New Bobcat E27z mini digger

[Gunners]

My E27 is up to 900 hours now. Mine also had the fuel filter plumbed in backwards, as others had on this thread.

I think there's a slight oil leak from the back of the hydraulic tank too.

Oh, and it dropped all the oil from the tank due to a s**t hose clip- right next to a stream, a real brown pants moment. Again, a 'known problem' according to the mechanic

There's a bit of wobble but I shim it regularly, and when I pulled the pins to inspect I could only measure around 0.03mm of wear at the worst.

It’s only done 300ish hours The paint is peeling off the bonnet where it has fouled on the counterweight,

there is an oil leak coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the rotary union that looks a total nightmare to trace (so is being ignored for now…) and it generally feels a bit cheap in places.

And they say JCB's are bad......

 

[GazCro]

And they say JCB's are bad......

Shots fired

 

[Jonnycars]

Welcome mate, where are you based?

I have an E27 with Whites hydraulic hitch and buckets, to be fair the geometry seems OK, but as Gaz says it's always gonna be a compromise. How much did you pay for the E27z and how long were you waiting for it?

As regards angles, I can't really think of any machine I've driven where you didn't have to be in a certain position to chop down the back of the hole. I always just assumed it was part of good operating, make sure you've finished the back off before you dig futher and snooker yourself as it were.

I would never go back to a manual hitch, even on the E19!

My E27 is up to 900 hours now. Mine also had the fuel filter plumbed in backwards, as others had on this thread. I was constantly changing filters at silly low hours as the machine would start to bog. Studied the lines carefully, and yes, plumbed in reverse! I think there's a slight oil leak from the back of the hydraulic tank too. Oh, and it dropped all the oil from the tank due to a s**t hose clip- right next to a stream, a real brown pants moment. Again, a 'known problem' according to the mechanic- but the factory haven't issued a specific fix. So I now have two hose clips on there instead, and he kept my very technical 'two inch stick cut at an angle' that I chainsawed on site to brace the hose against the gusset- guess he doesn't have any faith in it either!

I'm sure there's been loads of other niggles I've forgotten about, but on the plus side despite a lot of the worst kind of work (grapple and rotator, riddle bucket, pecker), the pins and bushes at the dipper end are pretty good. There's a bit of wobble but I shim it regularly, and when I pulled the pins to inspect I could only measure around 0.03mm of wear at the worst.


@Monkeybusiness - how is yours holding up mate? What hours are you on?

Hi mate, I’m based in Fife, Scotland,.
The E27z was 28 plus vat and it was a bit of a wait, I ordered it late Feb early March and was promised it in May…….it eventually turned up late July so have only had it about 3 weeks.
It’s done about 30hrs so far and I’m really enjoying the extra size and lifting ability it has, I work with my old man and have been used to driving his old Kubota KX41-2 up till now.
The Kubota has been an excellent machine but it’s getting a bit tired now and in need of a bit of TLC we have added to it over the years, mechanical thumb, riddling bucket, manual quick hitch etc hence the reason I went with the hydraulic hitch and hydraulic thumb on the new one.
We are a small building business specialising in restoration stone work, doing a lot of work for the National Trust of Scotland and also Historic Scotland.
The machines are used for lifting and sorting stone and the occasional bit of small scale quarrying while on these projects.
In fairness re the slight issue with the bucket I was facing down hill on a fairly steep slope digging a french drain to tie into pipes we had previously installed which run through the bottom of a foundation and I was able to cut the back straight/vertical but had to reposition and just knew that on the old Kubota it would have had more back angle. Saying that it never would have had the reach to dig the drain at the depth required in the first place .

 

[JD450A]

And they say JCB's are bad......

 

[Storrsy]

If I was buying a 2.7ton now it would be the Kubota KX 027-4. The amount of little issues that seem to be occurring with bobcat is enough to put me off. Say what you like about my TB216 but In terms of reliably and issues. Had it over 3 years and not one single issue- literally nothing. Even the paint work is pretty good which hasn’t famously been Takeuchis strong point with past models.

 

[Monkeybusiness]

If I was buying a 2.7ton now it would be the Kubota KX 027-4. The amount of little issues that seem to be occurring with bobcat is enough to put me off. Say what you like about my TB216 but In terms of reliably and issues. Had it over 3 years and not one single issue- literally nothing. Even the paint work is pretty good which hasn’t famously been Takeuchis strong point with past models.

The Kubota has a comparatively massive tailswing, but I agree that it would probably be my choice of buying again.

 

[Lancs Lad]

If I was buying a 2.7ton now it would be the Kubota KX 027-4. The amount of little issues that seem to be occurring with bobcat is enough to put me off. Say what you like about my TB216 but In terms of reliably and issues. Had it over 3 years and not one single issue- literally nothing. Even the paint work is pretty good which hasn’t famously been Takeuchis strong point with past models.

Must say impressed with my mates kx 027-4 paint considering its utter lack of maintenance and tlc

 

[Lancs Lad]

The Kubota has a comparatively massive tailswing, but I agree that it would probably be my choice of buying again.

Can't beat a good bum

 

[Hg2702]

Can we talk about the cat in the room