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Cheap Chinese excavators

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bluedog225

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Has anyone taken a chance on one of these cheap excavators? I was following a post on another forum and it seems to be working out the the guy who bought it.

I don’t see a lot on the web regarding support but some commentary that the machines are pretty simple with minimal electronics and source-able parts.

Something like this would be pretty handy. And at $6 grand, it’s tempting.

www.ebay.com

In USA Mini Excavator 1 Ton Digger 13.5hp Gas Tracked Crawler B&S EPA Engine 734130192457 | eBay

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www.ebay.com




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Zeke

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There is a TY series featuring a British father and son restoring a farmhouse in France. They bought one. These guys are very clever at a lot of things. They took it apart and fortified some questionable items that were likely to fail strength wise. I looked into these types of machines and determined that if I was to buy one I'd be up in the 5 figures somewhere. I forget if it was 14K entry or 20K all in.

Not 6K. Nope.
 
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duneslider

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I know a guy (landscaper) who bought one, not that specific one. He had a divorce and some other financial issues and couldn't get anyone to lease him a better machine. He used the **** out of it long enough to be able to buy a better brand used while he built up credit and such to get to where he could lease equipment again. Anyway, he said it required more upkeep than better brands. I was curious about them and toying with getting something to dig holes for inground trampolines. He said it would probably be fine for me if I was doing just one or two holes a week and was keeping up with maintenance.
 
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scooby074

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They appeared recently at the last Ritchie Bros auction, about 30 of various options and "manufacturers" were on the lot if I counted right. Dont know what they went for.

I assume quality would be about what youd expect for no-name China imports. No support, no parts. Hopefully whatever parts china copied to make it you can get locally from the original OEM or off the shelf hydraulic parts.
 
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NUTTSGT

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I've seen a few videos on YouTube of people buying them and importing them. They have to hire a broker to get them through customs and some a transport company to pick them up at the shipyard.

I'll pass not to deal with that headache.
 
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WildBill

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There are some pretty decent little inexpensive Japanese ones like Yanmar, they make the motors and I think even the smaller tractors for a ton of other brands. My brother has beat the heck out of one of their mini excavators for about 15 years with very few issues. He just got an older used but working great second one for $6,500. I would buy one of them used over a new small no-name Chinese one. He also had a mini Komatsu for a while that seemed pretty decent.

Another option would be a small tractor with a backhoe, all the small tractor brands are currently running specials of 72 or 84 months no interest and nothing down. I've been tempted by the little New Holland 25s with a backhoe and loader, they supposed have higher capacity hydraulics and can lift more. I know the cylinders are bigger than the Kubota I looked at.
 
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ZRX61

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The factory on that Ebay link looks like it was built last month & doesn't show any kind of manufacturing going on.
I wouldn't even consider buying that.
 
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bigdav160

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I have a Kubota (U17) that I purchased used. I've been wondering if one of the Titan augers would fit. They're about $1000. Ultimately I have about a mile of fence to build.
 
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paredown

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For some reason I saw a flood of ads/vids for these a couple of days ago on Facebook--probably because I keep looking at used Kubotas/Yanmars/Mahindras .

I don't need the mower (yard is not suitable even a riding tractor), but would love the help of the front end loader and backhoe. Good machines are never cheap though--although I see decent ones occasionally (low hours, owned by homeowner/hobbyists and not beat to ****) but they are still a little pricey.

These probably qualify as 'if it's too good to be true...'
 
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Two Speed

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paredown said:
For some reason I saw a flood of ads/vids for these a couple of days ago on Facebook--probably because I keep looking at used Kubotas/Yanmars/Mahindras .
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Reminds me, you know how we watch out for flood cars around here after a huricane and whatnot, with all the flooding in China, gotta find someplace to sell those potentially hosed off flood machines.

As I see it, if you got one of these things and it breaks, it is something you field fix with whatever you can scrounge. You don't go to the hydralic shop for the "correct" fitting, you weld on a different fitting and keep on trucking. Something breaks, you booger it together and keep on trucking.
 
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finn

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isb cornbinder said:
Buy Made in your country. It is an investment in your future.
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Does that mean I have to get rid of my Deere, made by Hitachi in Japan?

I’m going to miss it.

Marty from New Zealand or Australia used one on his YouTube series to add drainage around his house a couple of years ago.

My son works for one of those domestic construction equipment manufacturers you would be familiar with. They have a huge worldwide presence, and consider Sany a formidable competitor on a worldwide basis. Simple, basic equipment with no cutting edge features, but they work, and are inexpensive.

Sort of what you guys are always asking for in pickup trucks. I’m confused…,want in in pickups but belittle it in construction equipment ..,,
LXCam said:
13.5HP, that’s cute but unless you’re installing sprinkler system in sandy soil or just scraping weeds I think you’re going to be pretty disappointed.
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I think all of the machines up to five tons are 25 hp or less in order to skirt emission laws. Above 25hp they need to meet more stringent particulate limits, so they have a DPF.

My Deere 26G is only 20 something hp, and power isn’t a limiting factor. Weight, or lack of it, is the limiter.
 
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WillyBoy

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LXCam said:
13.5HP, that’s cute but unless you’re installing sprinkler system in sandy soil or just scraping weeds I think you’re going to be pretty disappointed.
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And... first time I've seen a B&S powered excavator. I suspect only one hydraulic function at a time is usable with any usable amount of pressure. Extend boom, count to 3. Extend dipper, count to 3. Lower boom. Crowd, count to 3. ad nauseum.
 
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ctandc72

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That's actually pretty funny. I've seen these types of machines selling at dealers for $10K or more. Hell, there's one right now on FB marketplace, brand new "took on trade" and he's asking $12k. You google the model # on the side of the excavator in his add it's $5K.

It depends on what you need to do with it, in my opinion. As for the "made in the USA" equipment - I guess that depends if you're going by the LEGAL definition that now constitutes "made in the USA" or something else. If you're being literal, you're going to be buying some older equipment unless you plan on spending 10X what the Chinese equipment cost.

I could see it making financial sense if you had to rent equipment for a certain time frame anyway.
 
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gregs

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I bought a used cheap Chinese tractor with a front end loader on it about a year ago. All the above comments are correct.It had hoses with metric sorta JIC fittings you couldnt find. Parts that are hard to find in the US that I ordered from China via Aliexpress, etc. But at the end of the day it wasnt anything I couldnt fix if I had enough time and imagination. I had been looking for a tractor with a FEL under 5k for a while and only found clapped out junk. Closest thing I found that might have worked was an old Ford 8n that there were still trying to get $3500 with a FEL that looked like it was made out of water pipe. And its not like it was restored, it still needed a bunch of work. I'm about 3k into this not counting all my time and its a great little tractor. I rebuilt the entire hydraulic system (rebuilt cylinders, new JIC hoses & fittings, new pump, and a new valve just this week), and went thru the entire tractor fixing anything I could find. Ended up repainting it as well since I had it stripped down to the chassis. Its extremely strong for its size and I think it could easily pickup a 1000#'s but I wont try. The down side for saving money is the amount of time I spent on it and not being able to start some projects with it yet. But as hot as its been I probably wouldnt have anyhow.

With all that said would I order that from China? Simple answer is no for all the reasons above. If I had a big project that I needed that for, the risk of having a problem and not being able to finish would be a factor. Especially if I had someone else waiting on me. If I was to buy it just because it seemed like a deal to have in case I needed it would be a bad choice as well. It will probably have issues from sitting and not being used. I would either rent one when I needed it or hire a small contractor to do the job. Thats my $.02
 
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cannuck

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As has been mentioned Chinese pipe and tube thread standards are unique to China. The reason you can fix them is that there is seldom ANY support at all from the OEM. Just cash the cheque, ship the equipment and forget. I counted 51 of them at our last Ritchie's sale and the ones I saw bids on closed around $3-4k Cdn. There are no doubt some good Chinese manufacturers, but the ones selling into this price point are not likely any of them. FAR better off to go with used Korean, Japanese, etc. and brand name so you can actually get parts (that for excavation equipment you WILL at some point need).
 
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bluedog225

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This guy did a head to head. I think he speaks GJ.

tldw: the Chinese deal won on most/all fronts. No comments on longevity.

 
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reader2580

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I would take the $6,000 and spend it on renting an excavator instead. If you need an excavator often enough that you want to buy one I think you'll be disappointed by the performance of a small excavator like this.

I rented a Bobcat E26 mini excavator earlier in the summer and it was fairly limited for power. I could not use the thumb to pull Lilac bushes. I had to dig them out.
 
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finn

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Sounds like ba
reader2580 said:
I would take the $6,000 and spend it on renting an excavator instead. If you need an excavator often enough that you want to buy one I think you'll be disappointed by the performance of a small excavator like this.

I rented a Bobcat E26 mini excavator earlier in the summer and it was fairly limited for power. I could not use the thumb to pull Lilac bushes. I had to dig them out.
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Sounds like an operator issue. Small has advantages. You can fit them in a normal garage, transport them on a normal trailer, without a permit, they sip fuel, and are ideal for trenching.

My little Deere 26G has removed dozens of stumps, moves logs, and can snuggle up next to the house. Besides that, it’s fun to operate. Would a larger unit move more dirt… sure, but at a cost. Most mini excavators I see being towed by small contractors are the 25 through 35 (2.5-3.5 metric ton) units. Large construction sites are populated with larger units.

Small excavators have their place.

I find it difficult to believe you couldn’t remove a lilac Busch.
 
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johninct

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If you bought it cheap, it would make a perfect replacement for hand shovel work. Use it for very light work instead of doing it by hand like digging a water line inside of a building, digging out for a small sidewalk, etc.. As for big work with it, you break it then you need to fix it.
 
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zkdiesel

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Dirt equipment gets used hard and sometimes abused, many times pushed beyond its limits without enough care

So China anything made as cheap as possible won’t hold up. And if you have a major problem, you have a paperweight

This things 17 years old, sheared off bolts on Thursday and wrecked the flywheel. Think you could fix if this was a no name deal? Ya this is expensive repair but will be right and machine will be back working in a few days 93B6C45E-763B-4B7B-A766-0AA8AE9C0357.jpegF0122E04-B41E-4A8F-A759-0F80159B3DE1.jpeg
 
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metlmunchr

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I've got a Komatsu PC-05 from the 90's. About the same size and weight as these Chinese machines. One of the most handy features of mini hoes is the ability to swing the boom to the side so you can dig alongside a foundation or other obstruction and still have the ability to swing the entire rig to dump the bucket. None of these Chinese machines have that ability. Looking online, it appears that a similar size Chinese machine with a small (15 hp) diesel and the ability to swing the boom goes for about $17K. IMO, that says a lot about what you'll get for $6K
 
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