I am currently in the market for a small mini excavator, At present I am trying a IHI 7J, with 470 hrs, Has any one had experience with IHI ? I have very little experience with excavators,so any info. would be appreciated
Mine has rubber. The 318? Bobcat with the retractable claws, xx tracks, would be comparable. If you are going across pavement, bridges, etc, why would you want steel? Wouldn't they tear things up?
I bought a "shovel" Takauchi (sp?) of about 1800# early last year (my wife thought it was cute), was offered 50% more than I paid, so gone. That thing was tiny, brought it home in the bed of my truck.
The steel tracks seem to be popular on this forum, guess it depends on what you doing with the machine, I am going to use it on my tree farm, being in the woods, steel sounds good to me, Looked at the bobcat 318, I have had bobcat machinery in the past, and have only good things to say about them. I didnt want to spend $ on new as ,it will be used very little,
Jim
I am going to send you a private message concerning a little mini-excavator I have. I am a dealer so I don't post items for sale directly in the thread out of respect for the rules on this wonderful forum.
Have you looked at or thought about Volvo's minis??? They really are top notch machines. Pound for pound I belive they will out perform just about any body elses rigs. Sned me a message if you are intrested and I can send you info on them.
I've been looking for over a year and getting advice here and in other forums. I ended up buying a Kubota KX41-3 which is a 3000 # machine. I haven't had it long enough to do a commentary. Information I have seen on the IHI is favourable. I bought a kubota because I have had good luck with my BX 1800 Kubota tractor also because I have a dealer in my area to service the machines if they need work. Good luck with your search.
I ended up buying the IHI, put on about 30 hrs so far,
Realisticlly all the machines I tried were all nice, Ask me
in a couple years of use, and I will have a much better
answer to IHI questions. Jim