Hey guys,
I am in the market for a used mini (midi) excavator. I will be using it to supplement the work I do with my L190 skid steer which is among other things, land clearing and small demo work.
The land clearing consists of clearing small acreages from 5-30 acres of small mesquites, cedars and other undesirable vegetation. I think a midi excavator with a grubber on it will be much faster than using my skid with a grubber. I would then mount the rake I built on the skid for final clean-up.
The demo work I have done and that I am looking for is smaller residential stuff usually 1000sqft or less and single story wood frame. I live in an area where there are several small towns nearby that have a lot of these kind of homes that have been abandoned for years.
I am looking for a 4-5 ton machine as that is as big as I can haul and stay out from under the CDL requirements. I have a 14k trailer that I can haul 10k or so on comfortably. I am looking for a 40-50hp machine with a remote circuit to operate a thumb and a breaker. I also want a cab with an air conditioner and heat.
I am not stuck on any particular brand of machine although I have a good relationship with my local NH dealer and all my other machines are NH. Most of my experience running mini ex'es has been on bobcats as that is what is mostly available for rent around here.
I am looking for any advice you are willing to give as to what to look for and what to look out for when buying this class of machine. Also, at what point hour wise should I start looking elsewhere? What kind of money should I be spending to get a good reliable machine that will make me money for several years without having to put a lot of repair $ into it (realizing that buying any kind of used equipment is always a crapshoot)?
Thanks
Tim
I am in the market for a used mini (midi) excavator. I will be using it to supplement the work I do with my L190 skid steer which is among other things, land clearing and small demo work.
The land clearing consists of clearing small acreages from 5-30 acres of small mesquites, cedars and other undesirable vegetation. I think a midi excavator with a grubber on it will be much faster than using my skid with a grubber. I would then mount the rake I built on the skid for final clean-up.
The demo work I have done and that I am looking for is smaller residential stuff usually 1000sqft or less and single story wood frame. I live in an area where there are several small towns nearby that have a lot of these kind of homes that have been abandoned for years.
I am looking for a 4-5 ton machine as that is as big as I can haul and stay out from under the CDL requirements. I have a 14k trailer that I can haul 10k or so on comfortably. I am looking for a 40-50hp machine with a remote circuit to operate a thumb and a breaker. I also want a cab with an air conditioner and heat.
I am not stuck on any particular brand of machine although I have a good relationship with my local NH dealer and all my other machines are NH. Most of my experience running mini ex'es has been on bobcats as that is what is mostly available for rent around here.
I am looking for any advice you are willing to give as to what to look for and what to look out for when buying this class of machine. Also, at what point hour wise should I start looking elsewhere? What kind of money should I be spending to get a good reliable machine that will make me money for several years without having to put a lot of repair $ into it (realizing that buying any kind of used equipment is always a crapshoot)?
Thanks
Tim
