New AGT Midget Excavator: 6 Questions Including Jerky Control Stuff

[Suburban Plowboy]

For $5,000, absolutely. I keep saying it's like having two men with shovels. It's not the answer to all my problems, but it will do a lot of things I don't want to do by hand. It's nice to see that dirt move while I sit on a cushioned seat.

 

[dfkrug]

For me, I wish they were widely available back in 2018. Amazing what I got done with my mountain trails in the first 2 years. And I am into my mini for north of $7500. Love it.

The improvements keep rolling in: I see Rippa is voluntarily adding proper wheel motors with braking action, without special requests. This is a safety problem that should be fixed by all the makers.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

My feeling is that if you have any kind of acreage at all, you can't go wrong with one of these. You just have to cope with the shortcomings and think what a Kubota would cost.

 

[shooterdon]

I have 20 acres but cannot think of many tasks I would use it for.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Planting new trees and shrubs, ripping out old ones up to a certain size, removing rocks and stumps, getting rid of the garbage the squirrels plant before it's too big...to me, that's worth $5K. Pretty standard stuff for a rural property.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I used the excavator again yesterday. This is the second time it has failed to get a small magnolia stump loose. Evidently, magnolia tap roots are pretty impressive. At least the excavator got enough dirt moved to get me access so I could cut roots with a Sawzall.

As experience reduces my own incompetence, the machine's imperfections become less problematic.

 

[2manyrocks]

Last local auction, one Kubota 008 with 300 something hours sold for $6,500 and another with 500 something hours also sold for $6,500 plus the auctioneers fee of 9.5%.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

You can always get a bargain if you're willing to spend your life waiting and driving.

 

[shooterdon]

There were two of these little “Tonka Toys” at the last auction I attended. Both went for $4500 or so. They were new.

After the auction I ordered the MechMaxx stump grinder for $1400. No way a Tonka Toy will handle the stumps I need removed. I have about 30 stumps to deal with from 8-24” in diameter. I have a tree puller for the smaller trees and it cost $1000 a few years ago.

 

[2manyrocks]

You can always get a bargain if you're willing to spend your life waiting and driving.

I don't know if they were bargains or not. Doesn't take much for unexpected repairs to wreck a "bargain."