cheers from Sweden! i have a similar one like yours (some differences but the same chassi). i am very happy about my machine. i use it on my small garden and it is amazing what this little micro-digger can do. i have taken 8 large rocks away tat was so big the hydraulics could not lift them, BUT there are tricks for that get the rocks stuck between the bucket and the blade, lift the blade as much as you can and then drive the rock away. DO NOT FORGET to check the tightness of the rubber drive belts, because if the get off the machine it may be tricky to get them back on if not knowing how to get them back on (this happened to me). all problems i have had actually is that it only starts randomly (diesel version) and i guess it is compression related. then some bolts that need to retighten often.
I've just come across your channel, pretty cool too. You've obviously got your work cut out there but you will find that little excavator absolutely invaluable. It was a very good move to get so many attachments, some you may not even use for a year or two but once you do find uses for them you'll be so glad to have them. I got a little Chinese digger to work on my place and it's the best thing I've ever done. The single most amazing attachment is the thumb, yeah it would be nice to have a hydraulic one but for some of us the budget is not unlimited eh. I wish you well with your project and am keen to follow your progress. Cheers.
We run a number of Chinese manufactured machines, including a digger/excavator and experience has taught us not to trust the machine straight from the box. In fact we prefer to receive the machine unassembled, in that way we can ensure it is put together correctly. You MUST check over the machine thoroughly, put washers behind nuts, make absolutely sure every bolt is secure and NOT cross threaded, grease every nipple well to begin with, remove all pins and apply waterproof grease. Grease before use every day, even if only used for a few hours, the grease gun will become your financial friend. Chinese machines are cheap for a reason but with care and maintenance they will work for you, if it has an engine change the oil frequently, certainly after the first 25 hours. Get to know and understand the workings, have your tool kit available at all times and have a few spares, a box of useful nuts and bolts to hand is useful. We have Chinese brand chain saws that are in constant use and over 8 years old and still going strong. We bought a chain saw as a backup five years ago and it’s still in the box. With a little care they keep going. They are cheap and cheerful in the main, many brand snobs criticise out of ignorance but as long as you accept they are not the best engineering quality available and you have swift access to parts, they do perform. With our digger, we grease at lunchtime and check all bolts on the arm after 4 hours, generally a just a couple have come loose but this takes no more than 10/15 minutes.
Thank you! Yes, we have noticed that there were bolts and washers missing and one keeps snapping so an eye needs to be kept on the pin it holds. Definitely need to check every 4 hours or so to tighten things up! One day we'll take the metal detector around and I'm sure find a mess of bolts all over where we've cleared. These machines don't cost much, but we are finding that as we learn about them and their maintenance, we should be able to, like yourself, use them for a good long while! We are pushing it well past what its capacity is supposed to be and it is doing a great job but it means that extra care needs to be taken to check it and do regular maintenance on it. Interesting that you grease it every day, we will need to start putting that into practice to help prolong the life of it! Thank you for that suggestion. We did have an engine problem, so the next video we post will be Ross swapping out the engines. :) Thankfully a pretty easy swap that he did a great job of.
If you want to keep it working well, grease liberally, change oil on schedule and check hydraulic tightness and cleanliness when you grease. It is cute.
Probably to late in the season,. Maybe next year you could look into load reduction burns / hazard reduction burns. Lantana does not like fire. Local concil or local RFS should be able to help . Awesome new toy.
Yes, too close to summer now for reduction burns, we agree with you. For now, while there are no restrictions, we keep burning in our drums and have a small pit fire in a wide open space for when the wind is non-existent. We also make sure to have the hose right close. The drums are nice though with their metal lids for when it becomes windy and we want to keep it well contained and suffocate the fire quickly. We’ve read that there are some chemical sprays for the Lantana too, but with wanting to grow gardens and orchards and have livestock, not sure we want to be putting anything on the soil that could then leach into the ground. Thanks! We love having it. So much easier on the back and will make digging post holes for the house stumps so much easier! Thank you for your ideas! This is a tonne of learning for us and all information is greatly appreciated. ☺️
I have a Chinese one too, a 1.5 tonner, changed out a few things ignition switch too marine grade, as burnt out original starter motor.. new better quality battery, and also I noticed mine had a lot of play/slop in the slew/swing after awhile so made a new key for swing motor and also changed out the 4 poor quality bolts for high tensile ones. Check out my shorts for a easy DIY leveling bar, or message me and I'll be glad to help with what I can. I have also upgraded pumps to Italian tandem pair almost tripling the capacity of the digger (minus the counter weight of coarse). They are a good machine just need a few tweaks here and there 👍
Hey Chris, Thanks for the suggestions, ours is a 1 ton, main issues i've had was the controls coming loose so I had to pull the "dash" apart to tighten everything back up and a few other QC issues that should have been taken care of before delivery like a loose track and the auger lines leaking from day 1 and a few missing bolts, only other complaint would be the hydraulics being a little under powered but we did buy this model for the cheap price and its actually doing a good job taking out and dragging some really large trees, thanks for watching
Until Ross and I met a couple of years ago, I don’t think either of us even thought of doing something like this. You never know what life has in store for you! We love having you along ☺️ Don’t ever forget about your dreams.
Hi there from Tasmania. We are going off grid very soon as well. What part of Australia are you in. I'm guessing Queensland. Love watching your progress
Off grid is great, we don't lose power during storms, and we rely only on ourselves, but cloudy days are frustrating. :) No sun and no water! It's better if we're getting one or the other. We are in Queensland, it is gorgeous here. Thank you for coming along with us on our adventure! Hopefully both our experiences with off grid living go smoothly.
It this mini the .8 ton. I have the ht10 mini 1 ton. If you can make a ripper tooth for doing stump might help. If you can put a hydraulic cylinder for the thum it will help on trees and breaking them. Do you plain on doing any mods to your mini
Hey JT, its a 1 ton Achilles A10, we got a ripper tooth with the accessories pack we bought with the machine I have just been using the bucket to dig larger trees out then grab them with the bucket and thumb to drag them away, I wasn't planning on adding a hydraulic thumb and no i hadn't thought about doing any mods to it, if the hydraulic pump was to break I would probably get something with a little higher pressure for a little more grunt but its doing a good job as is so far, thanks for watching
I like these excavators, but am concerned with the quality of construction. The only negative of one of these is, you can't move large quantities of material. For that a tractor with a front end loader can't be beat. The lady doesn't sound Aussie. I'm assuming an American, or Canadian ex pat? Just curious.
We knew we would get what we paid for with this excavator. :) We have had to replace a few bolts and a tread, but otherwise, it’s done what we’ve asked of it. Once we have animals and large gardens and orchards, a tractor will be a really nice addition! Mel is Canadian! 😊 Ross lived there for 8 years and now we’ve been in Australia for 6 months.
Highly recommend a tractor/backhoe/loader or just renting a good quality excavator when needed. There are better chinese made excavators available but they're over 20 grand.
We had so much of the lantana to get rid of that buying our own excavator seemed better than renting one, this little one has definitely had it’s share of problems though and I don’t believe that we have made it do anything that would be above or beyond what it’s capabilities should be. Thanks for watching!
Note to self: Anything u buy from China…go around and tighten anything on it. China notorious for delivering products/machinery with loose connections/nuts/bolts etc.
For sure! Down the road when the whole homestead is going with gardens, orchards and animals, a tractor might be a great investment too! Handy and will definitely move faster than the excavator. :D
Cool mini excavator,ive been contemplating getting one to replace my tractor backhoe..if you lower the front blade while digging it will make u a little less jumpy..
cheers from Sweden! i have a similar one like yours (some differences but the same chassi). i am very happy about my machine. i use it on my small garden and it is amazing what this little micro-digger can do. i have taken 8 large rocks away tat was so big the hydraulics could not lift them, BUT there are tricks for that get the rocks stuck between the bucket and the blade, lift the blade as much as you can and then drive the rock away. DO NOT FORGET to check the tightness of the rubber drive belts, because if the get off the machine it may be tricky to get them back on if not knowing how to get them back on (this happened to me). all problems i have had actually is that it only starts randomly (diesel version) and i guess it is compression related. then some bolts that need to retighten often.
I've just come across your channel, pretty cool too. You've obviously got your work cut out there but you will find that little excavator absolutely invaluable. It was a very good move to get so many attachments, some you may not even use for a year or two but once you do find uses for them you'll be so glad to have them. I got a little Chinese digger to work on my place and it's the best thing I've ever done. The single most amazing attachment is the thumb, yeah it would be nice to have a hydraulic one but for some of us the budget is not unlimited eh. I wish you well with your project and am keen to follow your progress. Cheers.
Hello from UK. England.
Good luck on your new journey. 👍
Thank you so much! Love having you along. ☺️
We run a number of Chinese manufactured machines, including a digger/excavator and experience has taught us not to trust the machine straight from the box. In fact we prefer to receive the machine unassembled, in that way we can ensure it is put together correctly.
You MUST check over the machine thoroughly, put washers behind nuts, make absolutely sure every bolt is secure and NOT cross threaded, grease every nipple well to begin with, remove all pins and apply waterproof grease. Grease before use every day, even if only used for a few hours, the grease gun will become your financial friend.
Chinese machines are cheap for a reason but with care and maintenance they will work for you, if it has an engine change the oil frequently, certainly after the first 25 hours.
Get to know and understand the workings, have your tool kit available at all times and have a few spares, a box of useful nuts and bolts to hand is useful.
We have Chinese brand chain saws that are in constant use and over 8 years old and still going strong. We bought a chain saw as a backup five years ago and it’s still in the box. With a little care they keep going.
They are cheap and cheerful in the main, many brand snobs criticise out of ignorance but as long as you accept they are not the best engineering quality available and you have swift access to parts, they do perform.
With our digger, we grease at lunchtime and check all bolts on the arm after 4 hours, generally a just a couple have come loose but this takes no more than 10/15 minutes.
Thank you! Yes, we have noticed that there were bolts and washers missing and one keeps snapping so an eye needs to be kept on the pin it holds. Definitely need to check every 4 hours or so to tighten things up! One day we'll take the metal detector around and I'm sure find a mess of bolts all over where we've cleared.
These machines don't cost much, but we are finding that as we learn about them and their maintenance, we should be able to, like yourself, use them for a good long while! We are pushing it well past what its capacity is supposed to be and it is doing a great job but it means that extra care needs to be taken to check it and do regular maintenance on it. Interesting that you grease it every day, we will need to start putting that into practice to help prolong the life of it! Thank you for that suggestion.
We did have an engine problem, so the next video we post will be Ross swapping out the engines. :) Thankfully a pretty easy swap that he did a great job of.
Our dream one day.. happy to see you two on this journey together. All the best and love your videos
Thank you! We love having you along. ☺️
I love the excavator. It looks like it’s affordable for a small scale Homestead!
It really was a great price for a couple just starting out and for what we are going to use it for.
If you want to keep it working well, grease liberally, change oil on schedule and check hydraulic tightness and cleanliness when you grease. It is cute.
Thank you so much! Greatly appreciated.
Probably to late in the season,. Maybe next year you could look into load reduction burns / hazard reduction burns. Lantana does not like fire. Local concil or local RFS should be able to help . Awesome new toy.
Yes, too close to summer now for reduction burns, we agree with you. For now, while there are no restrictions, we keep burning in our drums and have a small pit fire in a wide open space for when the wind is non-existent. We also make sure to have the hose right close. The drums are nice though with their metal lids for when it becomes windy and we want to keep it well contained and suffocate the fire quickly.
We’ve read that there are some chemical sprays for the Lantana too, but with wanting to grow gardens and orchards and have livestock, not sure we want to be putting anything on the soil that could then leach into the ground.
Thanks! We love having it. So much easier on the back and will make digging post holes for the house stumps so much easier!
Thank you for your ideas! This is a tonne of learning for us and all information is greatly appreciated. ☺️
Canada is watching
Thank you so much! ☺️
I have a Chinese one too, a 1.5 tonner, changed out a few things ignition switch too marine grade, as burnt out original starter motor.. new better quality battery, and also I noticed mine had a lot of play/slop in the slew/swing after awhile so made a new key for swing motor and also changed out the 4 poor quality bolts for high tensile ones. Check out my shorts for a easy DIY leveling bar, or message me and I'll be glad to help with what I can. I have also upgraded pumps to Italian tandem pair almost tripling the capacity of the digger (minus the counter weight of coarse). They are a good machine just need a few tweaks here and there 👍
Hey Chris, Thanks for the suggestions, ours is a 1 ton, main issues i've had was the controls coming loose so I had to pull the "dash" apart to tighten everything back up and a few other QC issues that should have been taken care of before delivery like a loose track and the auger lines leaking from day 1 and a few missing bolts, only other complaint would be the hydraulics being a little under powered but we did buy this model for the cheap price and its actually doing a good job taking out and dragging some really large trees, thanks for watching
Hi guys I'm looking forward to following your journey. Wish I could do this but it's not in my cards I don't think.
Until Ross and I met a couple of years ago, I don’t think either of us even thought of doing something like this. You never know what life has in store for you! We love having you along ☺️ Don’t ever forget about your dreams.
It’s all you need just takes a little long
Awesome 😀
Thank you! ☺️
Hi there from Tasmania. We are going off grid very soon as well. What part of Australia are you in. I'm guessing Queensland. Love watching your progress
Off grid is great, we don't lose power during storms, and we rely only on ourselves, but cloudy days are frustrating. :) No sun and no water! It's better if we're getting one or the other. We are in Queensland, it is gorgeous here. Thank you for coming along with us on our adventure! Hopefully both our experiences with off grid living go smoothly.
It this mini the .8 ton. I have the ht10 mini 1 ton. If you can make a ripper tooth for doing stump might help. If you can put a hydraulic cylinder for the thum it will help on trees and breaking them.
Do you plain on doing any mods to your mini
Hey JT, its a 1 ton Achilles A10, we got a ripper tooth with the accessories pack we bought with the machine I have just been using the bucket to dig larger trees out then grab them with the bucket and thumb to drag them away, I wasn't planning on adding a hydraulic thumb and no i hadn't thought about doing any mods to it, if the hydraulic pump was to break I would probably get something with a little higher pressure for a little more grunt but its doing a good job as is so far, thanks for watching
Hi love your videos. Hope all goes well. I would love to doit myself. But not in the UK. It's a the no no sadly. Take care
Thank you for watching! 🙂
which make and model is your excavaytort?
It’s an Achilles A10. Thanks for your question and for watching. ☺️
I like these excavators, but am concerned with the quality of construction. The only negative of one of these is, you can't move large quantities of material. For that a tractor with a front end loader can't be beat.
The lady doesn't sound Aussie. I'm assuming an American, or Canadian ex pat? Just curious.
We knew we would get what we paid for with this excavator. :) We have had to replace a few bolts and a tread, but otherwise, it’s done what we’ve asked of it. Once we have animals and large gardens and orchards, a tractor will be a really nice addition!
Mel is Canadian! 😊 Ross lived there for 8 years and now we’ve been in Australia for 6 months.
Highly recommend a tractor/backhoe/loader or just renting a good quality excavator when needed. There are better chinese made excavators available but they're over 20 grand.
We had so much of the lantana to get rid of that buying our own excavator seemed better than renting one, this little one has definitely had it’s share of problems though and I don’t believe that we have made it do anything that would be above or beyond what it’s capabilities should be. Thanks for watching!
Note to self: Anything u buy from China…go around and tighten anything on it. China notorious for delivering products/machinery with loose connections/nuts/bolts etc.
What was the problem with no power?
Ross had to bleed the fuel line as it had an air pocket in it. It had so much more power after this was done!
@@ouraussiehomestead When you have that much acreage I think a mini excavator or other farm equipment is a must 👍
For sure! Down the road when the whole homestead is going with gardens, orchards and animals, a tractor might be a great investment too! Handy and will definitely move faster than the excavator. :D
Cool mini excavator,ive been contemplating getting one to replace my tractor backhoe..if you lower the front blade while digging it will make u a little less jumpy..