Chinese mini excavator purchase/review

[willness33]

Does anyone have anything on the chicom stand on skid steers? I'm becoming relatively interested in a small machine for light grading and horse poo removal from stalls.

 

[Tacoma747]

I may just check one out. I don't NEED one, but I don't need most of what I have, lol

Same boat for me . Sure beats a shovel though.

A big reason for buying 6 was I could get one hauled for $400, but to get 6 hauled I'll be paying $650 (and even had a quote for $625). I have 3 coming with enclosed cabs, but have people that supposedly want all of those. One open cab with forward controls, and two open cabs with pilot controls. Not a guarantee yet but I'll probably keep one of the pilot controls units. They should be delivered Tuesday evening.

 

[bgaidan]

Does anyone have anything on the chicom stand on skid steers? I'm becoming relatively interested in a small machine for light grading and horse poo removal from stalls.

They're just like the minis - you can get the bottom of the barrel for a few grand and the auctions and go right up to upwards of $20k. It's wild to see that the minis are still going so cheap at the auctions. I fully expected the tariffs to kill those by now.

I had a couple of these delivered right at the beginning of the year. These are basically the current "top of the line" of the chinese mini skids. They're rated to lift about 1500 lbs, but will do over 2k. Kubota D902 or Perkins engines, 3 hydraulic pumps and will do high flow aux. for things like a forestry mulcher, brush cutter or stump grinder. Spec wise, they're nearly identical to a Bobcat MT100.

Last year they were running around $16k out the door. I just priced them for a new order and they're pushing $20k after the tariffs. Still better than $40-50k for the equivalent Bobcat.
Really hoping the tariff war cools off soon. I know if I order some now, they'll drop the tariffs right after I take delivery and I'll get stuck holding the bag. That's just the way shit goes for me.

 

[Tacoma747]

ETA 10pm. Guess I will be working on excavators tomorrow.

 

[Tacoma747]

Unloading them was less than fun. On the 2nd one I decided to just raise them up off the trailer and the driver pulled forward until I could lower then down. They just seemed really tippy on the forks.

I sold two today, one is gone and the other I took a deposit on an am delivering it tomorrow. Someone coming to look at a third in the morning.

My opinion:
Decent for what they are. Not a fan of the enclosed cab, BUT the door is easily removed, so with the door off and the fan blowing inside, probably not bad, but they are NOT sealed from the engine compartment, so exhaust fumes do come into the cab. The two I sold today are cab units so only one of those left.

I will likely keep the 12 as it's pretty simple and works well. The pilot controls on the 15 are nice, and the foot controls for the third function if you have it is much better than the hand control on the 12/13. Fit and finish on many parts is poor as expected. But they all seem to function well.

The exhaust is laughable. They have a cheesy pipe welded onto a flange screwed onto the muffler shield, there is a 3/4" gap between the muffler outlet and the exhaust extension.

 

[LBarr2002]

How much is a 15?

 

[Tacoma747]

How much is a 15?

$6k with tax. Just sold one of them this morning. Been telling myself I am not buying more to sell, but it's kind of hard to resist as fast as they have sold.

 

[Tacoma747]

Have a couple hours of use on the FF12r. Overall, it does what I would expect. I have dug some Leyland cypress stumps with it. Granted, the stumps have been there for 10+ years so they are fairly rotten. I never dug them sooner with the skid steer because of their proximity to my fence, plus, the skid steer absolutely demolishes the yard so they weren't really worth digging.

Have sold 4 of the others, have on FF15r left, I'll be glad to see it go so I can stop answering stupid questions on Facebook marketplace about it.

 

[untchabl]

Borrowed a QH12 from a buddy today. Going to try it out tomorrow but he's been really happy with it since he bought it.

 

[Tacoma747]

Well knocked a few hundred off an sold the last FF15r to a friend (delivering it Monday). Made the possibly stupid move and purchased a larger one today (the cab unit pictured below), it weighs a little over 4k lbs, has a v-twin gas engine. So I will likely sell the FF12r (pictured below with my son on it). I have put 3 hours on it and have been impressed. Of course it's small so it has it's limitations, but overall these seem to be a good value, and easy to work on. I have put 1.3 hours on the FF15r vs the 3 on the FF12r. I actually like the 12 better, mainly because I have more space to put my feet. For someone vertically challenged (I won't mention names, but we are all thinking the same person I am sure), the 15 would be better suited.

The bad thing about having an excavator is it makes you want to dig up stuff that doesn't need to be dug up. I have no reason to dig a hole, but I want to dig a big hole just for the heck of it .

 

[ghost]

SO what is the difference between the FF15r and FF12r? One a one ton the other 2 ton?

 

[Tacoma747]

SO what is the difference between the FF15r and FF12r? One a one ton the other 2 ton?

The 15 has pilot controls is the main difference. They are identical in size, capacity, etc---just the sheet metal looks different. Personally, I think the pilot controls are too touchy on the 15. I 3d printed some 'springs' to help some and they helped a TON, but if given the option between the two, I would still choose the 12 hands down. If you were going to spend all day on one of these machines I could see the armrests and pilot controls being more comfortable, but in my opinion, these are machines most people would spend 30 minutes to an hour at a time on.

 

[Tacoma747]

Digging a cedar stump that didn't really need to be dug, but what better is there to do than play on an excavator? I bought a ripper for it, highly suggest a ripper, for $110 shipped it was the ONLY way this machine would have a chance at digging this stump. It took around 1.5 hours to dig the stump, so not exactly efficient. Once I ripped the roots I probably should have gotten the skid steer to break it out, but wound up doing the whole thing with the ex. It has 5 hours on it now, I must say, I am still impressed.

 

[Tacoma747]

The new mini ex was dropped off Thursday night about 10pm. Couldn't get it running on the trailer to drive it off, so had to pick it up with the skid steer to unload it. The next day I figured out that what I thought was low throttle (throttle to the rear), was actually wide open, so no wonder it wouldn't start.... So I had a track come off, parked it last night and waited till today to reinstall. Turns out the track adjuster had a small crack which allowed grease to leak out. Makes you wonder how horrible this thing can be ---- 0.6 hours on it. I took the track adjuster apart on one side, found grease where it shouldn't be, cleaned it up and welded it. Seems to have taken care of the issue, the other side was leaking as well, so went ahead and fixed it.

This machine has a V-twin, 28hp, it seems to do well, but maybe bogs a little easier than the small machine (which will tip the machine forward or backward easily), but I try not to run it wide open just yet. Overall, I am impressed, but it definitely needs some minor things addressed such as some insulation on the back of the cab.