So, how do I drive a mini-digger?

[mechsympathy]

Cutting a long story short the contractors who were sorting the drains have left a rented mini-digger on the drive, just where the guys who are lining the chimney today want to put a scaffold tower. The hire firm aren't coming to get it until tomorrow

However, I have a key () so I need to know how to lift the bucket and reverse it across the driveway.

It's one of these:





(Feel free to start a sweepstake on how soon I knock the front of the house off)

[crofty1984]

With a big smile on your face!

[mechsympathy]

That's a given (Is it ok to look a bit pensive to start with?)

[sday12]

Badly if youre asking on here

[funk odyssey]

2 levers for the tracks
2 levers for the boom

no probs

[BoRED S2upid]

Trial and error. With as little of the error as possible but once you have the heng of it dig a big hole.

[Wheelrepairit]

The 2 long sticks that come up between your legs are the forward and reverse.

The 2 handjoysticks are the bucket and swing movement, easy.

And make sure that you lift the blade if its down, on my jcb its a yellow handle on the right hand joystick arm.

Just set the revs nice and low and move controls slowly, you will soon see which way you are moving.

[dirkgently]

Don't do it

Before you know it you will have dug up the lawn, the drive, the back lawn, and the you will be eyeing up the neighbors lawn.

[barney123]

I've got one.

Its like driving a car, you are all over the place intially trying to combine operations.

The two sticks infront(probably) controll the tracks and either two joyticks or levers either side.

One controls the boom up and down and swing, and the other the arm (the second bendy bit) and the bucket.

Best to play really !!

Dont try it next to your car !

[Lefty Guns]

It's really easy, get in and have a play with the levers to see what happens. Takes a bit of practice to get smooth with the controls!

There will be two levers in the middle somewhere, side by side. These are the skid steer controls and are basically throttles for each track. Push them both forward to go forward or slip them to turn. Pull them both back to reverse.

make sure you lift the scraping blade before you move!

Edited by Lefty Guns on Tuesday 3rd March 09:16

[Deluded]

Can I come round and have a go?

Edited by Deluded on Tuesday 3rd March 09:13

[AndyAudi]

I drove one for the 1st time the other week, 15 mins playing in the snow was all I needed to feel "up to it"

The guy who delivered it showed me how to work it and the only thing I wouldn't have figured out was the bars which had to be moved to the "working position" before any of the handles worked. On my one these came down a bit like a fairground ride preventing me jumping off of the machine.

[Sf_Manta]

I drove one of these when we were renovating a site for our race track (Milton Keynes raceway for RC cars till the council demolished it for housing! )

Great fun using the bucket to flatten a half full cola bottle

[MitchT]

Before you start doing anything with said digger make sure you set up a camcorder. There is considerable YouTube potential here!

[mechsympathy]

Cheers guys. It looks pretty straightforward. Which of the arm controls is likely to be the swing one? The bucket is on the ground close to the house, and I really don't want to cock that up

dirkgently said:

Don't do it

Before you know it you will have dug up the lawn, the drive, the back lawn, and the you will be eyeing up the neighbors lawn.

No danger of that. The front needs sorting anyway and the side access isn't wide enough.

[Digga]

Be very careful! It's really easy to tip small diggers over, and you can also inadvertantly do a lot of expensive damage, especially to tracks.

Digger operation advice in our: Technical Resource

Control lever diagram/explanation here: Digger Controls

Take care and enjoy!

Edited by Digga on Tuesday 3rd March 09:25

[arryb]

Digga said:

Be very careful! It's really easy to tip small diggers over, and you can also inadvertantly do a lot of expensive damage, especially to tracks.

Digger operation advice in our: Technical Resource

Control lver diagram/explanation here: Digger Controls

Take care and enjoy!

It is indeed I had to jump out as one I was playing with went over

OP: both levers together and forward = forward, both together and back = reverse.....just incase.....

[mechsympathy]

Digga said:

Be very careful! It's really easy to tip small diggers over, and you can also inadvertantly do a lot of expensive damage, especially to tracks.

Cheers, very useful pages there. I'm really (no, really) not going to do more than move the thing. Although it's tempting to park it on SWMBO roses, as I know who's going to have to move them when we get round to sorting the drive out...

[Digga]

arryb said:

Digga said:

Be very careful! It's really easy to tip small diggers over, and you can also inadvertantly do a lot of expensive damage, especially to tracks.

Digger operation advice in our: Technical Resource

Control lver diagram/explanation here: Digger Controls

Take care and enjoy!

It is indeed I had to jump out as one I was playing with went over

OP: both levers together and forward = forward, both together and back = reverse.....just incase.....

My neighbour is a builder, and his brother is a plant hirer, so he 'knows' plant, but he very nearly lost a leg like that, and I've hear of numerous cases where the operator was nowhere near as lucky. They're not toys.

That said, I've seen 8yr olds master it in minutes...

ETA remember that when you swing/slew the upper frame around 180 degrees, the track levers will still work on the basis that 'forward' is dozer blade (lifet this first or you'll FUBAR your driveway and garden!) first.

Edited by Digga on Tuesday 3rd March 09:31

[Brown and Boris]

Carefully!


I hit my new gates and dug up the gas main within 2 minutes.