A Chinese Mini Excavator? Seriously?

Delivery on this was pretty slow but it finally showed up on a flatbed Saturday. Ordered 2/16/24, delivered 4/6/24. According to the guy I bought it from they were hung up in customs in California. I was surprised it didn't show up in a couple of crates on a freight truck. Instead, it showed up on a hot shot truck. He had made 2 other deliveries on the way to me. 

The beast in question is the Typhon Stomp. 23 hp V-twin Briggs and Stratton Vanguard engine. 3-stage hydraulic pump for running attachments. I went with this one because I could order it with a trencher attachment and they make a whole series of attachments for it. I'll be ordering a mower attachment next. 

This is another situation where the rental was going to be $345+/day. Buying a name-brand used one was going to cost $15k. This, new with the trencher attachment was right at $10k. 

It's fairly well built. Most of the frame is 3/8 plate. It tips the scale at 2000+- pounds. 

3 stage pump allowed it to run accessories without taking power away from the tracks. 

It will run high-pressure accessories and high-volume accessories. 

The controls are going to take some getting used to. Tracks are forward/reverse on each stick. Lift is left/right on the left stick and dump is left/right on the right stick. The little stick in the center is the accessory circuit. 

It has an enormous hydraulic cooler. 

The fan for it is thermostatically controlled. 

I did have one issue. The fuel line at the tank had a loose hose clamp and was leaking. Other than that it looks to be very well built.

The trencher attachment works as advertised. It munched through the roots at the base of a pine tree without issue. 

This, the excavator, and the Mud Mixer will also allow me to expand into the automatic gate business.

In a month or so, I'll haul it to the mountains and put it to work. 

Here's a couple of super short videos. 

Trencher. 

Lifting. I figure my utility trailer probably weighs in at around 2000 pounds so the machine was lifting somewhere around 1000 pounds, maybe a little less. I think it's rated at 800 pounds. 

So, I ordered a mower to run on the mini skid. Overall it looks pretty good. I dug it out of the box and sure enough, it cuts grass. 

However, it did have a slight issue. This is the castor bracket that holds the wheels. Notice any issues? The castors don't have any castor to them. Undoubtedly due to a lack of quality control. 

The proper thing to do was make a phone call and have them send me some but I'm short on time. I need this in Creston, NC on Friday. 

With that in mind, I fixed them. A little chopping, a little bending, and a little welding later I have 4 castors. 

The only other problem I found was a lack of grease fittings on the pivot shafts for the castors. While I was working on it, I drilled the bosses and installed some. 

It was hotter than 7 hells when I finished. I was more interested in AC than taking pictures. What you see is what I took. 

What will you use the mower for? Woods/clearing or lawn?

In reply to eedavis :

I have a bank along a creek that I would like to keep clear. This will be used to keep the brush down to a dull roar. 

Since the advent of this thread, I have gained a greater understanding of the likely origin of Toyman!'s screen name.