Mini Excavator Choice

[tacks Y]

Yellow, I see a 2015 KX080-4R3A in an add up here (Pa) 4610hrs for $58500. Low hrs is a big plus.

I have a Kubota R420S  wheel loader and would love to find another with low hrs.

[YellowHammer]

I'm hoping to get in one with low hours.  I saw some the other day that were beat up pretty bad.  

I keep looking at cutters, I see lots of road crews using the bladed rotary cutters, and I guess it must be for a reason.

  

[Bruno of NH]

YH
Check out Baumalight the make some nice mulcher/frail combo units
They are built tough

[VT_K9]

We have a KX057 we bought new in 2014. We upgraded from a KX121 because we maxed out the weight capacity with rocks and logs more than 75% of the time.  The KX057 works great and is easily moveable with the truck and trailer we had.  With that said I think the KX080 would do everything better, but we didn't want to pay somebody to haul it.  If stumps are on your list I'd recommend the KX080.  

We run a FAE muncher head on ours.  After loggers came through to fulfill the land management plan we wanted to clean up the sugarbush and come trails.  The video above is from the dealer we have used for the last 15 years or so.  There are times I wonder how the KX080 would run the mulched we have regarding hydraulic flow.  Like stumps, just a little more time.  

The mulcher was used, maybe 20 hours, and had steel teeth.  We ordered carbide teeth since our area has a lot of rocks.  The steel teeth work great and is what I prefer when rocks are not an issue or you want a nicer cut (not a phrase used with many mulchers).  The carbide teeth work well and I have had several contacts with rocks and no issues.  I use a M18 grinder to sharpen the steel teeth and notice the cut quality and efficiency improves.  

Mike

[customsawyer]

I have a 2022 Komatsu PC138 coming in this week. I'm not getting a mulcher. It will have a 36" bucket and a hyd. thumb. I don't really have a use for the mulcher on my property. I can either break the limbs or dig the tree/stump. Also have some plans to dig a pond. Will let y'all know how it works.

[Walnut Beast]

Sounds pretty nice 👍

[YellowHammer]

Yep, Jake is going big time.  It's going to be a sweet machine.

What Jake says has me thinking, at what horsepower and weight point does an excavator not need a mulcher, simply reach up and break off the limbs or dig up or push over the trees?  

If a mini excavator mulcher can "only" handle 4" to 6" trees, is it more time economical to just push them over?  I assume even a smaller KX57 but certainly the larger KX80 I'm looking at would be able to knock over or even just pull put out of the ground, a 6" diameter tree or reach up and break off a 6" diameter limb?

So is an excavator mulcher more to clean up the debris and not leave holes everywhere?  Or the other way around, what size tree can a KX57 or KX80 pluck out of the ground?

I will need to get an excavator mower for general dam and slope mowing around the farm, but there is a 2X or 3X difference in price between a good excavator flail mower and an excavator mulcher, and a mower will leave a better finish in the grass around my pond bank than a mulcher.

[Walnut Beast]

Yes indeed he isn't playing around 💪. Look at it this way. A mulcher or mower is going to clean up the area. Depends on what you want. Sure you can rip limbs down and pick up and pile. And jack around when they don't come off. But your not going to get the results of a mulcher. Piles, piles. Mulching one and done. 

[barbender]

My mini ex experience is limited to one machine. I think it was a Wacker-Nueson, I don't remember the model (it's been a while) it was around #10,000. I was very impressed with the digging ability of that little machine. I grew up helping my Grandpa doing skeptics and such, he had a John Deere 410 backhoe. The little excavator would dig as well as that 410.

[Walnut Beast]

This guy I know down in Texas has a 138 and has been very happy with it doing everything. Here is a video of it mulching. That's what a good mulching job looks like with knives. 

https://www.facebook.com/225106991201068/posts/1447954845582937/

[YellowHammer]

That's impressive.  What he is doing is what I see myself doing, about with the same size trees.

en you say mulching with knives, it's a flail cutter with the "Y" shaped blades?  Since he's doing it for money, I assume he prefers this style over fixed cutters and knives better overall than hammers?  What brand cutter is he using?

There are many brands of knife flails that I have seen in my searches, Bruno suggests Baumalight, and they seem pretty nice, is there a couple other brands that stick out above the rest?  Then I'll call my dealership and see what he can get.

[Walnut Beast]

Here is the same head on Kubota 55 excavator. It's a Prinoth 450e bite limiter. Needs no case drain.

https://youtu.be/7yyw6ChoQnM



https://www.prinoth.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/PRINOTH-VM-Excavator-mulcher-EN-web_2020.pdf

[Walnut Beast]

That's how clean a disc mulcher can cut a big tree down

Was supposed to go under Skidsteers 😂

[bigblockyeti]

What sized mulching head could I put on this excavator?

Komatsu micro shovel PC01 - YouTube

[YellowHammer]

I'd be embarrassed to run that while being filmed.....

[bigblockyeti]

Aww come on, that thing would be awesome for anyone under the age of 9.

[customsawyer]

Seems like you could put it in your pocket.

[bigblockyeti]

When I first saw it, I thought it needed laces so you could wear a pair of them.  The bucket is measured in quarts instead of cubic yards.

[thecfarm]

Works better than a shovel.
But I have to use a shovel. Just because a shovel is cheaper.

[bigblockyeti]

Works better than a shovel.
But I have to use a shovel. Just because a shovel is cheaper.

I dunno, if someone were to bet me I couldn't out dig that thing, I'd be inclined to take that bet provided I got to pick my shovel, boots and sports drink.

[thecfarm]

Kinda like splitting wood by hand against a wood splitter.
I betcha the machine will last longer.
Looks like it was digging dirt that was hauled in. 
No easy digging like that at my place.

[Tom King]

I wonder how that thing would do in hard, dry red clay.  I have a job coming up in a 1798 basement with 6'6" of head room.   I thought the 010 that you guys had shown in the skid steer thread would be the ticket, but this smaller one would be even better if it can break out the dry red clay.

[Resonator]

According to Komatsu the PC01 puts out 3.5 hp, has a 3.5' max digging depth, and weighs 840 pounds. Used for construction, pipe laying (utilities) and gardening (landscaping). 
Where the micro size mini's shine is being able to be hauled into an urban area on a small truck, and then drive through a gate or doorway to get into a confined jobsite. They're also used on demo jobs where they an be lifted by crane onto a upper story or flat roof, or lowered into a trench. The advantage being they can get the job done quicker, and not have to pay for an extra laborer.

[YellowHammer]

This is the Kubota 010 I showed in the other thread.  It looks like a monster compared to that one.  You can see me in the reflection of the doorway, and it's made enter doors and rip up stuff.



I like that the operator is wearing a hard hat and its about as the same size as the bucket.

The 450E is more than I want to spend, it's $23K.  I haven't seen any decent disk mulchers similar to the in Walnut shows on the skid steer, except made by Rut, and they look pretty cheesy.   

[doc henderson]

I got the excavator attachment for my 277c track loader.  It can dig 9 feet.  it was about 14 K 8 years ago.  who knows now.  but you stay in the seat of the track loader, and the hydraulic controls tip into the front door.