mini ex limits?

[thebig450es]

I know they are all different but where would you say the limits are for climbing hills and other obstacles.

 

[joispoi]

It depends who's in the seat. Machines that get into accidents usually have operators that put them there.

Take a look at excavator rollover pictures and try to figure out what the operator was trying to do when the machine went over....then make a note to self to never do the same thing.

Don't climb anything that's unstable and never put the machine in a position where the tracks can slip sideways.

If there's a safer route for moving the machine, use it. There's no glory in narrowly escaped accidents.

When in doubt ask yourself "Is this a good idea?". Be safe.:usa

 

[forgotten man]

ive got a kubota k008 im pretty new to it, but it seems very tippy... not much of an incline and it seems like it would go over

 

[shutupandholdon]

I bought a mini last year and yes it seems very tippy. The thing I did was to try to see how far it would go before it would tip. I ended up backing up inclines with the blade and bucket down. It is surprising how far it will go before tipping. Of course you just catch yourself once the bucket hits the ground. After a while you will get a feel for when it will tip, and it will, with a loaded bucket far out to the side. Just keep the bucket low it you do tip it won't go far.

 

[strott]

ive got a kubota k008 im pretty new to it, but it seems very tippy... not much of an incline and it seems like it would go over

I take it that you have got the tracks extended to their full width? (860mm wide - the top of the machine is 725mm wide)

Has your machine got a roll bar on it?

 

[bobcatmechanic]

i've had them on hills climbing back out of creeks and a few other places where you line up at the bottom and use the blade to dig into the ground get a new bite with the arm lift the blade track the machine push and drop the blade and do it over again to get out of a spot. yeah it had some pucker factor but the job got done and nothing was torn up and there was no other good way to get down to it and that was the only equipment available

 

[thebig450es]

i was on a job today, extremely muddy , on a hill , i started down and the tracks started to slide...pucker factor went up. I was able to able to use the blade and arm to stop, but it slid about 15 feet.

 

[forgotten man]

yep the tracks are extended to full width, and i do have a roll over protection, mine is old enough not to be foldable.. so its in position at all times... and i always dig with the blade down to help stabilize the excavator.... the more i use it the more comfortable i am with keeping the tracks on the ground.

 

[strott]

yep the tracks are extended to full width, and i do have a roll over protection, mine is old enough not to be foldable.. so its in position at all times... and i always dig with the blade down to help stabilize the excavator.... the more i use it the more comfortable i am with keeping the tracks on the ground.

Yeah I think because the machine is so small, some angles feel worse than they actually are!! After a while you get more confident with it!!

I always have the blade down in front of me over where i'm digging - if i'm not using it to level the machine that is.

 

[Hendrik]

I always have the blade down in front of me over where i'm digging - if i'm not using it to level the machine that is.

Depends on conditions, if you need pulling power the blade out front is alright but if you need penetration power then the blade should be out the back.
This is an example of what happens if you are trying to penetrate the ground with the blade out front
YouTube - Tom drives a micro digger.

 

[strott]

Surely only when the blade is actually holding the machine up it will effect penetration power? Or am I missing something?

I pull through the ground when excavating rather than pulling deep chunks out of the ground so I have never really needed penetration power!!

 

[bobcatmechanic]

yeah but you could tell by how ruff he was on that machine he had not had a lot of seat time and run it in diffrent conditions and areas. By ruff i mean not smooth on swing lift and crowding the arm in

 

[Hendrik]

Surely only when the blade is actually holding the machine up it will effect penetration power? Or am I missing something?

I pull through the ground when excavating rather than pulling deep chunks out of the ground so I have never really needed penetration power!!

The blade acts to extend the wheelbase of the ex, crappy explanation I know but without pictures it is hard to explain.
Fair enough if you need pulling power have the blade in front so you are in fact increasing the amount of weight the bucket has to pull against.
Sort of like if you are pulling on a rope, you lean back to get extra weight to pull against.
Same principle when the blade is out the back, instead of only having half the wight of the machine pressing on the bucket you have the whole weight because the tipping point is not the rear idler/sprocket but the blade.
Sort of like if you are pushing something you lean into it to have your body weight help you.
Sure if you no problem with the bucket penetrating you don't have to worry about the blade being at the back but some of the stuff I have to dig through you need extra penetrating power and I only use tiger teeth and have a rockbreaker for when things get too tough for the teeth to get into.
Some jobs I find myself swapping between blade out front and out back because ground conditions change. Times like that it would be handy to have two back fill blades
A simple test is to put the blade out the back and then lift the machine up with the blade up and down and see how much more effort is required to lift the machine with the blade on the ground.

 

[Hendrik]

yeah but you could tell by how ruff he was on that machine he had not had a lot of seat time and run it in diffrent conditions and areas. By ruff i mean not smooth on swing lift and crowding the arm in

I posted that clip as an extreme example of the loss of penetrating power an mini ex has without the blade out the back and yeah I think he is a bit of a weekend warrior.

 

[Hendrik]

I know they are all different but where would you say the limits are for climbing hills and other obstacles.

There are a lot of variables that come into it, like ground conditions (dry/wet/loose/lots of debris), track wear, steel or rubber tracks, etc.
The operators manual should say what the factory thinks it's machine can safely climb but they tend to err on the side of caution.
However I always climb steep slopes with the blade out the back and boom out front extended with a bucket fitted with teeth.
Always go straight up and down a slope if possible and if it is too steep build an access road.

 

[strott]

Thanks for the info and pointers Hendrik - I will have a play and see what I find!!

 

[sreeb]

threw my first track today trying to spin in loose rocky soil on a fairly gentle slope. This was mostly from poor planning as I didn't really think through how I was going to exit after digging.

I'm sure I will be more proficient future track installations but I would like to avoid them. Any pointer?

 

[Hendrik]

threw my first track today trying to spin in loose rocky soil on a fairly gentle slope. This was mostly from poor planning as I didn't really think through how I was going to exit after digging.

I'm sure I will be more proficient future track installations but I would like to avoid them. Any pointer?

Make sure you have proper tension on the tracks, maybe you have a tensioning cylinder leaking?
I was doing a job the other day and the customer asked me if it was normal for an ex to throw tracks on a regular basis. I told him no.
He told me the reason he asked was because a while back he got a bigger ex in to do some trench work for cabling and the machine spend half the day with a track off and the operator madly greasing the track tensioner, even went off for a while to get more grease.
I said to the bloke that if the machine is like that it needs repairs and the earthmover should have repaired the machine and even rented another to keep up with work commitments. Sure if it blew a seal that morning and he was just trying to get the job done, I could understand that.
I have been in some pretty rough places with my ex's but I try and stay on top of loose stuff and if the tracks fill up, lift the machine and clear the tracks.
Your ex should have a relief valve in the track drive circuit that stops the track if there is crap in between the sprocket/idler and track and not throw the track.
Oooh yeah and if you spin the tracks, try and take the weight of part of the tracks with the bucket and use a combination of slew and track power to turn, don't worry your slew gear has a relief valve as well. With experience you will be able turn the machine on just part of the tracks which makes life easier.

 

[thebig450es]

I have a job where its all on a hillside. I hope to climb up about a 50 to 60 degree hill about 25 feet long ,then i ll cut out a level platform to work from

 

[joispoi]

I have a job where its all on a hillside. I hope to climb up about a 50 to 60 degree hill about 25 feet long ,then i ll cut out a level platform to work from

What exactly is the job? Can you cut in a path to mount the hill on a diagnal vector and reduce the grade you have to climb?
Be safe. Have your emergency plan thought out beforehand.