What did you do with your Chinese baby digger today?

[oldrustysteel]

I was going to bolt on a blade extension but didnt like the overlap. Mine is the L-12 and I cant get fittings to install my variable flow control to slow the hyd. down so it dont throw you off the seat every time you touch a lever. Mine has the fan/oil cooler setup too.
I found out the hyd. will go dead IF you get on the wrong angle.
After the ordeal with the crud burned on the valve stems and rusted up carb, mine runs fairly decant now.( S'POSED to have been a new unit right out of the chimineese container! Motor had no compression so I ended up having to take the motor out and tear it apart and go thru the whole thing to get it to run again!)
I re-did the choke cable so it dont flop around loose all over around the motor.
The teeth are junk on them,---bent 2 of mine twice each so gotta beef them up then heat treat them. I know I got tuff honeysuckle bushes but to bend teeth???? LOL!
Another thing I see is that the L-12's never had seat belts on them and no place to put one! Not exactly legal for them to sell them that way either in this country!
I rigged a 3" tiedown strap across the roof upright posts and ran it across my lap to keep from getting tossed off the second time it dumped me!
For 13.5 hp you can do some serious damage to brush. I can take out a LOT of the smaller stuff with just the front blade. Disturbs less dirt that way and keeps burning pile cleaner.

I wish I could get another one to take apart and put on the shelf for spares when I need them.

The prices seem to be falling now. I see the L12 for $2000 less than I paid for mine. Soon there will be used broken ones pretty cheap. I hope that's what happens. You probably know about the hydraulic inlet tube that is too short and starves the pump on inclines. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of the baby digger.

 

[oldrustysteel]

For those who have the DIN M22 x 1.5 return hose called out in the reference sheet (which mine is) I would suggest a different hydraulic filter housing to anyone looking to add one. The one called out in the sheet has a 3/4 NPT inlet and outlet but I haven't been able to find an adapter to go directly from the M22 to 3/4 NPT. I did find adapters though to go from M22 to 1/2 NPT so I went with the Buyers FH625 which is a 15 GPM Return Line Filter Head with 1/2 Inch NPT Ports and a 25 PSI bypass.

Sounds like all I need to do, is adapt my filter base, 3/4, down to 1/2" then 1/2" to M22. I am pretty sure I remember using "Bushings" to reduce down in size with NPT fittings. Am I mistaken?

 

[drawthree]

Sounds like all I need to do, is adapt my filter base, 3/4, down to 1/2" then 1/2" to M22. I am pretty sure I remember using "Bushings" to reduce down in size with NPT fittings. Am I mistaken?

Sounds right to me - I just didn't want to have to use the extra fitting on both sides of the filter head to get from 3/4 to 1/2 NPT. There's no reason it shouldn't work though. I'm also planning to add a 1/8 NPT temperature sensor into one of the gauge ports on my filter head to give me a hydraulic oil temperature gauge I can see while operating.

 

[oldrustysteel]

Sounds right to me - I just didn't want to have to use the extra fitting on both sides of the filter head to get from 3/4 to 1/2 NPT. There's no reason it shouldn't work though. I'm also planning to add a 1/8 NPT temperature sensor into one of the gauge ports on my filter head to give me a hydraulic oil temperature gauge I can see while operating.

Good idea on temp gauge. I already bought the temp and a fuel gauge. I hope it works. let me know how it goes with the port on filter base. I think mine needs drilled and tapped.

 

[dfkrug]

Another good video from Cam

Interesting.

Of course you can go faster if you use a bigger pump, but you can also run a smaller wheel motor. There is a penalty, however. A smaller wheel motor gives you less torque unless you up the pressure to compensate. I do like the ability to climb 40% slopes. SurplusCenter has a nice hyd motor calculator:

Surplus Center

Warehouse distributor for many top name manufacturers. Parker Hydraulics, Hypro Pumps, Prince Hydraulics. Direct from the factory. Surplus equipment. We buy large quantities of manufacturer's surplus or excess stock.

www.surpluscenter.com

All those tiny hoses are a big restriction to flow. Cam points to the distribution valve, saying it may also be limited to small hose size. That's a good point. The main valve stacks are good for 15-20GPM, as I recall.

BTW, the wheel motors and the main valve spares were each about $320, FOB Qingdao. Pump, less than $100.

 

[oldrustysteel]

Interesting.

Of course you can go faster if you use a bigger pump, but you can also run a smaller wheel motor. There is a penalty, however. A smaller wheel motor gives you less torque unless you up the pressure to compensate. I do like the ability to climb 40% slopes. SurplusCenter has a nice hyd motor calculator:

Surplus Center

Warehouse distributor for many top name manufacturers. Parker Hydraulics, Hypro Pumps, Prince Hydraulics. Direct from the factory. Surplus equipment. We buy large quantities of manufacturer's surplus or excess stock.

www.surpluscenter.com

All those tiny hoses are a big restriction to flow. Cam points to the distribution valve, saying it may also be limited to small hose size. That's a good point. The main valve stacks are good for 15-20GPM, as I recall.

BTW, the wheel motors and the main valve spares were each about $320, FOB Qingdao. Pump, less than $100.

I was suprised at the amount of wear in the pump with so few hours. What will it look like at 100 hours? Definite proof of the need for filtration. A point you make often.

Without 2-speed drive motors we are stuck with slow but fairly strong drives. I can live with that far easier than fast and weak drives.

Seems like everyone is adding ballast. Wont that change the COG significantly? Will we see machines doing Wheelies when going up a ramp on a trailer?

 

[MattB4]

...

Seems like everyone is adding ballast. Wont that change the COG significantly? Will we see machines doing Wheelies when going up a ramp on a trailer?

One of the earlier posts had a picture of a mini that had gone over backwards when trying to load on a trailer. I noticed that the boom was forward rather than how I do it with the boom facing opposite of the trailer so that I can use it to prevent any potential of tipping. Adding more rear ballast would guarantee you need to always have the house and boom face the downward side.

 

[oldrustysteel]

One of the earlier posts had a picture of a mini that had gone over backwards when trying to load on a trailer. I noticed that the boom was forward rather than how I do it with the boom facing opposite of the trailer so that I can use it to prevent any potential of tipping. Adding more rear ballast would guarantee you need to always have the house and boom face the downward side.

So, we will see more baby wheelies. good reason to wear seatbelts at all times.. my machine didnt have a seatbelt. guess they thought I dont need one.

 

[Sonny580]

On my L-12, you cant back up the ramps!---- hyd. dies! -- GOTTA drive up with boom WAY out front! Course I am hauling mine on a high profile dump trailer! LOL! --- just gotta idle the motor as slow as possible to keep from killing it and brace your elbows solid on your knees and carefully work your way up/down and watch the overcenter point! ---Ya!-- THATS the interesting 6 inches of the trip! LOL!

I find the track drives about the right speed for general use. The thing that I dont like about them is that they jump all the time when you go down a hill.
There is a learning curve to run these when you are used to a 150,000 pound unit then get on this thing! LOL!
I still am satisfied with mine so far and dont regret buying it.

 

[MattB4]

On my L-12, you cant back up the ramps!---- hyd. dies! -- ...

That needs to be fixed.