you're personal comment directed at 95ZIV, which are completely unfounded, I am compelled to allow it to remain only because removing the comment would interrupt the continuity of the thread since other members posted in reply.

The only comfort I receive in allowing your comment to remain is it underscores the level of immaturity you present in yourself at this forum. If you want to make friends, you can't beat them over the head with a "be happy and like me" stick.

I hope you choose to use this 7 days for some serious reflection and come back with a more pleasant attitude.

Willie59

 

[pafarmer]

Can a decent mini ex be purchased for 10k ? Or I'm I just dreamin... Personal I like most of the machines out on the market today. I think every machine has its positive and negative points. Whats important to me and I feel that most people seem to overlook is your locsal dealer and how does he support the brand. I happen to farm quite a bit and use JD equipment. The last 10 years or so I have moved some of my time over to the construction worlsd and I still run JD and its not becasue of the machine, its more because of my great local dealer.........Just my 2 cents...................Farmer

I already own a JD80 and love it would like a smaller , less expensive model top add to the fleet........