Mini excavators

[Night goat]

Educate me on these please!

I’m going to be starting my big projects on my property soon, with the ultimate goal of building a yurt and getting the water lines trenches from the pump house and all the grading/leveling, making an enclosed garden, expanding my grey water pit, etc lots of stuff I simply just don’t wanna do with a shovel. I Have a feeling a mini excavator would make life a ton easier.

Now my property is up in the mountains by the ski area so it gets COLD in the winter, ground tends to freeze from about November til March. I’ve had up to 4 feet of snow at my place, but was wondering if a mini with a blade would also work as a snow clearing device…

I want one with a thumb for obvious reasons, a drill auger would be nice too…

I’ve considered a skid steer like a bobcat but I have some areas where it’s tight maneuvering so I think the mobility of a mini excavator would reign supreme…

Definitely want a diesel machine.

I like the looks of the Cat 301.5 but I’ve always been a Cat guy.

I’m also wanting to tow it with something like a decent half ton truck or smaller so nothing super heavy 

Id love to hear some thoughts on the subject

I’m considering just buying one over renting because I figure I can always sell it afterwards and get most of my $ back and then I wouldn’t
Be as pressured and won’t rush things

[johnbmyersii]

301.5 is tiny, youll regret it. They have no power, tippy, and you wont be able to do half those jobs listed without spending a ton of time on it. You'll also tear the blade off that machine plowing snow with it. Those blades on minis are for leveling up the machine and light trench backfill, they are not dozers. Get the bobcat or a tractor for snow removal and get at least a 305.5. Also, with a Cat you're paying for a name and expensive parts. John Deere and Yanmar are much superior machines in that class.

[trophyhunt]

kubota all the way, we use the crap out of ours here at work, their pumps are strong.  I we have the 80, but that size gets expensive.

[Jpmiller]

A 35 is a perfect size for most of what you're talking about, except snow clearing which I don't think any mini would do well at unfortunately. I haven't tried it but my guess from living on them for 40-50 hours a week is they won't hold traction pushing snow and you'll end up all over the place. I've never been happy with the kubotas myself but I wonder if I'm just harder on them then they want, I'm a big fan of the takeuchi, bobcat, or even some of the grey market brands like yanmar. The newer machines have a lot of electronics and 7/8 of the time that seems to be the failure point and cause of the most down time. I understand they can fit block warmers onto most of them now so that may be something to look into. You'll find you have a lot more use for it than you though so owning over renting is a pretty good plan if you can afford it. Even stuff like bucking logs is way easier when you grab them and hold them waist high instead of laying on the ground or on the piles.

[teanawayslayer]

The front blade is pretty worthless in the snow. The tracks will want to slide and you won’t have good traction to push a bunch of weight.

[Gringo31]

Tracks and snow don't mix well unless your intention is to just drive over it.  A chained bobcat skidsteer will do circles on the snow and ice compared to a tracked machine.   

[Rob]

I would rent a machine for the major work, and then it sounds like you need a tractor for snow mgt and other work on the property.  The tractor can also be used for finishing work once the major work is done with the rental.

I picked up a 35 HP LS tractor earlier this year and LOVE it.  I am terracing about 3/4 of an acre and it is doing the job well with the FEL and Box blade.  Mgt of the driveway and trail creation are also much easier.  Weighs in around 5K pounds with FEL, box blade and loaded rear tires so very easy to pull with most full sized trucks.  Very maneuverable on treed property and a 1600 lb lift capacity on the front end loader.  (I chose LS as the price point for features was pretty good!)

I have found that a good tractor is an fantastic base platform that you can build off of for your specific needs. 

[MountainWalk]

You’ll slip n slide and throw tracks. Get a good tractor

[Jpmiller]

If you've got grade changes and tight spaces an excavator is going to serve way better than a tractor.

[Duckslayer89]

Sounds like you need an excavator and a tractor

[highside74]

I'd buy a tractor and rent the excavator for the times you need it. You can rent most excavators for a few hundred dollars a day. Generally you can get them dropped off on a Friday evening or Saturday morning and picked up on a Monday for the cost of a 2 day rental.

[Special T]

I'd buy a tractor and rent the excavator for the times you need it. You can rent most excavators for a few hundred dollars a day. Generally you can get them dropped off on a Friday evening or Saturday morning and picked up on a Monday for the cost of a 2 day rental.

This is good advise. A tractor is a multi tool and a excavator is a digger. Plan out your projects and you with both present at the same time you should be able to bang out most projects pretty quick.

Tracks and Snow are like a fat man on ice skates!

[Halo]

I bought a "used", year old, Yanmar ViO55-6A last year with a brush head to go with it, only had 20 hours on it. Best purchase I've ever made.

[Angry Perch]

As stated above, excavator for a week, tractor for a lifetime.

[Mark Brenckle]

I rented one this past weekend to move river-rock around, was very handy for that, tore the heck out of my 'lawn' though. Saved my back a lot of pain but I only put about 3 hours on it (moving 12 tons of rock).
  I have the same tractor pictured above, works amazing for everything I've wanted it to do, but I was dumping these rocks under my deck and around plants that I definitely would have taken out with my tractor.
  It was pretty expensive to rent for a day but worth it for what I wanted to get done. I wouldn't own one, but I'm not doing much of that type work around my place.