# Excavator yearly maintenance cost



## mtbty (Jun 15, 2012)

Looking for some info on what it cost yearly to maintain a 2ton excavator? 
Also a hours breakdown of when big maintenance items are done would be helpful to and whats the life span you've seen on a mini trail building? 

Little back store on usage for you. It's wet in the northwest and we build year around in one of the hardest places to build ever. I've built all over the west and it doesn't get harder then hear. We put a hold lot of hours on the machines and they don't come out of the woods for months sometimes. We move a lot of rock too and are duff seems endless. We move a lot of dirt. So building hear is hard on the machines.


----------



## Cotharyus (Jun 21, 2012)

Some of the information you're looking for (major maintenance intervals) is going to vary by machine. Some of the costs will vary by manufacturer. For instance, if Kubota uses the same warranty terms on their excavators they do on their tractors, you have to use Kubota filters and fluids in order to retain warranty coverage. I can tell you that adds up really fast. Some of their fluids - hydraulic in particular - costs 3x what you can get it for elsewhere. So you might want to be really specific about what excavator you're looking at.

Another advantage of that is design issues. If you're looking at something that has known issues, parts that wear out or break quickly for whatever reason, people may be able to advise you of that.


----------



## HypNoTic (Jan 30, 2007)

After the initial break-in period, this is the maintenance we do on our Kubota mini-X

Daily: grease, fuel, check track tension, clean the tracks and sprocket
Weekly: clean-up air filter, check fuel filter (replace as needed)
Every 250h: planetary oil change, fuel filter change, 
Every 500h: motor oil change
Every 500 to 750h: hydrolic oil change (every building season in our case)

Don't expect your tracks to last much more than 1000h if you're working in really hard conditions. Past the 6-700h mark, we keep a spare set available at all time. For a 2tons machine, expect between 600 and 1200$/trackset (oem vs original).

Most grease on the market are pretty cheap. We choose to get first grade, industrial grease from Swepco. It doesn't melt under pressure or when it rains. Result: less stress on the components, smoother operation and reduced maintenance cost overall. Quality grease will probably cost you 8-9$/tube while the cheap stuff is 3$/tube, but it last much longer! Also, if you can afford an electric grease gun, your staff will tank you 

Maintenance cost will also vary if you're running a brand new machine or a machine that is over 2000h. At that point, you'll have to consider replacing a lot of bearing/bushing all over the place, maybe rebuild the pumps, rebuild the planetary, etc. Either you pay for a new machine, or you pay for maintenance. We choose to replace our machines every 2 seasons and keep up-to-date, mainteance-free equipement when building in remote area.


----------

