small Chinese Excavator repairs

[dfkrug]

I have incorporated some of the MODS offered by TBN members, and added a few of my own. I hope to glean and share information as I go along

You are welcome to add pix and info about modifications to the modifications thread. Link in post #1.

 

[P708]

What mods have you done? Any pictures you can share?

First thing I noticed, was on the lower arm. The actuator rod clevis had three brass needle type, flush lube fittings. Each one was damaged by curling the bucket and hitting the ground [done before I got it!]
So, my first mod was to vacate all the flat fittings and go to the ‘zerk’ nipple type.

I then made a cover from scrap pipe and spot welded the cover over the lower part of the rod clevis to protect it from future injury. The original brass flat fittings, I gutted and soldered the ends closed and put them back in place with a little paint to cover them.
I lowered the bucket onto a reddish board and it did its job!

Getting to the battery is a little bit of work. I wired in a 2-prong plug to the battery, exiting near the boom actuator base. It can be used to either charge the battery, or attach a solar charger, just to keep the battery charged during down time.

Got other stuff in the works, but no hurry. Thanks for asking.

 

[dfkrug]

Other than the warranty repairs I did in the first year of ownership of my XN08, this is the first repair I did:

My bucket cylinder rod had a small ding in it, probably from shipping or handling. After 20h of use or so, the drip was more than I could live with. So I swapped out the cylinder in the field with one of my spares, and put the leaky one on the shelf for later.

A few years later, I took it apart and fixed it with a new gland-to-rod seal I bought on eBay, shipped from China. Less than $10 total, BTW.

Some surprising things about this cylinder: The gland unscrewed like most cylinders, but the piston was internally threaded instead of having a nut.

The piston had dual flat spots for gripping. I used a 24" adjustable wrench with a 3-foot cheater pipe, and it eventually surrendered. I had to put a bar through the cross-tube and drive the tractor on top of it. The maker had used thread-locker.

The maker also used a piston-to-rod seal, Glad I did not resort to heat to get that piston off.

Everything looks well-made with rub rings inside gland and on the piston.

I love the Chinese seals that have the metric sizes printed right on them. Easiest seal purchase I have ever had.

BTW, the maker of my mini quoted me $50 total for a full set of seals for all 4 cylinders, shipped via air. I forgot to buy those spares in advance with the XN08, and had no easy way to pay them, so I did not buy.