Cheap POS Chinese digger mods

[Firebrick43]

A couple of weeks ago I posted that I purchased a Kymron 1 ton Chinese excavator.

I had been renting a bobcat E45 when I need to from the local lumber yard, free delivery and 300 dollars. They sold the yard and not the excavator with it so that is gone.

This excavator in no way would put in deep drains or a septic system. But I have several projects this summer, main one is trenching water lines for hydrants in my pastures.

I also bought it for a shop project with my 8 and 10 year old boys as well as teaching them some what about construction equipment.

I will update this as I make mods and any issues that come to the surface.

This is the warning labels on the oil cooler I am going to add

Drilling and tapping M8 holes for mounting the cooler.

Luckily the outside right panel (removed) bottom edge has two bolt holes that line up with the cooler. You can see the bolts that hold on the panel locating the cooler to locate the inboard holes. I will need to turn spacers the thickness of the panel to put under the cooler on the inboard bolts.

I am going to do a pressure filter and a return filter. This is the MP Filtri Filter I purchased off of fleabay for under a 100(new). If I bought this through regular channels it would probably be 10 percent of the diggers cost.

Filter painted and some latches countersunk. They will be used to attach the back Sheetmetal to make it easier to service. It was terrible to change the oil with the access you have. And Its time consuming to unbolt the back housing. This should make a 30 min job a 15 sec task.

I guy on face book was selling bucket ears and a semi quick hitch kit. I am not impressed with the cut quality, not nearly as nice as the two guys that cut for me or SendCutSend/OshCut.

 

[Firebrick43]

Building the SS heat shield for the muffler to get as much heat out of the engine compartment

This stuff is wicked to cut. Its thin and work hardened fast. The nibbler didn't like it so I use a caping chisel on top of a soft wood board to open it like a P38. Once the center is out my midwest snips do an ok job.

Lots of versions of paper templates were made.

The top edges were bent over a little at a time to make a semi curved edge. Corners would form tucks which I pinched hard together with a set of 6" cobras and then crushed down with them.

My Hobart 210 without wire or gas worked ok as a spot welder. Because it was inside the wire cage I doubt it actually "needed" to be spot welded. It takes there is a lot of variability depending on how hard you push(to hard wont weld correctly, to light burns a hole) and where the ground clamp is.

I had to weld it after the pieces were inserted into the cage or it wouldn't of fit.

Top layer of ceramic wool.

Side ceramic and muffler installed. This was a pain as the exhaust pipe had to pivot into its opening as it was installed into the cage/outer shell.

Bottom layer of ceramic wool.

 

[kbeefy]

So, how much does one of those go for (the cheap pos?)

 

[Firebrick43]

Mine is a Kymron which has a parts warranty and parts support. It cost somewhat more (7900 plus 450 delivery) than the approx. 6,000 the AGT and such at the auctions go for.

Mine did have a hydraulic thumb mounted as well where many of the auction ones have a mechanical thumb. I am torn to say if its actually worth the extra money or not over the auction machines.

There are a lot of versions that at first glance are the same, but the more you look at them you realize that they must all have built them off pictures of one machine but the small details of nearly everything are different.

 

[dscheidt]

Mine is a Kymron which has a parts warranty and parts support. It cost somewhat more (7900 plus 450 delivery) than the approx. 6,000 the AGT and such at the auctions go for.

Mine did have a hydraulic thumb mounted as well where many of the auction ones have a mechanical thumb. I am torn to say if its actually worth the extra money or not over the auction machines.

There are a lot of versions that at first glance are the same, but the more you look at them you realize that they must all have built them off pictures of one machine but the small details of nearly everything are different.

They're very much the sort of thing that a fairly small shop with access to the amazing well of chinese parts could put together. Not only do you have different designs, but different fabrication capability and choices of power and hydraulic systems. It wouldn't at all surprise me that some of them at an auction are the entire production run of that model. And of course, different shops means different levels of quality and lots of variability in components and finishes.

 

[ATC]

After seeing what Andrew put his through so far, I would actually like to have one. I can't justify (or afford) a nicer 20+ year-old Kubota/Yanmar/Cat at $30k. But I could really use one to compliment my skid steer around the house...

 

[mike93lx]

That warning sticker needs to be preserved!

Following along. Love the mods

 

[theoldwizard1]

Beautiful job on the muffler heat shield !

Chinese excavator with a Briggs & Stratton engine ?

How about some feedback now that you have used it a bit. Enough power for the bucket size and reach ?

 

[Firebrick43]

Beautiful job on the muffler heat shield !

Chinese excavator with a Briggs & Stratton engine ?

How about some feedback now that you have used it a bit. Enough power for the bucket size and reach ?

So the original engines in these are a knockoff of a single cylinder yanmar of 10 hp. They apparently roll coal on start up and come no where close to meeting EPA standards.

Years ago they ship these without engines and you had to install your own to get around the EPA issue.

Now they install Briggs XR motors as a work around. I personally like the fact that they are gas but there are some issues to it or I should say issues on how they did it.

First is that they run much hotter, in fact they are known to get hot enough to boil the gasoline in the fuel tank. Some of it is due to tuning, some of it due to the fact that the original engine had air ducted to the flywheel fan opening and due to positioning of the briggs is not particularly feasible so hot air recirculates in the compartment instead of fresh cool air being constantly drawn in. The exhaust shielding above is one step to getting as much heat out of the compartment.

Some units have Rato gas engines which apparently is the manufacture of predator engines? They retain the funky splined crankshaft output of the original so its shorter than the briggs/pump set up but not easy to find replacements for in the states or adapt to the pump mount/pump drive coupling.

If the XR briggs ever craps the bed it will be replaced by a vanguard, Honda GX or a Subaru EH41/AKA yamaha MX400

As far as using it, I really have not. Many warn about low hour failures because of heat and lack of filtration so I have resisted the urge till I finish those mods.

That warning sticker needs to be preserved!

To late, I couldn't stand it. I probably should of taken pics of the warning stickers on the boom about what I think was warning not to stand to close

 

[Firebrick43]

This was the hardest piece to layout and install. I didn't carry the tabs into the corners. Doing better with my impromptu spot welder as well

I sort of didn't want to bend over the flange as it looked; well "sharp" But the edges were too sharp so safety won out. All terrible puns are my own and intended. I don't imagine that even if vibration kills my spot welds that anything is going to come apart however even if it doesn't look as good.



Speaking of safety, this stuff is wicked sharp. A customer of mine works for a distributor of PPE and gave me a sample pack that included these cut resistant gloves. I have worn a competing brand for probably going on 15 years now, Banom Terminators which are also a dynema glove. They are getting quite worn after many washings so I broke open a new pair for this project.

After few hours they break in nice and are equal to the terminators.

The boys project was to lay out, drill, deburr and install this latches. Taught them about loctite but could not find my 222. Thier little sister donated some finger nail polish as a substitute, ironically the color she picked was light purple to boot.

 

[gleman]

That warning sticker needs to be preserved!

Following along. Love the mods

They really should have got with the Vevor guys.



Nothing like a proper admonition before operating equipment.

 

[gleman]

I'm following along as I've never been able to find a used one that wasn't overpriced and clapped out.

 

[Rabid Badger]

Doing better with my impromptu spot welder as well.

What did you end up using for the welds?

 

[Firebrick43]

What did you end up using for the welds?

My Hobart 210 mig welder without wire or gas and the outer copper shield removed. Just push the wire tip against the metal and pull the trigger for half a second.

 

[Firebrick43]

Good thing I folded it over, it wouldn't of fit. I had to put a slight dent in the corner to clear the throttle bell crank.

I was going to put a sheild over the riser but I don't think I can without blocking significant airflow from the head.

 

[mike93lx]

Did you happen to take any temp measurements before the mods?

 

[Firebrick43]

Did you happen to take any temp measurements before the mods?

Yea, my rear was hot!

No, I thought about it but it was pretty cool out so how would you differentiate between with and without if the ambient temps were not similar?

There have been guys that have done so on the facebook group but their exhaust shields were, lets say, much more basic. The other key thing is the muffler outlet needs an extension so the tip is actually out the back and not at the edge of the compartment. I still need to do that.

 

[Firebrick43]

My Italian SPAL fan finally showed up after 3 weeks.

 

[Firebrick43]

It fit very well.

And my Parker 1/2” hose ends showed up. Even with a stiff eBay NOS discount will the price make your eyes water. 8 of them are for a loader hose replacement that is inevitable and not the excavator.

 

[mike93lx]

It fit very well.

And my Parker 1/2” hose ends showed up. Even with a stiff eBay NOS discount will the price make your eyes water. 8 of them are for a loader hose replacement that is inevitable and not the excavator.

When fittings cost a material portion of the whole machine...

 

[Firebrick43]

Pressure filter mount machined

I was out of bandsaw blades for my portaband and ordered some MK Morse 1216 blades. I have loved and used variable pitch blades on larger bandsaws with awesome results and these were no different on the dewalt portaband.

 

[tncatadjuster]

You are killing me, I did change the fluids. Installed a fan with no switch yet. I did get a chance to dig and it’s a champ for it’s size.

 

[Firebrick43]

You are killing me, I did change the fluids. Installed a fan with no switch yet. I did get a chance to dig and it’s a champ for it’s size.

Sorry. Waiting on fittings but I did get one batch the other day. Will post pics of the pressure filter mounted this evening