New guy in VA

[NRath]

Hello, folks. New excavator owner in VA here. I've got this machine to do some land clearing for a driveway and house and whatever else I come up with along the way. Yep, another one of those guys! I grew up in construction and have run skid steers, back hoes, and Lull lifts a little. I also have a Kubota compact to help with some light stuff. The machine, hmmm.... I watched the local market for a couple months reading up on the machines I was seeing and trying to figure out what I needed (or wanted!). Found that Hitachi appears to generally have a gooe reputation and read about their deal with JD. I brought home a Hitachi EX200LC-2. A mini-ex just didn't seem like the way to go esp as expensive as they are. So, I got some much better reach a decent power (I think).

I'm a diy guy if that wasn't evident already. I know my way around a toolbox and I'm not scared to figure it out as I go. I'd much rather buy the tools to do it myself than pay someone else. It generally works out. A hydraulic excavator is a new beast for me and I've been learning alot, already. One of the things I learned is that a person with an EX200-2 is glutton for punishment!! I might not have brought it home if I'd figured that out before throwing down the greenbacks.

It's here now and I think it's a pretty good machine. Def something I can work with. It already has the mechanical pump control conversion and almost all functions seem to work fine. I'm going through tightening up the loose ends on it so I can hopefully count on it to get the work done when needed. I'll start a thread about that adventure.

Without a doubt, I hope to find some help in here on getting through some of it, so thank you in advance!!

 

[NRath]

The machine... so it looks pretty with some fresh paint and isn't all bad underneath. Clock shows 4600 hrs and it appears to my untrained eye to be in pretty good shape based on what else I looked at in the market. The U/C is pretty solid with not much wear on the sprockets and pins. Seems to me to that it's likely consistent with the hours. It's got a 40" bucket that's been welded and is a little bent, but I think it'll get the job done. A thumb was a requirement, manual will have to do. I can already see the huge value of a hyd thumb! Doesn't matter now!
She came with her share of leaks that I want to address. The hyd cooler was leaking and I just finished replacing it. Cleaned the radiator good and had it pressure and flow tested since it had to come out to get the hyd cooler out. 37 gpm looks like some pretty good flow. A new thermostat went in for good measure. The temp gauge seems to run a little closer to H than I'd like, but it's steady. Gets there and stops with what little I've used it so far. It was cool weather for that so I'm a little worried how it will handle 90's.
Other issues:
1. Speed changer isn't working- low only
2. Mechanical pump control is leaking where it mates to the pump
3. Cut valve and 1or2 of the pressure reliefs are leaking.
4. 1 boom cylinder is leaking pretty good
5. Got a couple stuck pins on each of the tracks
6. Rusty fuel tank!

I got her home and had to dig something! This nice big oak stump was my 1st victim. Probably took me 30 mins to get it out. Def need some seat time to get in sync with the controls. The pics don't really do the size of this stump much justice, imo. It's a pretty big freaking chunk of wood.

 

[petepilot]

welcome aboard .not a bad lookin mach.i`m sure you`ll figure it out .

 

[NRath]

Thanks, Pete. One step at a time!

 

[mg2361]

Welcome to HEF NRath !

 

[Vetech63]

Is your wife jealous of the attention you are giving your mechanical mistress yet?

 

[NRath]

Is your wife jealous of the attention you are giving your mechanical mistress yet?

Man, nothing but truth!! My girl should be used to it 28 years in as I've always spent time in the garage working on cars, quads and motorcycles but now there's something else drawing me away. She told me a couple days ago that she was exhausted from the ex! lol

I just wish it would fit in the garage so I didn't have to walk so far every time I realize I need a different tool! It's almost always to get a bigger socket or wrench or longer pipe- hahaha

 

[kshansen]

Motorcycles, we letting more of "those types" in here?

Ok, so I have two Sportsters and an XS650 on the road and one on the lift to maybe someday on the road and wife has a GTV300(that's a Vespa in case you didn't know) and a CanAm Riker she just got last summer.

PS any chance I could borrow that Hitachi for the weekend some time? How long would it take to walk it to near Syracuse NY?

 

[NRath]

Motorcycles, we letting more of "those types" in here?

Nobody asked at the door!! I'm mostly a dirt guy after riding the street for a few years. I've got a DRZ400S which a street legal dirtbike. I'm a little more passionate about sport quads with a company called Cannondale in particular.

....
PS any chance I could borrow that Hitachi for the weekend some time? How long would it take to walk it to near Syracuse NY?

She's stuck in Low for now at like 1.4 mph, so we'd probably have to meet in the middle to swap operators!