Importing and modifying a new mini excavator from China

[TimberFarm]

If the boom was laid out in front of you as you went up the ramp wouldn't that have transferred enough weight to the front to stop it from tipping back?

 

[Fredrik]

Probably. I've never needed to do this before.
Not so sure I am willing to test this simple fix. The 300#of lead I added is apparently a substantial CG changer.
This is going to make me much more careful on slopes , which I will now go up a** first. If I start getting input from my butt that this is going to be common, the lead is coming off and some sort of out riggers will be attempted. Where they will be attached and how this would work I have no clue , but it presents an interesting challenge.

 

[Mldsr5]

Here are a few things I have done to my diggit em15.
Fuel filter - maybe not needed but can’t hurt.
Throttle limiter - a small piece of thermoplastic
Exhaust extension - door still opens
Rpm gauge - I have set the limiter to 3600 rpms
Brushless fan - 157cfm, 9 watts
Hour meter - machine did not come with one
Rubber tread - harbor freight, much better than the quilted pad
Hydraulic thumb - awaiting adapters from discount hydraulics to finish up
Ripper tooth mock up
I have a radiator, fan and filter that I’m waiting on parts for as well.

Mark

 

[Mldsr5]

I have a slight weep of hydraulic fluid coming from the right seam of the center section at the bottom. Any thoughts? I tried to tighten the assembly up, but it was very tight. Maybe a few drips in a 20 minute run.

 

[dfkrug]

I have a slight weep of hydraulic fluid coming from the right seam of the center section at the bottom. Any thoughts? I tried to tighten the assembly up, but it was very tight. Maybe a few drips in a 20 minute run.

Remove that cap and see if O-ring is torn or unseated. Take photo of relief valve underneath.

 

[Fredrik]

Here are a few things I have done to my diggit em15.
Fuel filter - maybe not needed but can’t hurt.
Throttle limiter - a small piece of thermoplastic
Exhaust extension - door still opens
Rpm gauge - I have set the limiter to 3600 rpms

****Brushless fan - 157cfm, 9 watts*****

Hour meter - machine did not come with one
Rubber tread - harbor freight, much better than the quilted pad
Hydraulic thumb - awaiting adapters from discount hydraulics to finish up
Ripper tooth mock up
I have a radiator, fan and filter that I’m waiting on parts for as well.

Wow. Your updates are what we all wish factories would include.

** I purchased 5 ruggedized Mill surplus muffin fans like yours . Used 2 on my oil cooler, none lasted more than an hour or two. Seems there was too much vibration for the tiny bearings to handle. I hope you have better luck.
I ended up using a small china motorcycle radiator fan. Cost was about $15 , waterproof, and made to handle vibration. Pushes a lot of air and only draws 34 watts. I think thats about 2.5amps.

 

[Mldsr5]

Wow. Your updates are what we all wish factories would include.

** I purchased 5 ruggedized Mill surplus muffin fans like yours . Used 2 on my oil cooler, none lasted more than an hour or two. Seems there was too much vibration for the tiny bearings to handle. I hope you have better luck.
I ended up using a small china motorcycle radiator fan. Cost was about $15 , waterproof, and made to handle vibration. Pushes a lot of air and only draws 34 watts. I think thats about 2.5amps.

Thanks for the info on the fan. I have tried to isolate the fan with some fuel hose standoffs. Fingers crossed. Your right, a better fix is not that expensive.

 

[Mldsr5]

Remove that cap and see if O-ring is torn or unseated. Take photo of relief valve underneath.

I removed the cap. It was not on that tight and had hydraulic fluid in the cap. I felt the bottom of the cap before I took it off, no fluid.

What do you suspect the plug on the inside does?

 

[dfkrug]

What do you suspect the plug on the inside does?

I suspect that you can turn that thing that looks like a plug, and it will adjust the pressure valve between the 2 sections.

I see the O-ring. Does it look OK?

Next thing to do is to remove the "plug". Before you do, you want to make sure that you can return the plug to the same spring pre-load setting. Do this by either measuring how far it sticks out from the pump body, or screwing it in all the way then counting how many turns that requires.

Be careful about removing it, since there may be an unrestrained spring behind the plug.

 

[NickCW]

Just bought a Diggit em15 but mistakenly put in gas into the hydraulic tank. Now I got to drain the tank and put in new hydraulic oil. Anyone know what kind of hydraulic oil it takes? Thanks

 

[dfkrug]

Just bought a Diggit em15 but mistakenly put in gas into the hydraulic tank. Now I got to drain the tank and put in new hydraulic oil. Anyone know what kind of hydraulic oil it takes? Thanks

Who knows what they used in China? Maybe yak vomit, esp if they could get it cheap.

Use any good clean high-quality hyd oil. I use THF just cuz I use it in my tractor, and buy it bulk.

I am a big fan of tossing the original hyd oil very soon after you get the machine anyway.

Did your Diggit also come with no hour meter and no hyd return filter?

Anyway, welcome to TBN, and please post your location in your profile.

 

[Fredrik]

I use AW32 . you can buy a 5 gal pail at any auto store for about 70 bucks. Tractor supply sells universal hydro oil and seems to work fine too. I have one piece of equipment that specifies 15w40 in the hydro system. One of those things we all have an opinion on but nobody can really answer . dfkrug has the most experience with minis so you cant go wrong with his advice.

 

[Fredrik]

Just bought a Diggit em15 but mistakenly put in gas into the hydraulic tank. Now I got to drain the tank and put in new hydraulic oil. Anyone know what kind of hydraulic oil it takes? Thanks

You'r gonna want an oil cooler and oil filter. Pain to install but worth every penny. Multiple back posts from others can give you some suggestions , but you'r going to have to use your own gray matter for your machine.
As dfkrug mentioned, WELCOME TO THE CLUB.

 

[Mldsr5]

I suspect that you can turn that thing that looks like a plug, and it will adjust the pressure valve between the 2 sections.

I see the O-ring. Does it look OK?

Next thing to do is to remove the "plug". Before you do, you want to make sure that you can return the plug to the same spring pre-load setting. Do this by either measuring how far it sticks out from the pump body, or screwing it in all the way then counting how many turns that requires.

Be careful about removing it, since there may be an unrestrained spring behind the plug.

I measured and removed the plug which revealed the suspected spring. The o-ring looks fine to me.

 

[dfkrug]

I measured and removed the plug which revealed the suspected spring. The o-ring looks fine to me.

Was the spring under a pre-load compression from the plug?

It may be that your leak is between the sections of the pump, as feared.

 

[Mldsr5]

Was the spring under a pre-load compression from the plug?

It may be that your leak is between the sections of the pump, as feared.

Yes, the spring is under compression.

 

[ptsg]

If you need to buy a new one, that's a called a dowty washer. Even slightly damaged, they usually still seal pretty well.

That's what's used to seal most BSPP and metric fittings to valve or cylinders connections.

 

[Fredrik]

It may be that your leak is between the sections of the pump, as feared.

It's unlikely you will find torque specs for the bolts holding the sections together. When you split the sections, use a torque wrench when you loosen each bolt and choose the middle of the road break point as a guide when reassembly. I would be willing to bet that each bolt has a different break point.
If you need to ,keep increasing torque until you've reached the highest bolt torque.
As an aside, I have found our local NAPA store a good place for O rings and gasket materials. They have been able to match just about everything I bring to them. They also have O ring making kits for those really one-off sizes.

 

[Aaron-BC]

Hey all.

I found this thread while looking for a generic Imported Mini info, and I appreciate Dave for starting it.

I purchased my 1 Ton Excavator a couple weeks ago (July 2023) in Surrey BC. I spent a fair bit of time considering importing myself directly from China but, honestly, after calculating shipping, warehousing and import fees that I knew of, the price was getting awfully close to what was being offered by a couple of the importers/resellers. (YES! One can save money DIYing the import, but it is not how I wanted to spend my time right now).

I chose to purchase from Capital Automotive Equipment Ltd (CAEL) based on the machine availability and the brief conversations I had with staff there.

I went in thinking of a 800kg or 1000kg unit. 800kg machines were out of stock and not expected for a while but they have many 1000kg units in. Most models are plumbed for aux/thumb but come with a mechanical thumb or none at all. I planned to add the necessary (to me) Hydraulic thumb myself but when I got to the yard I up-sold myself to the unit in the pictures attached here.

The machine is 1000kg with Thumb and Side-Swing. It uses pilot (servo) control for main hydraulics, direct foot control for dozer and thumb, and hand lever control for travel. A joystick button (the horn button!) selects the side swing control over the main swing. There is a fan-cooled hydraulic cooler installed, but no filter yet. The engine is the expected 420cc B&S 250000.

I’ll link to the product page HERE. Note that the web page incorrectly lists the machine as having “John Deer Control” but that is because they believe that only JD has pilot controlled hydraulics! The machine controls are SAE. I tried to explain SAE vs ISO to the manager in Surrey but quickly gave up as it was not important to me.

I have spent a high percentage of my time with this machine so far fixing the deficiencies I found or already knew of. I do feel like I got the value I expected (I went in knowing full well what I was buying) but it is a close race

I’ll post further details of what I have found and done so far and a full review of this machine if there is interest. I feel like there are quite a few of these being sold right now in both western Canada and back east.

Aaron.

 

[dfkrug]

I have spent a high percentage of my time with this machine so far fixing the deficiencies I found or already knew of. I do feel like I got the value I expected (I went in knowing full well what I was buying) but it is a close race

Congrats on the new machine, Aaron. Thx for posting.

Hopefully CAEL in Ontario will step up and provide parts and technical help. Do they provide any docs, esp for the hyd system? Does it look like the hyd system on the Diggit EM15 I posted above (post #540)?

Did the company set the relief pressure correctly, as well as provide a spring-to-center AUX control?

The return filter mod is not too bad, and much more important than the cooler. Nice to have the cooler, too, and hopefully, an hour meter.

There are hundreds of similar machines in the US and Canada now. I just saw my first used one for sale locally ($7500) with the Kubota D722 engine, but direct controls.