Which mini to buy in Australia?

[bren]

Hey - my first post! Been checking this forum for a while, ever since they stopped the Dingo (mini digger) forum here in Oz,
Anyway, I'm now looking at a mini excavator to compliment my Dingo business, mainly for limited access work, landscaping, trenches, etc.

My questions are -
Should I avoid greymarket machines? If so, how do you tell and why?
What machines do you recommend for quality, availablity of parts and service. I mostly do all my own servicing, so I want to able to get parts, not just today but in the years to come. I also want a reliable machine and a popular machine, not something that is new to the Aussie market but something that has been around. I am looking in the 1.5 - 1.7 tonne class and would spend up to about $30,000 - $40,000 AUD.

We are in Queensland on the Sunshine Coast. The Dingo has been great because we can always get advice, service, parts etc from the manufacturers here in Queensland. Excavators on the other hand, so many to choose from. Thanks in advance!
Brendan
www.malenydingohire.com

 

[redline]

howdy Bren

I am in caboolture just down the rd from u,


spent many years in maleny milking damn cows lol.

mate from my position i see many different small diggers and the two big ones are kubota and case.

the kubota i see are very reliable and go strong while the case seem as strong but seem to run a lot smoother and appear more operator friendly,

the ones i see are all in the 2-4t range but i would say directly u could draw the same conclusions.

another option that seems to be taking off around here are the CRS diggers (CAT Rental Stores)

 

[Squizzy246B]

Before everybody piles on and says "don't buy a grey market machine" the object should be to find out why the machine is supposedly grey market. I bought my first Cat as grey market (brand new) and some $10,000 cheaper. Turned out the only reason the machine was supposedly grey market is that it didn't have the engine certificate for California....and who wants to go there anyway...:stirthepot

A quick check of the serial number with the dealer and spare parts checks should prove if its an option for you. The roll-over certification (ROPS/FOPS) should be placarded on the machine too. If they can't pull up part numbers for the machine and it doesn't have rollover certification forget it. Put the heat on the dealer to prove why its supposedly grey market. A machine may be tagged grey market because its not certified for the Japanese market (for example) and ended up on a ship to Down Under.

Next thing is I don't think you can go wrong with late model mini's. They will all get the job done. Some are a little better than others at various things. People will tend to give you their opinions but their experience may be narrowed to one brand.

If I was in your geography (I'm assuming Caloundra, Caboolture, Maroochy and then Brisbane is your shopping area), I'd look at who is the closest and offers the best service.....really comes down to that. Can't say I'd want to run down to Brisneyland everytime I wanted a service pack or something. You can't beat a good local dealer and I'd talk to other owners in your area about the service and support they have got "after" the sale has occurred.

these are my opinions on brands

Takeuchi - really upped their game over the last 4 or five years...pound for pound probably amongst the strongest in their class...depends on the dealer. The older ones are best avoided as the build quality and general durability just wasn't there. I hire a TB016 (1.6 tonnes) occasionally and its a very good machine.

Kubota - probably the best build quality of all the minis, very smooth but far from strong. I have many thousands of hours on Kubotas and a Cat, Takeuchi or Hitachi will eat them for breakfast when it come to things like ripping out stumps or loading trucks. Spare parts can be very expensive. That said I have no problem taking a Kubota on the job and they will get it done. If you were ever going to run a hydraulic attachment (hammer/auger etc) I'd seriously look at other brands.

Komatsu - only had some short seat time, seemed a good machine..no frills, the owner had had very little trouble in nearly 3000 hrs.

Cat - Fast and powerful, nothing flash, lacks finesse, good to service, best spare parts availability in Australia.

Yanmar - I have over 2000 hours on my 3 tonner and it seems to be the perfect all-rounder for me, good power but smooth to operate, has been reliable and not too bad to service (as far as minis go). BT Equipment is the dealer and they are in all Capitals.

Hitachi - pretty much identical to the Yanmar

Kobelco - we sometimes hire and they often have been abused, but they seem to take it well and keep on going. There is no fancy frills but they perform well. I used to use an 8 tonne Kobelco regularly and it was up there with competition for sure.

Well thats my two bobs worth.

if I was you I would also consider wether you should go zero-tail swing.

 

[bren]

Thanks for your opinions...

Thankyou both for your replies. It is great to be able to get feedback from experienced operators. Redline, I hadn't heard about the CRS machine so I'll look into them. I have been liking a Kubota kc41-3v but it's early days yet and I DO still like the idea of zero swing. Todays trenching job with 1100mm access reinforced this idea. As a Dingo operator I do get a lot of limited access stuff and you tend to get pretty good at moving carefully and precisely so I might as well stick with that and leave the bigger stuff to the others.

Squizz, thanks for that info on grey market stuff. I was looking at some of the bigger Taks with the swing boom that offsets to each side. I'll take more time to look at the 1.6 tonne Takeuchi now. Anyway, off to checkout more machine specs. When I finally get one, it'll just be nice to have a canopy overhead to get out of the sun for a while. (Disgraceful I know, buying an excavator just to have a seat and a canopy!!)
Cheers all...

 

[strott]

Could try a Kubota U17-3 - similar to a KX41-3v but zero tailswing.

 

[ianoz]

Hi Bren , I guess the gery market machines you are refering to are the jap import ones that a lot of yards in your area sell .Low hour machines but are built with a short working life in japan in mind .The problems i have heard are that although they lot identical to the machines sold here .Most components are different and parts are not easy to find for them .Local guy here bought a 7 ton yanmar ,when the hydralic pump died ,he could not buy parts to fix it and had to buy a complete new aussie spec pump For Big $s.and got rid of it as soon as he could . Smallest excavator we have is a 3 ton yanmar, Ours was second hand with the best hours behind it ,But like squizzy said good solid machine .have not had a good run out of the solideal rubber track[its buggered and replaced ,with the original track is still going ] Done up a drive motor and a leaking centre joint ,plus a few ram seals . I will stick a [photo up of it . Ian .

 

[Squizzy246B]

Ian is right about some of those Asian machines. There is a lot out there that are un-supportable and have questionable quality. You can just about get any name you want written on the side with some of the generic type manufacturers. .....Brenscavator

 

[Colorado Digger]

buy a bobcat, well made, last forever. i dont know about parts. we have a grey cat 307 and it runs like a top, no problem.

 

[xrlentau6]

Hey Bren,
just saw your post, havent been on here for a while. The company I work for now runs mainly yammar diggers in sizes from 3t up to 10t. Must say that have come to find them pretty good once you get used to the colour. Our crew has a 5 tonner which has not been well loved but with over 3000 hours it still digs all day.

We have hired bobact diggers as well and for thier size they dig well.

Guess it will just come down to whats around and price.

 

[dracer]

i got a bobcat 323, auger, buckets, trailer, 700hrs, for 23000, i broke the half hitch, i need new tracks, other than that it dont miss a beat mate.