I Bought A Mini Dumper

[Haironyourchest]

Well, I went and bought one. After spending probably 50 odd hours online researching over the last few months, I could find precious little in the way of useful reviews about these machines. I've hired the heavy duty deisel hydrostatic drive version before, but those are way too much machine for my purposes, both money wise and weight wise. This is from a crowd called AgriEuro, in Italy, was €2700 Inc Vat and delivery to Ireland. From payment to delivery was about 10 days, I think, will check later. I had to generate a fake Italian social security number to complete the purchase, apparently this is a matter of course for buying anything online from Italy. There's a website that does it for you, and it's legal, just one of those weird things. My intention is to fill the information gap online about these machines as I use it, and update this thread as and when. I was so disappointed at the lack of in-depth info, just bunch of low-res, wobbly YouTube vids. There has been some brief mention on here about mini dumpers, but not really exhaustive by any means. If you find this thread in the future, please feel free to bump or message me, for info, and I will be delighted to tell you everything I can! Ok, I've had a couple of screwdrivers (vodka and orange) so this post may ramble a bit, but what can you do? Ok, the machine arrived a few days ago, and I put it to work this afternoon, moving a pile of logs from the bottom of a field to their final destination. Can't say the distance as I didn't measure it, but boy oh boy was I impressed. The power of this thing...compared to pushing a wheelbarrow, like going from a Fiesta to a Bugatti Veyron. I didn't take pics, sorry, but had the sides extended and loaded up with logs, probably four more times than what I could move with a 2-wheel wheelbarrow, and when I unloaded, weighed each log with a digital luggage scale, the whole load was 150 kilo. And I though that was a big load. The rated capacity is 550 kilos (500) uphill. Well, grand, I think I'll avoid going full capacity for the sake of longevity, unless flat ground etc. But I was more than happy with the performance. A job that would have taken 4-5 hours and knackered me by hand took and hour and a half with nearly no effort. Full petrol tank at start, I checked at finish and couldn't see any difference (though it was getting dark). The chassis is made in Italy, 100%, by Italian law, if it says made in Italy, it is. Ands it's heavy duty. Welds look good, metal is box, about 3mm, will check with calipers and confirm. Motor is Honda GX200, made in Thailand. Gearbox made in Italy. Tracks are from ITR America, the AgriEuro website says made in Japan, but I can't confirm this. The ITR website says continuous cable etc, so they're bound to be ok. I went for the manual tipper over the hydraulic version as it was €600 more, and the kind of stuff I do don't need to tip often and if I need extra power I'll just use a cheater bar on the tipper handle. I'm going to make a proper detailed video of this yolk, if there's anything you want to see up close, let me know. Plan is to use it as an equipment carrier for saws, fuel, hand tools, hand winches and rigging and so on, to bring everything from the van to the worksite in one go, instead of hiking ten times back and fourth across fields. Also for light skidding of logs and pulling brash piles, magnitudes larger than what a man can pull. Also as a mobile work station so all the gear is in one place, instead of strewn about getting lost. I have cunning plans for building attachment points for chain and rope, mounts for clamping saw bars for filing, work lights, umbrellas and so on. The only criticism I have so far is the gear changes are very sticky, and the instructions were in Italian. Used the Google translate camera app to figure it out, you have to very lightly engage the drive clutch to get the gear lever to shift. It's a pain, but I expect it will loosen up as the gears break in.

[Mark Wileman]

Photo's please!

[Haironyourchest]

Took the mini dumper/transporter out to work this afternoon, very handy for transporting the gear from the van to the trees. The gears are starting to change more easily now.

[headgroundsman]

On ‎01‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 23:04, Haironyourchest said:

probably four more times than what I could move with a 2-wheel wheelbarrow, and when I unloaded, weighed each log with a digital luggage scale, the whole load was 150 kilo

Surely this is wrong as it would mean you would only shift 37.5kg in a 2 wheel barrow. I worked on a farm and could move more than you total with a standard farmer's wheelbarrow

[Haironyourchest]

1 hour ago, headgroundsman said:

Surely this is wrong as it would mean you would only shift 37.5kg in a 2 wheel barrow. I worked on a farm and could move more than you total with a standard farmer's wheelbarrow

Weight wise, yes, but there's no way you could fit that volume if logs on a regular wheelbarrow, a farm barrow, maybe, but it would be a real pain. And pushing a two wheeler 200 yards across an overgrown field uphill with 150k on board, repeatedly? Rather you than me dude!

[Vespasian]

wouldn't a power barrow be better for the job..  I'm sure they're faster than a tracked barrow..

[Haironyourchest]

30 minutes ago, Vespasian said:

wouldn't a power barrow be better for the job..  I'm sure they're faster than a tracked barrow..

Do you mean like a ®MuckTruck wheele jobbie? I looked into those, they are quick, but some negative reports on reliability and very expensive for what they are, seemed to me. Small volume skip as well. The trackbarrow will go at a brisk walking speed in 3rd, which is faster than I'd want anyway on rough ground.

[Haironyourchest]

[donnk]

8 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

Do you mean like a ®MuckTruck wheele jobbie? I looked into those, they are quick, but some negative reports on reliability and very expensive for what they are, seemed to me. Small volume skip as well. The trackbarrow will go at a brisk walking speed in 3rd, which is faster than I'd want anyway on rough ground.

i had the larger muck truck until it was robbed.

 

Great tool, easier to use than our hinowa 800 tracked. Very good payload as well, it holds near enough 3 builders barrows of stone. You can take the dump bed off and put a flatbed on for bulky items, it also had a tow ball for shunting work as well.

 

We make use with our hinowa now for the odd occasion we need it but miss the muck truck.

[Khriss]

These do seem to be Thing now, in our job, the idea you can haul logs up hill, carry all yr climbing n saw kit , dismount the body and pop a small woodchipper on it, is looking desirable fr our jobs on track. K