Why is chinese mini excavator attachments Better?

Yes, seriously. I've mentioned it in the past a couple of times but never really given much info because I hadn't used it enough to know if it was worth the price of admission. Now I have. 

Link to YuchaiHI

This isn't a HF tool but it is a cheap (relatively) Chinese tool. I was originally going to put this in the HF thread but decided it deserved its own page. 

The first of the year, I decided I had the need to do a bunch of digging to install power and water for camping pads at a property my family bought in the mountains. I looked into renting an excavator or trencher but most of them are $200-$500 per day to rent so I started looking at used ones on CL and FBM. An excavator would be preferred if buying because they are more versatile. After several weeks of beating around marketplace, I came across a post for a brand-new Chinese mini excavator. It's a 1-ton class excavator. The gent had imported 10 of them and was selling them for $.00. To rent an excavator this size is $500 a day so the payoff would only be 17.5 days of rental. I have some work around the house that would make it handy as well. I went and took a look at them and they looked surprisingly good. 13 hp Briggs engine, very well built, clean welds, plenty of digging depth. Worst case I could buy it, use it for what I needed to do, and sell it and still be money ahead of renting one at $500/day.

So I bought one. 

It's perfectly sized for a grandchild. I, on the other hand, look like I'm sitting on a Tonka toy. 

Initial impressions were pretty good. It's not exactly up to the quality standards of a $30k Bobcat E10 but it's damn good for less than 1/3 the price. It is very powerful for its size. Like strong enough to turn itself over if you aren't careful. Even with my fat ass sitting on it, it desperately needed some additional counterweight so that was 1st on the list. 

That consisted of 4 -  45# plate weights and a wall mount bolted to the back of the excavator. They helped a fair amount.

Next on the list was a trenching bucket. I needed to bury a 2" sewer line, a 1" water line, and a 350 mcm quadruplex wire. I didn't need a 12" ditch for that. Our friends on Amazon had an 8" bucket for cheap that I figured I could modify to fit. I ended up cutting the mounts off the back and welding a new set to match the quick-change mount on the excavator. They are made out of 3/8" plate and welded on the back of the bucket with 3 passes with my welding machine running at 200 amps. Naturally, the pins aren't quite 1" so they required a light pass on the lathe to get them down to size. Yes, I know the welds aren't perfect and pretty. I don't care and I'm happy to report that after digging 300' of trench through rock-strewn clay the bucket stayed together. 

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After playing with it for a few weeks, a friend of my son came by the house. He loved it and wanted to borrow it to replace a fence. I had mentioned that they had a hydraulic auger attachment for it that I thought was fairly reasonable. He offered to buy the auger if he could borrow it for a week or so. I agreed and ordered the auger attachment. 

It mounts with the same quick-change setup that the buckets use and the hydraulics are driven from the same circuit that drives the hydraulic thumb. It will sink a post hole 24" deep in about 30 seconds in the sandy soil at my house, even through the roots. It's not quite that fast in the rocky soil of NC but it sure is faster than post-hole diggers. 

That's pretty much all I have done to the machine and this past week it was put to the test. When I hauled it to NC it had about 8 hours on it. It now has almost 30 hours on it and it worked hard for every one of them. 

The 300' of trench we put in last week was close to Rock Creek in NC and the stream is aptly named. The ground is full of rock ranging from pebble size to 300-400 pound boulders. I was impressed at how well it did through that soil.

I had my doubts as to the usefulness of the thumb when I first bought the machine. After moving 25-30 boulders in the 100+ pound range, I can say it's a very useful option. This boulder was heavy enough to tip the machine at full extension. At a guess, it's 300-400 pounds. Fishing it out of the bottom of the trench by hand would have been impossible without the thumb. 

In the 30 hours I have spent running it I have run into exactly one problem. The bolts holding the track carriage to the frame worked loose. Tightening them back up solved the problem. 

I'm giving this particular Chinese tool a resounding thumbs up. It has been worth every penny spent so far and I have a lot more projects planned for the future. 

I'll post here again if I change my opinion but for now, I can recommend one of these if you have the need. 

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hwy17

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• Apr 6,

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Posting in ground mount forum because I'd like one with an 8" auger attachment to speed up my process.

Anyone looked into it or purchased one?

I don't know if it's accessible to order one straight from china or if it's more like importers are handling the paperwork for a container full and you have to buy from a reseller.

I guess I'll go search on aliexpress and then maybe click a buy button without even contacting the seller, that's probably best.

Plum Crazy Rob

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Did YouTube research and found you could get a nice unit, or a unit poorly constructed with every joint in the boom having an inch of wobble and hydraulic fluid leaking everywhere. Retreated for now.

Edit: oh, and I meant to say they looked exactly alike. A real wild west of (not so) heavy equipment.

Mattb4

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Posting in ground mount forum because I'd like one with an 8" auger attachment to speed up my process.

Anyone looked into it or purchased one?

I don't know if it's accessible to order one straight from china or if it's more like importers are handling the paperwork for a container full and you have to buy from a reseller.

I guess I'll go search on aliexpress and then maybe click a buy button without even contacting the seller, that's probably best.

Bought a Typhon Terror X last year off Ebay. Lots of information from folks on these over on the Tractor By Net Forum in the Excavator area. Although you can import one the price differential is not so big that getting one from a reseller in the US may be preferable. I had a Thread here on This Forum about it. See If I can dig it up. ETA: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/justifying-new-tools-for-the-solar-off-gridder./

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OzSolar

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A friend has bought several new " lb" units from an auction in Kansas City that has them regularly. Sold the first one for a little bit of profit after using it for ~6 months and just picked up the 2nd one. Maybe 200 hours total on it. He had to add an electric fan to it because it got so hot after ~30 minutes the engine block would be glowing red and fuel would vaporizing before it got to the carburetor. That and adding a hydraulic filter are pretty common upgrades from what I gathered.

It has an air cooled gas engine about the same size in my 60" ZTR. From my take it wasn't too bad but no where near the Mini EX machine that I can rent for $250 weekend with a trailer from my local rental place. Not saying that's good or bad just offering that as a data point. Last edited: Aug 4,

hwy17

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From my take it wasn't too bad but no where near the Mini EX machine that I can rent for $250 weekend with a trailer

That's a good reality check, I've realized it before, I should stop dreaming about what I can buy and sort out my towing ability to access all kinds of stuff at the equipment rental.

We have a 2nd gen Lexus GX which I think should be able to do stuff like mini excavators, but it never had a tow hitch yet (does have tow electronics).

Do you think buy a trailer or rent the trailer? Trailers are an extra fee at my rental, but I guess then you always get the right sized one for the equipment.

Mattb4

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...

It had an air cooled gas engine about the same size in my 60" ZTR. From my take it wasn't too bad but no where near the Mini EX machine that I can rent for $250 weekend with a trailer from my local rental place. Not saying that's good or bad just offering that as a data point.

There is no question that if you have a nearby equipment rental yard, with one or two projects to complete, you are better off renting. For larger projects hiring it done is better economics than buying one of these 1 tons.

Mattb4

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That's a good reality check, I've realized it before, I should stop dreaming about what I can buy and sort out my towing ability to access all kinds of stuff at the equipment rental.

We have a 2nd gen Lexus GX which I think should be able to do stuff like mini excavators, but it never had a tow hitch yet (does have tow electronics).

Do you think buy a trailer or rent the trailer? Trailers are an extra fee at my rental, but I guess then you always get the right sized one for the equipment.

Check to see if they will deliver. Often for the larger equipment it can be arranged.

hwy17

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Check to see if they will deliver. Often for the larger equipment it can be arranged.

Even better. I've been standing in the line hearing them talk about deliveries so they must do.

1 Ton Kubota is $340 a day at ours though. Trailer is $85, maybe delivery is $85+.

OzSolar

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There is no question that if you have a nearby equipment rental yard, with one or two projects to complete, you are better off renting. For larger projects hiring it done is better economics than buying one of these 1 tons.

And if something breaks you don't have to pay for it, assuming you didn't break it.

Bluedog225

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I believe the repairability is an issue. Non standard parts. And many “fixes” to make them right. May end up with an unusable, unfixable pile of yard art.

I suspect it will get sorted after a few years.

My guy with a 3 foot bucket charges $150 an hour.

OzSolar

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I believe the repairability is an issue. Non standard parts. And many “fixes” to make them right. May end up with an unusable, unfixable pile of yard art.

I suspect it will get sorted after a few years.

My guy with a 3 foot bucket charges $150 an hour.

That's the first thing I said to my buddy and he assures they are off the shelf parts. Of course the trick will be finding the shelf they are on since you aren't going to have any part numbers to cross reference.

Even better. I've been standing in the line hearing them talk about deliveries so they must do.

1 Ton Kubota is $340 a day at ours though. Trailer is $85, maybe delivery is $85+.

That's sounds pretty reasonable for California. That $250/day or $250 for the weekend as long as I don't go over 8 hrs on the meter is ridiculously low, even for around here but it's locally owned non chain single location place.

hwy17

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$250/day or $250 for the weekend

They get us there too lol, they're open Saturday and Sunday so every day is full price. Last edited: Apr 6,

Ampster

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I ocassionally watch a Youtube channel about an English couple who have retired in the Pyrennes and they bought a mini excavator from China. They are building a home and there are not enough episodes yet to know if it will last throughout the entirety of the project.
I agree with others, that if there is a nearby rental yard, the best strategy is to rent one. Fortunately I have a towing hitch or they can be delivered.

hwy17

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Pyrennes and they bought a mini excavator

It's funny how the youtube algorithm feels like it sends you down a rabbit hole. But then it turns out any 30+ year old guy with our sort of DIY proclivity we're all basically watching the same videos. My cousin told be about this guy he saw try to run his house on the F150 I said yeah the redhead one.

Dave911

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If you have an ongoing need for one Id shop the auctions and buy a brand name unit that has parts available. Oftentimes you can buy and use it for hundreds of hours and resell for what you paid for it. Just make sure its not beat when you buy it. But it will likely need some repair over a period of months of use. If you cant fix things, forget it. But since you are doing construction work, you likely have some skills.
If you just want a machine for x days. Rent it.

45North

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Micah Toll (Electrek) made some nice YT videos on the subject.
He imported a container full of small electric Chinese construction machines and now he's setting up a company in Florida to import and resell them.

Branch Ranch

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Andrew Camarata bought a small chinese excavator a little while ago and put it to work.

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Nice! Did you import that yourself? Looks like an articulating steer machine. Have not seen that in a loader backhoe setup.

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Nice! Did you import that yourself? Looks like an articulating steer machine. Have not seen that in a loader backhoe setup.

Yes. Imported and included a lot of attachments. I’ve not had time to really check it out yet, but everything seems to be very good quality. Thick steel and double plated on the buckets, etc.

Here are some pictures from factory before they shipped it.

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Last edited: Apr 9,

Dave911

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Yes. Imported and included a lot of attachments. I’ve not had time to really check it out yet, but everything seems to be very good quality. Thick steel and double plated on the buckets, etc.

Here are some pictures from factory before they shipped it.

How did you go about obtaining that?

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Andrew Camarata bought a small chinese excavator a little while ago and put it to work.

Andrew is cool… he’s got it going… good channel too.