Who knew?!?

[Inor]

The absolute LAST place on earth I would shop for an excavator is Walmart! But they do actually sell them!

https://www.walmart.com/search?q=excavator

Of course, I highly doubt they are much good. But hey, they do sell them. Dig a hole for an outhouse and buy the toilet paper for it at the same place!

[T-Man 1066]

Yep, I seen that as well.

Buy it if you really want to be disappointed.

I used to have a 861 Ford (mid 60's IIRC) with a FEL and a backhoe. That thing was heavy, around 7500#. Unless you put a trenching bucket on it, it didn't have the weight to go through much more than soft dirt. Once you start hitting roots, limestone, etc, it doesn't do much. Technique only gets you to a point, brute force does matter.

After that experiment, I almost bought a Bucyrus-Erie excavator that was on craigslist about 14 years ago for $5K. That machine weighed about 28K#, and did run. I figured it was probably so wore out it would just be a constant repair bill, so I passed. Plus I don't have a trailer big enough to move it.

The other issue with chi-com equipment is the spare parts market. Can you get repair parts for it, and unless you are a DIY'er, does anybody reputable service them?

[Inor]

It just shocked the hell out of me that they even sold them. I looked at a New Holland one at the same dealer where I bought my tractor. It was about the same physical size as the Walmart ones on the linked page but it was close to $30K. I was asking the salesman about it (thinking it would be good for trenching water lines) and he said they were not very good. In the end, I just used the bucket on my tractor for trenching and it worked fine. I only have to go down about 2 feet here so it not like I was back in MN going down 4-5 feet deep.

[T-Man 1066]

Rental equipment sometimes makes alot of sense...