Agrotk excavators: Does anyone have one? Opinions/comments/critiques?

[oldrustysteel]

you

Do these have a battery? On mine I have the battery kill switch and if the switch is left on, the meter will keep running whether the motor is running or not.
When mine was in the warehouse and they were moving it around out of the container they left the battery disconnect switch on at one point and put almost 4hrs on it sitting in the warehouse.

You need to change the ignition switch so you can connect the hour meter and lights to the new switch. Then the hour meter only runs when the key is on. after that you can remove the main battery disconnect if you want, or keep it.
i did a post about it in another thread.

 

[dfkrug]

Hopefully I can get the tall plate welded on top of the dinky blade

Cone on, you guys. Don't weld anything on the top of your blade, or it will crash into the underside of the house when you turn with it up. I posted about this at length already.

And you need to not limit the height that your blade can rise to.

This is the proper fix if you want a taller blade: cut the 2 arms and extend the blade far enough to be clear of the house when it is up. Not a difficult mod; you may need as much as a 10-12" extension. It will also give greater leverage, which will help somewhat with digging.

I have not done this mod, and longer dozer blade arms will make it easier to hit with the bucket while digging. Somebody try it and report back.

 

[MattB4]

These little things are not great at dozing work.

To keep the dirt from rolling over when digging I find that simply staying a bit further out working with stick and bucket, and than backing the excavator up, instead of trying to ditch/dig right up to the blade. It is part of learning to work within the machines limitations.

It does make me think that it would the makings of a nifty little dozer to take one of the mini ex's hydraulic undercarriages and instead of a swing housing have a fixed one. Then a small 6 way dozer blade out front. There is no baby hydraulic dozers cheaply available that I know of. Your choice of the B&S gas or a Yanmar diesel. I would buy one for $6K.

 

[dfkrug]

It does make me think that it would the makings of a nifty little dozer to take one of the mini ex's hydraulic undercarriages and instead of a swing housing have a fixed one. Then a small 6 way dozer blade out front. There is no baby hydraulic dozers cheaply available that I know of. Your choice of the B&S gas or a Yanmar diesel. I would buy one for $6K.

The Magnetracks have been available for a long time.

Build & Price your perfect machine! - Struck Corp

Build & Price your perfect machine based on your needs and budget. Our featured products are the MINI-DOZER® & the MAGNATRAC®. Tracks Make the Difference.

struckcorp.com

Dirt spilling over the blade while dozing is a limitation of our small excavators. At some point, you have to accept these limitations and work within them. I may hit 200 hours this winter, depending on how many mudslides I get.

I have posted extensively on re-making the whole electrical system.

 

[MattB4]

The Strucks are way too costly. That is why I specified cheap! Chinese cheap

Another sorta wacky idea if you could get one of these baby ex's real cheap would be to take off the hoe and then construct on the house a giant robot figure that you ride inside. Impress the neighbors!

 

[oldrustysteel]

The Strucks are way too costly. That is why I specified cheap! Chinese cheap

if the price keeps dropping on these machines, I would consider buying one to part out. At $3k I think there may be $6k in parts. I would enjoy taking one down to the frame. Is that a crazy idea?

 

[oldrustysteel]

Cone on, you guys. Don't weld anything on the top of your blade, or it will crash into the underside of the house when you turn with it up. I posted about this at length already.

And you need to not limit the height that your blade can rise to.

This is the proper fix if you want a taller blade: cut the 2 arms and extend the blade far enough to be clear of the house when it is up. Not a difficult mod; you may need as much as a 10-12" extension. It will also give greater leverage, which will help somewhat with digging.

I have not done this mod, and longer dozer blade arms will make it easier to hit with the bucket while digging. Somebody try it and report back.

Hey Dfkrug,, I like your idea of extending the blade arms outward maybe 10 inches or so. I have a feeling that would put a lot more stress on the weld points on the frame. After seeing a video with the frame broken at the cyl mounting area, I have been a little concerned about that area. I did not see a good way to reinforce the frame on my baby digger. Am I being paranoid? its on Utube everydaywithmenick. everyone with a baby digger should see this..

 

[TripleS]

It's thin steel, cut the tabs off and weld a long strip of of good steel across and the put the cylinder tabs back on.

 

[Sonny580]

Dont want longer arms! ---that would defeat the purpose. Gotta have the blade taller to hold more dirt to hold the digger from sliding in the hole.
I am NOT bulldozing with it!
A 6" plate on top of the blade is just right and NO it wont hit anything! I NEVER turn more than 90* with it

 

[Sonny580]

gonna buy a couple for parts machines soon! Price drops another $100 and deal is on!