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Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/17/23 1:13 p.m.

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. 

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 $8900.00. 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. 

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May be an image of 1 person

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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

 

Jay_W
Jay_W SuperDork
7/17/23 1:27 p.m.

That's a 8900 buck laugh riot and I would get into SO much trouble if I had one! 

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
7/17/23 1:46 p.m.

Great, now I have a new giant machine for the wishlist....

pheller
pheller UltimaDork
7/17/23 1:53 p.m.

Link to the guy who was selling them? 

I'd love a small skid steer. 

Scotty Con Queso
Scotty Con Queso UltraDork
7/17/23 2:31 p.m.

I've watched too many videos about these on Youtube and would buy one in a heartbeat if a needed one and/or had $8,900 to spare. 

That and the Coolster Mini-Jeeps.  

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/17/23 2:48 p.m.
pheller said:

Link to the guy who was selling them? 

I'd love a small skid steer. 

I asked him about a skid steer when I bought the Excavator. He said he was looking into them but I haven't heard back from him. 

 

Sonic
Sonic UberDork
7/17/23 3:21 p.m.

Is there any sort of brand or model or anything like that to identify it? 
 

I'm going to need use of one of these soon too, so you made me go looking.  Apparently you can buy something very similar on Amazon, with free delivery, also with a 13hp Briggs, for a very similar price.  

bentwrench
bentwrench UltraDork
7/17/23 3:26 p.m.

Remember, "Call before you dig!"

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/17/23 3:34 p.m.

In reply to Sonic :

Nothing on it was marked with a manufacturer except for the engine. Doing some digging on an image search it looks like it was possibly made by Nicosail Machinery. 

https://www.nicosail.com/

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/17/23 3:37 p.m.
bentwrench said:

Remember, "Call before you dig!"

Red is power, orange is the telephone. I managed to not hit either one of them. 

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bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter)
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
7/17/23 4:32 p.m.

They they unload them at the Ritchie Brothers auction sometimes. One of my friends just bought one for 5,000 canadian. Pretty sure it's the same as yours. His actually has a cab but he has now purchased just the rops canopy because the cab is so tiny.

Rons
Rons GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/17/23 5:53 p.m.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Just search Komatsu PC 01

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/10/23 12:18 p.m.

I left the excavator with my father in the mountains and he completed the installation of two of the RV pads. The machine now has just shy of 40 hours on it. 

The sewer sump, power, and water are installed. 

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It's not as clean as it used to be. I'm happy to report it's still been worth every penny. 

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I'm going to be building another attachment for it. A 40"-48" hydraulic mower deck hanging on the end of the boom would be perfect for trimming bank edges and around the creeks. I've ordered an assortment of stuff to build that. 

More to come. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/10/23 6:36 p.m.
Toyman! said:

I left the excavator with my father in the mountains and he completed the installation of two of the RV pads.

I'm going to be building another attachment for it. A 40"-48" hydraulic mower deck hanging on the end of the boom would be perfect for trimming bank edges and around the creeks. I've ordered an assortment of stuff to build that. 

More to come. 

1. your Dad is a badass.

2. In for mower build!

GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE UltraDork
9/10/23 6:48 p.m.

I've seen youtubes of people who bought these with some trepidation and found they're an absolute knockout. Top heavy like you mention, but they're just a fun little well built machine.

Lof8 - Andy
Lof8 - Andy GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
9/10/23 7:00 p.m.

Hell ya!

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/10/23 7:36 p.m.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

He is. He's 84 this year and still not slowing down. I kept asking him to wait until I got up there but he's every bit as stubborn as I am. 

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Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
9/10/23 7:46 p.m.

Water lines here have to be eight feet down...

93gsxturbo
93gsxturbo UltraDork
9/10/23 10:48 p.m.

The lack of a ROPS makes me nervous.  I guess I know (knew) too many old farmers who got whacked or maimed by the old Bobcats with no ROPS.

Other than that - its adorable.

 

A quick run on the FB Marketplace shows these little rigs going for between 6k and 8k brand new in Milwaukee/Chicagoland area.  I would have to think if I wanted a Chinesium machine or a used up Bobcat/Deere/name brand for similar money.  

Wally (Forum Supporter)
Wally (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/11/23 7:13 a.m.

Scotty Con Queso
Scotty Con Queso UltraDork
9/11/23 7:59 a.m.
Streetwiseguy said:

Water lines here have to be eight feet down...

Maybe up in the permafrost, but not down here in the land of pay to play healthcare.  They just need to be below the frost line, which I'd think would be near 30-inches or so in North Carolina. 

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/11/23 8:06 a.m.

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

There are no used excavators near me for twice what this one cost. Anything with a name brand that actually works is $20k and that's more than I wanted to spend. 

I've been looking for a skid steer to go with it. They are just as hard to find on the used market. 

The lack of ROPS is my fault. I removed it for a couple of reasons. 1. - It was made out of 1" tubing and a bit of a joke. 2. - It was poorly placed and I hit my head on it a couple of times. 3. - The machine is small enough I probably won't have an issue getting clear of it. There are plans in my head for a more substantial structure to replace it. I have a couple of sticks of DOM tubing hanging in the shop that would work well. 

 

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/11/23 8:11 a.m.

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

The frost line in Ashe County is 24". These systems won't be used in the coldest parts of the winter very often so we have also set it up so the entire system can be drained by opening a couple of valves. 

 

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/11/23 8:51 a.m.

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

We have some trails going up the mountain that we would like to repair. One of those little dozers would work perfectly. I'll have to look into them. 

Thanks!

Toyman!
Toyman! GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/22/23 7:45 a.m.

Since this was brought back to the top by someone with an oar, I'll update it. 

No real progress has been made on the mower. I've been too busy working on a lemons car. 

I did buy the hydraulic motor and the hoses to drive it. The motor turns about 2500 rpm which should be enough to drive a mower blade. Rather than driving a huge blade directly, I'm going to belt drive a riding mower spindle with a 36" blade. With the belt drive I can change the ratio as needed to get the blade speed where it works best. It will also give the motor some protection should to blade hit something it can't cut. Bending the output on the motor would be bad. The mower spindle assembly costs about $30. The hydraulic motor is about $300. 

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The machine has about 45 hours on it and still runs very well. 

It did most of the heavy lifting in my driveway repair. 

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The next big project is some fence repair for my daughter. She has 8-10 posts that are rotting at the ground. We are going to use the auger to replace them. 

 

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