Terex mini-excavators

[245dlc]

Today I had an opportunity to demo a Terex 3.7 tonne machine it only had 3.5 hours on the meter so you can't get much newer than that. lol I found the cab pretty easy to get into at least for a mini. There wasn't much for an instrument cluster mostly a fuel guage, hour meter, and temparature guage. The machine itself was a zero tail swing so just about all the valving I think was under the cab so I couldn't see how the lines were run. The engine compartment was on the side and was quite accessible for maintenance and repair. The fuel tank and hydraulic oil tank was right behind the cab. The boom had the swing cylinder mounted on the left side unlike the Japanese machines that always have it on the right side. The boom cylinder was on the back of the boom which I think makes it nice and safe. The blade on that machine was just a straight up and down, but the five tonner they had there was four way blade so you could angle it left and right, however you couldn't dig one corner or the other in like a six way. I found forward visibility to be acceptable, but with the boom all the way left or right it was piss poor with the cab posts right in the line of sight. I dug in a pile of topsoil which was dry and hardly frozen so I couldn't really test out it's digging power to it's fullest extent. The boom up and down speed seemed a little slow, but the rest of it's digging speed and power seemed to be pretty good. I think overall it's a decent machine and I liked how accessible the engine compartment was, the A/C unit took up a good part of the cab space as I would expect with a zero tail swing machine but at least you could point the vents right at you when it's hot out. However as for A/C and heat performance it appeared to only have on and off and two or three speeds for the fans which seemed silly. There was no radio in it but it did have speakers for some strange reason. lol Oh and the travel speed was pretty slow to especially compared to that Kobelco 5 tonner I was running this past summer.

[Muz]

Excellent post ... I might be tempted to put up an 'equipment review' thread

Well things look very tight in there dont they ? that engine bay ? Thats the first time Ive seen a mini with an angle option on the dozer blade .. I wonder how effective that will be ? .. on the 3.5 The heater looks like it would roast your right side but freeze your left, or vice versa .. What mini were they derived from I wonder ? .. have they any Atlas heratage ?

[245dlc]

They're actually derived from a company in Germany called Schaeff. For a few years Bobcat was marketing a 7.5-8.0 tonne machine called a 442 in Canada and the U.S. and it was actually a Terex/Schaeff machine. I got to run once for a few weeks and found it to be a nice machine but some of the hydraulic fittings like for the tilt bucket were a bit of a pain to track down, but other than that I thought it was a great unit for an owner/operator. I think that A/C box is actually an aftermarket unit Red Dot I know makes A/C units for machines that never had it in the first place so it seems to me that it was installed as kind of an afterthought. I have a friend with a Kobelco ED180 Blade Runner and while being a much larger machine having an angle blade sure comes in handy for him. I've always made good use of those little dozer blades in the past and I'm being able to angle it is even handier. Several companies on this side of the pond have that option on they're 3.5-5.5 tonne machines like Kubota, Bobcat, and Kobelco I would consider getting one.
And while I was out yesterday I stopped in at a local bucket manufacturer to see if he makes tilt buckets for 1.5-2.5 tonne machines I had told him that I'm just getting started and may buy my first machine in the spring. Well as soon as I said that he said he had a Yanmar 1.5 tonne machine for sale and showed it to me, his price was very good especially considering the hours on it (200hrs) but I said I was recently laid off for the season and can't really afford it. He said that if we were able to put a $2,000 down payment on it he'd hold it for me until spring. My wife and I talked about it and as much as I'd like my own machine we've got enough bloody bills as it is.... damn it!

[Garry]

I have a friend with a Kobelco ED180 Blade Runner and while being a much larger machine having an angle blade sure comes in handy for him. I've always made good use of those little dozer blades in the past and I'm being able to angle it is even handier. Several companies on this side of the pond have that option on they're 3.5-5.5 tonne machines like Kubota,

?? Kubota do an angled blade ?.. is it some sort of non euro spec maybe ?

Thanks for the review though

[245dlc]

Yeah no problem, and yeah Kubota does and so do a number of manufacturers. I'll try to find a brochure and get it scanned so you guys can see.

[Local diggers]

Wait till you need parts for it, notoriously bad.

[ianoz]

Excellent post ... I might be tempted to put up an 'equipment review' thread

Well hopefully you will get a review on a Hitachi from me in a months time .

[245dlc]

Love to see the new machine Ian and see how you rate it.

[Muz]

Love to see the new machine Ian and see how you rate it.

Yeah Ditto

[Muz]

Wait till you need parts for it, notoriously bad.

Kubota ? or Terex ?

[245dlc]

I talked to that Terex Salesman again today and he said that 5.5 tonne machine will be up and running next week so I'll be able to test it out and that angle blade. I said I'll bring my camera and tripod so I can make a video of me using it.

[Wazza]

I said I'll bring my camera and tripod so I can make a video of me using it.

And what was the Salesman's reply to that I wonder ?? ,totally puzzled I would imagine .

[245dlc]

He was for it, I told him about my youtube channel and thought it was cool. He was talking of using his i-phone to make a video to show other customers.

[JD450A]

Terex in the Uk are horrendous for Parts... Try getting anything made by manufacture for a Matbro (terex) forklift and you'll see why.

[245dlc]

Yeah I'm not sure how they'll be here for parts. I'm not necessarily going to buy a Terex machine but it is fun to play with different makes and models.