Machine Builders Network+ Forums Machine Builders Network General Discussion New digger

NOT fond of chimineese junk BUT I just bought on of their diggers. 2023 model J-12. Grease fittings dont take grease! B & S 13.5 motor, ----- stuck intake valve! Runs a while then sticks open. Get it loose and good for another hour or so then sticks again!
I knew it would have a LOT of stuff that I would have to fix before I could use it, so no biggie.
Still WAY cheeper than trying to make one from scratch. Course it aint like my homemade exc.! Nuttin will come close to that one! lol!
This thing pushes dirt over the blade which is amazing for a 1.5 ton digger. I dont like the track adjusters either,---gotta tighten tracks with grease gun! I had to take the thumb off since it was always in the way. Dug my burn pit out bigger today, looks like this thing goes 6 feet deep which I can bench down if I need to go deeper. My homemade one goes 17 feet down, so gotta get used to smaller unit.
I hate the controls too,---- neighbor says they are like Cat controls which are backwards to Deere controls! Its a bitch to run but I am kinda getting the hang of it.!

I saw a TON of these come thru the Ritchie Bros auction, they are flooding the market with these, the skid steer attachments and small equipment..they build the small ones cause its easy to fit 20 of them into a sea container..first thing I would do is torch cut the blade off and weld on a section of 12" c-channel for a real backfill blade..but that's just me

Ya,--- first ones that came around here went for $10,000! Now after the big flood of them they are down to around $4,000 to $5,800. Probably get cheeper that that BUT we needed one now and banker said go for it, so we got one. I know they have to have a LOT of stuff changed on them but still easier and cheeper than starting from scratch! I think the hood needs to go and just have a couple bars to hold the seat. Better air flow around the motor that way. The electric fan helps but not in the summer heat!

yep Sonny they were goin for around $5,000 here at RB Auction..brand new in the crate

This one just had the fluids put in it by the auction company, but I still had to grease it and the fittings wouldnt fit my gun OR the one that comes in the toolbox! Gotta get more metric fittings. I came up short 1, so anyway I got it greased and started diggin my burn pit bigger. About an hour in the intake valve stuck open and motor died, time to quit anyway. Guess I will have to take the head off and hone the guide out a bit!

Ive bought a LOT of Chinese skid-steer attachments lately, and have been using them a lot..one thing I have noticed is the equipment is "ass=sembed" but not really manufactured..meaning, yes the bolt is assembled but it's not torqued..no one finished the job..welds are really piss-poor, lack of penetration, welds completely off target and missing the intended weld area and surface spalling all around. Anything like this requires going over it with a fine tooth comb and checking bolt torques and inspecting everything..be sure to fill any gearboxes with lubes and grease like you said you found..nice catch on the grease zerks,that explains why my grease gun won't fit mine

The zerks they put in there are/were hammered out with an ax and wont seal even IF you get the coupler over them! Gotta replace them with know good ones. About 2 out of 6 of them work! --- great odds!
I even tried their coupler on my gun and it dont fit either! The cylinder fittings they use are greased with a pointed end stuck into a countersunk head,---no snap over head on them! LOL! Never saw anything like that before! Later that will have to be changed but I did get it fully greased for now!
Down the road I will weld a 1/4" thick piece to the top of the blade,---might get by with 6" wide or so ,--maybe ! Gotta see what would hit with blade up. I only use the blade as an outrigger to keep from draggin myself off into the hole. Probably should dig from the side,---still figuring shit out! The design of the L-12 is WAY better than the H-12 was. I will end up doing a lot of changes to it later on down the road. --- Still hate them 2 stick controls! lol! I am used to 5 or 6 levers! LOL!
For the price and for my needs it is a nice unit, small enough to haul, does some serious diggin, and fairly simple made. ----- Parts of course would be non-exist so have to make your own but not a big deal really.
Here it is in the truck when I left the auction. Got some other shit stacked around it! lol! Had to get the neighbor to bring his T-650 bubcat to set it off the truck! LOL!---he thought it was funny!

over 46 of these exact same excavators for sale at Ritchie Bros. next month..Dec 13th auction..some even have full enclosed cabs

Ya, The cab models are bigger than the H or L models. Gotta look them over REAL close cause they are all different even tho they look the same at first glance! They just throw parts together and call it a digger then slap a number on it! LOL!
As many million of them that there is on the market now the price should be between $3,500 and $4,000!
I was going to hold out a bit longer but really needed one now so figured $4,000 was a fair price.

Got the motor back together,---ran it an hour, carb is also gummed up. Cleaned it the best I could and it runs a lot better. Hope it keeps running! Total time now on meter is 4 hrs.

Took the side plates off and turned the tooth bolts so nuts are on the bottom and not the top,---digs WAY better, dumps cleaner, pulls easier. Later I can make bolt on extensions out of 1/4" plate and put on when needed. These cast thingies they had on there suck! Dirt packs in the corners and bucket wont fill!
They have a 13" bucket and used the blobs to drag in 16" and it dont work. I can make lighter smoother ones that could go to 20 inches and actually work,---did that for my 12" bucket on the homemade ex.
That thumb thing they stuck on there went into the junkpile! Always in the way and did no good whats so ever as far as I am concerned!
The main thing I would like to do is put my variable flow control valve on it. That would smooth out the control action and take the jerky stuff out of it since its go or no action on these, no slipamatic here! lol!

NOW I bent one of the outer teeth!!!!! UNREAL!!!!

one thing I have learned was on a touchy open loop hydraulic system-lengthen the levers,it makes it dampen the control action of the valve spools..try it just on one lever it might work for you..my miniloader is open loop, with a cylinder valve controlling the drive motor..the control was herky jerky until I lengthened the lever-now I have easier control..

On the carb issues of being munged-up, I'd give it couple tankfuls of 100oct (100LL)avgas, most small airports will pump it for you into a 5gal can no problem..it acts like a cleaner as well as very stable storage gas

Cant lengthen the levers,---they already over a foot long stickin up in my face, -- Totally HATE 2 stick controls, I'm used to 6 to 13 levers on shit! lol!
Airport here wont sell gas to the general public, found that out years ago,---they real asses here about that. Motor runnin now mostly without the choke on since I took carb apart and blowed air in it, put it back together and after an hour or so the motor started smoothing out.

Maybe after the valve bank wears a bit things will improve. Thats how I bent the tooth, when it jerked I hit the side of the stump that didnt move! 13hp bending teeth tells me they are soft iron, so now on to finding/modifying REAL teeth to bolt on it. Dont want to weld teeth on it, too hard to get damaged ones off.

Still need the flow control valve on it ----- would be real handy for my kind of diggin!