Micro excavator to lift outboard?
Discussion
Wondering if anyone has done this before?
I need to lift my mercury 70 off the boat for 15mins to change a part of my tilt trim unit. It's on very soft ground so options are limited.
Engine is 130kg roughly, max lift of the micro digger is 500kg, max lift height is 2.2m so seems ideal. Anything I'm forgetting/missing on this plan?
I need to lift my mercury 70 off the boat for 15mins to change a part of my tilt trim unit. It's on very soft ground so options are limited.
Engine is 130kg roughly, max lift of the micro digger is 500kg, max lift height is 2.2m so seems ideal. Anything I'm forgetting/missing on this plan?
Are you sure the very soft ground will support the micro digger?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCU40HUaV6c&ab...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCU40HUaV6c&ab...
The ground would be too soft for an engine hoist or anything that needs a smooth surface but the kubota 1.8 that's for hire local to me is tracked so should be stable.
I'm not sure how much room I'll have, if I could, I would like to leave it in situ. Just lift it straight up, do what I need to, and lower it straight back onto the brackets, avoiding the whole jerky driving movements with an engine swinging all over the place.
Will I need to leave the motor running the whole time or will the rams be fine holding a position for say 30mins?
I'm not sure how much room I'll have, if I could, I would like to leave it in situ. Just lift it straight up, do what I need to, and lower it straight back onto the brackets, avoiding the whole jerky driving movements with an engine swinging all over the place.
Will I need to leave the motor running the whole time or will the rams be fine holding a position for say 30mins?
Decky_Q said:
The ground would be too soft for an engine hoist or anything that needs a smooth surface but the kubota 1.8 that's for hire local to me is tracked so should be stable.
I'm not sure how much room I'll have, if I could, I would like to leave it in situ. Just lift it straight up, do what I need to, and lower it straight back onto the brackets, avoiding the whole jerky driving movements with an engine swinging all over the place.
Will I need to leave the motor running the whole time or will the rams be fine holding a position for say 30mins?
I'm not sure how much room I'll have, if I could, I would like to leave it in situ. Just lift it straight up, do what I need to, and lower it straight back onto the brackets, avoiding the whole jerky driving movements with an engine swinging all over the place.
Will I need to leave the motor running the whole time or will the rams be fine holding a position for say 30mins?
Well done, you had us going there for a moment!
Or did you mean it......?
Decky_Q said:
Wondering if anyone has done this before?
I need to lift my mercury 70 off the boat for 15mins to change a part of my tilt trim unit. It's on very soft ground so options are limited.
Engine is 130kg roughly, max lift of the micro digger is 500kg, max lift height is 2.2m so seems ideal. Anything I'm forgetting/missing on this plan?
The things I have seen done while on my travels make this sound very safe and doable.I need to lift my mercury 70 off the boat for 15mins to change a part of my tilt trim unit. It's on very soft ground so options are limited.
Engine is 130kg roughly, max lift of the micro digger is 500kg, max lift height is 2.2m so seems ideal. Anything I'm forgetting/missing on this plan?
Take the bucket off and lift from hitch, personally I would leave the engine running on a digger under 3t whilst out board is lifted.
I am not sure why people seem aghast by the idea, I think it would be fine. As long as you aren't totally ham fisted with the controls it is possible to make incredibly fine movements with an excavator as long as it's not a worn out old heap of a machine.
Will you be working on your own or will you have help? My main concern would be that the digger is overkill to the point that if something snagged / you forgot to disconnect something / the angles aren't quite right, you won't be able to see it from the cab or hear it over the engine noise and the digger would be strong enough to just keep effortlessly lifting until something breaks, with no feedback to the controls that it's lifting with more force than you'd expect.
for maximum careful operation I would use the main boom cylinder to take the slack out of your lifting strop / chains then do the actual final lifting with the bucket curl cylinder as it has the lowest ratio of control stick movement to heavy bits of metal at the other end movement
Will you be working on your own or will you have help? My main concern would be that the digger is overkill to the point that if something snagged / you forgot to disconnect something / the angles aren't quite right, you won't be able to see it from the cab or hear it over the engine noise and the digger would be strong enough to just keep effortlessly lifting until something breaks, with no feedback to the controls that it's lifting with more force than you'd expect.
for maximum careful operation I would use the main boom cylinder to take the slack out of your lifting strop / chains then do the actual final lifting with the bucket curl cylinder as it has the lowest ratio of control stick movement to heavy bits of metal at the other end movement
Thanks for the points to look out for. The one I have seen for rental is like a tracked wheel Barrow (no cab) with an excavator arm out of it. I'm planning to leave the bucket off and put a chain around it to a ring on the engine. There will be 2 of us and both mechanics so reasonably handy. Thanks to advice here I will move it to harder standing too.
I did consider doing the PH thing, just lifting it up with a long pole and a tripod (or pure muscle power) but if a corroded bolt slows me down i cant really ask a mate to hold on for 15mins while I go get the acetalyne!
I did consider doing the PH thing, just lifting it up with a long pole and a tripod (or pure muscle power) but if a corroded bolt slows me down i cant really ask a mate to hold on for 15mins while I go get the acetalyne!
Decky_Q said:
Thanks for the points to look out for. The one I have seen for rental is like a tracked wheel Barrow (no cab) with an excavator arm out of it. I'm planning to leave the bucket off and put a chain around it to a ring on the engine. There will be 2 of us and both mechanics so reasonably handy. Thanks to advice here I will move it to harder standing too.
I did consider doing the PH thing, just lifting it up with a long pole and a tripod (or pure muscle power) but if a corroded bolt slows me down i cant really ask a mate to hold on for 15mins while I go get the acetalyne!
Highlighted bit is good news!I did consider doing the PH thing, just lifting it up with a long pole and a tripod (or pure muscle power) but if a corroded bolt slows me down i cant really ask a mate to hold on for 15mins while I go get the acetalyne!
My advice, fwiw, having lifted and repositioned a few things using a hydraulic arm digger, is practice to get a 'feel' of the controls before the main event unless you're used to using the particular machine. They're all different...
Good luck!
oh also don't forget, once the machine is in position, to put the dozer blade down until it lifts the front of the machine an inch or so clear of the floor (i.e. so that the entire weight of the machine is being taken on the blade at the front and the ends of the tracks at the back. It makes a huge difference to stability when using the arm to lift stuff.
Apologies if this is teaching you to suck eggs, but might not be obvious if you've never used an excavator before.
Apologies if this is teaching you to suck eggs, but might not be obvious if you've never used an excavator before.
Check the max lift of the digger with the arm fully extended. The max figure quoted for small diggers is often when the arm is closer to the digger. 130kg could be close to the limit if the arm is fully extended.
Bear in mind that to obtain the maximum height you're often not only lifting but also extending the arm forwards, so make sure you have room to do this.
It's not something I would advise if you don't have experience with a digger.
Apologies if I'm stating stuff you already know.
Bear in mind that to obtain the maximum height you're often not only lifting but also extending the arm forwards, so make sure you have room to do this.
It's not something I would advise if you don't have experience with a digger.
Apologies if I'm stating stuff you already know.
Just to finish this thread for anyone asking the same question.
I ended up leaving the outboard in place and took the weight off the bracket with blocks of wood with wooden wedges hammered in under the tilt tube to keep it all tight and supported, job was a piece of cake. Mini digger was overkill by a mile.
Tilt trim unit replaced and working.
I ended up leaving the outboard in place and took the weight off the bracket with blocks of wood with wooden wedges hammered in under the tilt tube to keep it all tight and supported, job was a piece of cake. Mini digger was overkill by a mile.
Tilt trim unit replaced and working.
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