What did you do with your Chinese baby digger today?

[oldrustysteel]

What would we do without our baby diggers?

You win the award for Most Creative.!!

 

[Sonny580]

well, I have dug burn pits, set trusses, graded the drive, carried brush limbs and logs, grubbed out small trees, lifted motors out of tractors. Now getting more ideas for attachment builds for it since I know about what it can do and what I can get by with doing.

 

[Sonny580]

Spread dirt yesterday with it and going to grab brush and small trees today that I cut away from the machine shed.

 

[1hp]

new L12, install filter, change controls to hetero, & new fluid.

 

[1hp]

Reconfigured controls. used baling twine to pull them across. also installed hydraulic thumb. getting close to usable now.

 

[mike0000]

New owner of a mini digger, almost 10hrs. on it so far, sure beats a shovel. First big job getting rid of this rotting stump, took quite a bit of digging.

 

[gerawillough]

mine came with a fixed thumb, couldn't find a easy to ad on hydraulic cylinder and hose adapters from metric to sae. it took a lot of research and trial and error, but it's doable with a little fabrication and a few hoses.
the hose fitting adapters were so hard to get i bought extras, selling them on ebay!

 

[2manyrocks]

mine came with a fixed thumb, couldn't find a easy to ad on hydraulic cylinder and hose adapters from metric to sae. it took a lot of research and trial and error, but it's doable with a little fabrication and a few hoses.
the hose fitting adapters were so hard to get i bought extras, selling them on ebay!

Did you have to add a diverter valve, too?

 

[gerawillough]

Sorry for delay, no this unit had the valve & hoses capped on arm, so i had to find fittings to go from metric to SAE, added quick disconnects for quick removal!

 

[mike0000]

If you strap a lawnmower to your mini ex,…ya might be a redneck…
Needs some changes, wheels need to go and skids added, this was an old bagger only mower I had with a bad motor. I picked up a harbor freight replacement and welded a frame/mount. (I have the quick attach). It probably needs a side discharge too. If it proves to be useful I will weld up a “proper” deck.

 

[dfkrug]

View attachment 882225
If you strap a lawnmower to your mini ex,…ya might be a redneck…

I want to see videos of that in action. Looks promising.

 

[Tinhack]

I want to see videos of that in action. Looks promising.

Can't turn that mower up on end* to do bushes like I can with the ditch & bank flail mower. What good is it? My ride on will cut grass faster too.

* Catastrophic engine damage due to no oil in the sump.

 

[mike0000]

Can't turn that mower up on end* to do bushes like I can with the ditch & bank flail mower. What good is it? My ride on will cut grass faster too.

* Catastrophic engine damage due to no oil in the sump.

I’m not planning to cut my yard with it, I have a zero turn for that. I also won’t turn it on end. I plan to use it for some rough cutting around my pond and property, areas where the woods meet my yard, places that I fall behind on weedeating from time to time.

 

[mike0000]

Working on pin shims today. I’d like to take some of the slop out and reduce future wear. I started with some 3/4” pipe, made a pair to try out, haven’t gotten to install them yet.

 

[2manyrocks]

I’m not planning to cut my yard with it, I have a zero turn for that. I also won’t turn it on end. I plan to use it for some rough cutting around my pond and property, areas where the woods meet my yard, places that I fall behind on weedeating from time to time.

I think I got something in my eye bush hogging with a front mount cutter yesterday so I'd recommend using some good face/eye protection with that mower. But I hope it works great for you.

 

[Sonny580]

dug out the 2 rows of broc. plants that didnt produce a crop this year.

 

[drawthree]

I used the rake attachment recently to loosen the soil in our small garden and ended up pulling out a boulder.

 

[mike0000]

Getting the heat out.
My mini will boil gas in the tank and the hydraulic oil is running too hot. I added an exhaust extension and a 7” fan, mini came with an oil cooler/fan, but still too hot. With both fans running, gas is 173deg and boiling and hydraulic oil is 162 ( after 1 hour of use) I decided the fans are probably inefficient and circulating some of the hot engine air. First step is a fan shroud for the fan I had added. After adding the shroud gas came down to 145 and no longer is boiling after an hour of use and hydraulic oil temp dropped to 150degrees(still too hot).
.

 

[mike0000]

Today I added a shroud around the oil cooler, hope to do temperature testing tomorrow.

 

[dfkrug]

After adding the shroud gas came down to 145 and no longer is boiling after an hour of use and hydraulic oil temp dropped to 150degrees(still too hot).

Good work. I love to see the data you have taken to see the results of your cooling efforts. I assume you have the 420cc gasoline engine, without ducted flywheel fan.

What was the ambient temp when you were taking measurements?