I've used a couple mini-ex's over the years, and done a little bit of simple grading with them, mostly for back-fill reasons.

I have a need in my yard for a small dozer/grading to finish a section off for grass. The ground is too soft for the small wheeled tractor I have right now and the box blade just ain't doing it. In the past I've borrowed a buddies small 40's John Deer 40 dozer, perfect for this, but its not working right now so its unavailable. Haven't found anything for sale on CL's that meets my needs and price range, and the smallest dozer's the rental yards have are just too big.

So this got me thinking mini ex. Something in a 6K or 8K sized machine. Big and heavy enough, but still cheap(ish) to rent. Plus I have use for the excavator as well (two birds with one stone).


For those that have used them frequently, how do they do in the grading/dozing function? I know it won't be perfect, but I don't need perfect, I just need close/good and compact and maneuverable.

Traced bobcat would probably work as well, but then I loose the excavator function, not to mention they are more expensive to rent and have poorer viability, plus I'm back to a bucks vs a solid blade.

i have a 8k mini zero clearance ho and i finish grade every lot i build on after im done with it. Works great for me to get around the homes and if the blade cant get it i just use a grade beam in the bucket with the thumb. If this doesnt work i just use my 345 ho

Mini excavators work surprisingly well for this... the weight over the tracks makes for minimal slippage. You won't have fine control, the blade is short and narrow, and there's substantial overhang for the excavator beyond the blade... it'll work, but it won't excel.

If I were renting, I'd either get a bigger piece of equipment with a backhoe *AND* a bucket, or I'd get two separate pieces of equipment.

Randii

Like the others have said they have a fair amount of push to them.
They are difficult to carry a grade with though due to the crappy metering of most minix blade control functions.
However if you are any good with an excavator you dont need the blade

Cool, thanks. Atleast I know I won't be wasting my time.

I'll see how well I can do with the bucket as well, just got to find myself a suitable piece of beem.


Hey bugetxj, can I borrow your mini ex for a weekend (I work in Kirkland, live like 15 minutes away) :D

As others have said, they push quite well. The drawback is the lack of tilt and angle. You can get around that but it's a bit of a pain.

In my experience, its called a backfill blade for a reason. I'd say it's most useful to tear the ground up with the bucket then your box blade should be able to move it around.

I had to use my tractor to fix the yard up after the septic guys 7 ton mini ex laid it all. The blade on his moved the piles ok, about on par with the tractor but it was fixed to the track angle and it took him for ever to get jigged around. At 80$ an hour I could do it way faster with my loader.