QUESTION: ck20 - how strong & capable is the Kioti Backhoe?

[CJONE]

Thanks for the replies fellas. Currently shopping around for the best rental price on the biggest machine for rent.

So, is a mini Excavator dramatically stronger than the Kioti BH?

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Weight of the machine is key, if you can rent something in the 7-9k range that is the best value. You can haul it yourself with a 3/4 ton and most rent for 250-300 a day with a thumb. I rent a 60,000lb machine and that usually ends up at 1500 per 8 hours depending on how far it needs to be hauled. Then you need insurance and proof that you can operate the machine. Like I stated before I have pulled some big stumps with a mini ex. CJ

 

[TSO]

Thanks for the info guys. Too bad I don't have an extra 15k sitting around, there are some good used mini excavators near me on craigslist, in the 7k-9k weight range, for around that price. I wouldn't mind having it around, and I could probably pay it off working some jobs around my area, over time of course.

But if you guys think the mini could handle it, I don't think the 2 day rental fee would be an un reasonable price to get the job done.

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[IslandTractor]

I have no doubt you can dig out 40 medium to large stumps with a mini excavator. I'm not so sure you can do it in two eight hour days however. It depends mostly on exactly what your notion of medium and large stump size is and what your soil is like. If medium size is a tree diameter at ground level is under 10" and large is maybe up to 18" with most of the stumps smaller than that, then you have a good chance if you have half medium half large but it would be a real busy two days. If the stumps are much bigger then you will have trouble. A 24 inch across trunk stump could easily take an hour or more of work to dig out. A 5 inch stump might only take ten minutes.

If the guys who gave you estimates of 1000-1500 have big excavators it might just be worth it to pay them especially if you have stumps on the large size. I spent a good two hours digging out one 24" across oak stump last year with my Woods BH90x and ripper. I suspect it would have taken close to that with a mini excavator while the big excavators could pull something like that out in five minutes.

 

[CJONE]

It depends mostly on exactly what your notion of medium and large stump size is and what your soil is like.
EXACTLY

If the guys who gave you estimates of 1000-1500 have big excavators it might just be worth it to pay them especially if you have stumps on the large size. I spent a good two hours digging out one 24" across oak stump last year with my Woods BH90x and ripper. I suspect it would have taken close to that with a mini excavator while the big excavators could pull something like that out in five minutes.[/QUOTE]

I spent about 30-45 min on a double 18" maple in a loam type soil with a mini EX in about the 9000lb range. A 24" stump is a big one for a tractor!!! I dug 10 20-28" stumps out when building my house, I was using a 225 cat excavator and it weighed about 52000 lbs. The soil was clay/loam and I had to dig a few of them out!!! In sand you can pull them right out, so like you said soil makes a huge difference. CJ