Kubota U10 Micro Digger Review - Better than the Bobcat E10?

[Music] so today we've got a kubota u10 little micro digger and i'm going to talk you through some of the things i like about this machine and some of the things that i think they could improve on or other manufacturers of have maybe beaten them a bit um the kubota u10 uh is the there's two ranges or two models of excavator in kubota's range micro diggers that is there's the kx008 which is a looks almost identical but actually is a slightly smaller version it goes that little bit narrower and um isn't zero tail swing and then there's the u10 which is their kind of uh i guess more more powerful better specs longer arm you know twin speed tracking micro digger this is a real little weapon and a lot they get a lot of stick i think from operators um for being pretty terrible to drive um but the reality is lads it's better than a shovel and when you really need to use one of these there's nothing better um than a little micro digger to save your back with a bit of shoveling so there's some compromises no doubt on these things but i don't actually think kubota are far off the mark with this particular one um let me talk you through some of the specs so a huge amount of talk about with these things because essentially they are a micro digger and the features are pretty minimal really uh it digs uh there is obviously no cab um but there's i mean pretty much every manufacturer makes one of these uh some of them do it better than others um the kubota this particular version has been out a long time now it's a dash three um probably during update they did try putting servos on them to compete with the bobcat um but there's a very odd setup for those how those servos work and i think it's quite an expensive option so i've never actually seen one other than a plant show before and certainly never operated one bobcat when they released their e10 have really run away with the micro market and quite rightly so although a few people i know who own one and have put a thousand or more hours on them now are starting to get problems with hoses going and and things that you maybe wouldn't expect another person had a problem with a diesel injector pump i think was running lumpy and it took them a while to sort that out but um it's certainly a really well designed machine and they've kicked the arse i think up a lot of the manufacturers having said that kubota designed this thing well i mean i remember driving these back in the mid 2000s and they haven't changed a huge amount um they were right then they were good then and they're not they're not far off now so essentially the u10 has got a slightly longer longer boom this bit's a bit longer than the um double 008 i think the dipper lengths the same but it gives it that little bit higher for loading dumpers a little bit uh further reach as well which has got a decent reach on it actually when it uh when it's extended out obviously the quick hitch does help but we'll get to the quick itch in a minute um really really basic this is obviously to turn the levers on personally i find it uh it gets in the way um of my legs because you want to kind of have your legs spread out a bit when you when you're operating these the worst thing actually about about this whole machine in my opinion is the throttle okay um lever which hits your knee literally when you're sat there because this is down you can't bring it past there and it's just when it's on full throttle it you just hit your knee on it if i owned it i think that'd be getting cut off down there somewhere and reapplying the knob and these probably would be uh cut short as well for the same sort of reason but i mean other than that it's not actually ergonomically a bad thing to drive uh for a micro digger caveat there um getting on and off of it isn't too bad there's actually a decent sort of width between the tunnel you do end up scraping your foot on here which of course it does damage the pain over time but this is all compromised stuff guys it's this is not um this is not perfection this is something that goes in tight spaces and gets you out of a problem um it is the zero tail swing and all of this is all metal real chunky um solid casting and that protects the radiator she's got a decent vent the exhaust around the other side um it's that's a real big feature of this machine and and one reason i i really like it actually is it's um if you're using one of these the chances are you're in a tight horrible site and not having to worry about the counterweight is uh just one less thing on your mind really the seat actually tilts forward as well that's the uh that's the overnight parked position um or when it's raining obviously that's like the cab you know closing the cab door for some people or the windscreen i know some of you operators obviously never open the door anyway or the windscreen you like to keep yourself in your little bubble but there are some features for you on this i mean the cab floor here for example is self-cleaning every time it rains cleans the floor i mean what more can you want from this machine really you boys spending all that time wasting time cleaning does it yourself when it rains didn't it this model actually comes with air conditioning as standard uh only thing is it works in the winter and the heater only works in the summer so that is the only thing with it but it's here i mean today the aircon has been bloody brilliant it's about one degree bit of a wind i mean the fan speeds on about two it's great you know real real good the roll cage on this sits on the front back of its serious business now personally it gives you i know jesus handle to grab onto which i quite like but um it's it's not great for visibility um so the bobcat one where it's at the back and comes over the top of you i think is a really good idea um but you know certainly not bad it falls forward for um getting in low spaces and this is one thing i don't like it hits the ram so you end up with this mark on the ram because you have to sort of buck it up at a certain height to obviously move about and the roll cage fails around so i think that's a real shame um as a design feature you could if you owned it i guess take it off every time but that's not the point is it's going to be folded folded forward so that's a bit of a shame um well having said that the cage is shaped nicely for a bit of roof if you did go for that kind of mod so you know you could you could come up with some kind of bit of tough pulling up there and rig yourself a little bit out of the rain um the offset is quite good on this machine works on this pedal here very simple um good opposite actually both ways um yeah it's uh it's it's which is what you want because you're always in a tight horrible space they've got pin end greasing on all the um and all the pins which i think is a good feature said that before um hoses are all nicely inside the boom again this is all about you know protection you're in a tight area you just don't want to be worried about ripping something off um boom on the top of the of the or the boom cylinder on top of the boom which is now relatively standard actually across these smaller machines and even one and a half tonnes yes you lose a bit of lift power but you're not going to be lifting with it so you really it's um yeah again it's it's a powered shovel um hydraulics it has a it can have a twin acting um aux on it it's enough to power a breaker i don't think you'd run a flail on this little thing anyway um it's it certainly powers a breaker the scandinavians actually put um cute little tilt hitches on them which i think steel wrists do they tilt to about 30 degrees or something real nice little low compact things that is quite quite a sexy mod and i have to say if i probably owned one the kind of work i'd do i would run that kind of mod they extend the hoses though down to the dipper and then obviously have a much shorter hose so that can all be done but for a higher machine yeah the less that's on it that can be ripped off the uh the better the digging geometry on this and that's the key with these and i think where the bobcat lets itself down a bit is its ability to curl right round to load a dumper because obviously it's not a very big machine there is a track barrier often paired with sometimes a one-time dumper you'd pay one of these with and they're quite high and to get the bucket in with the load in it is quite difficult i find on the bobcat it kind of lacks that rotation um the kubota digging end i think their geometry is spot on um the only criticism i have is it's got great rotation as in when you're retention of the bucket but it's not brilliant as it is now for example getting that back of that bucket flat and i guess that's always a compromise i remember driving one without quickitch before and i think it's better when it's got a direct mounted bucket on it um i think the quick hitch probably doesn't help in that in that regard because it adds build height and it messes the geometry up a bit um just onto this quick hitch for a bit this is a white quick itch now i've come across these on many different machines before i think they spec them standard on these kubotas i i just don't buy one guys it's the best thing i can tell you is do not get a white squeakage i don't know what metal they're made out of some kind of cheese but this thing hasn't done a lot of work um and the it's it's got horrendous play on it for a micro digger and the bucket's only 900 wide with the grader this bucket don't fit the others do so you have to wiggle this one around it's a great design i like the retained pin and you know it's a spring quickitch i i get that that works really well but i don't know what they make him out of it's just i've run them on three tunnels i've run them on five tonners they're all crap um and i just i'd rather a direct mount to be honest than a bloody white squikitch they just it's just not i don't know i don't know they just haven't quite got it and there's better quick itches out there on the market um and yeah just find something else because i've nev i haven't come across one yet that's been where i thought oh okay you know it's a one-off for me not not for me um it does the job in this instance apart when you want to change that bucket all the others it works um the tracks obviously retract they've got ram on the inside and this is the key thing with these really you want to make sure that stays clean because they can get gummed up with mud and crap and then when you retract the ram it scratches the ram or doesn't retract properly um this one lost its blade extenders a long time ago which is a shame but there's better systems out there as well i don't think the bobcat system's that great they have a blade extension that slides over the existing blade that's not great for me either these ones swing out or they don't swing out you take them off re-put them on and the good thing with that is it uses the same hole so the hole gets obviously filled with crap like this but when you've got the pin in it you pull it out swing the blade round and put it in it's using the same hole so at least it holds clear when you pull the pin out right so it's going to be clean again when you put it back in um that's the the theory anyway the engine is uh under here monster three cylinder um nice little computer engine it is kubota they make engine they make diesel engines little diesel engines this is their speciality they just work i mean there's been these things have been around forever this engine is used in all kinds of things lighting towers and generators and all sorts of stuff compressors it's a great little engine um it's pretty tight in there to work on you have got oil dipstick here you can see the starter motor um you've got an oil filter you know it's not it's not bad um fuel filter it's not impossible to get into and for a little machine they've uh they've done pretty well there really the key as well i mentioned this because yamaha are [ __ ] with where their key is key's down here now that works as you can feel threatened and use it in use no problem the yamaha one is up here and when you get off the machine you flick the key with your foot and turn the digger off really irritating anyway nice one you actually put the key in the right place little lever down here um switches the blade lever which is quite nicely positioned actually up up there um it doesn't hit your knee strangely why they couldn't have done that with the throttle cable that switches your tracks to expand or retract uh and then you put it down like that and it goes back to blade again good little system the diesel's down here i don't know how much it takes less than a jerry can um i've never run out of fuel i don't know how long you have to run one for i think you'd kill your back driving it long enough to run the thing out of fuel honestly they probably take about 10 liters and that lasts about 10 years it's so efficient on fuel this thing um yeah brilliant little digger i think i've had a jerry can here for a week used every day not finished the jerry can yet so yeah think of that as you will um not really much more to say as i say it's got the twin 3 tracking is on this little pedal here which is a cute little addition a lot people don't know about that you swing your foot over here and this one operates the uh at the moment single acting um hydraulics but i've definitely seen him with dual acting so it's possible um they don't have servos as i said earlier it's a shame but this is probably one of the last sort of designs really that that doesn't that they made a pod that bolts on here and comes around and it just doesn't it just doesn't work for me um and apparently it's quite an expensive option as well the surveys the the levers as they are okay and it's got quite a nice feel for a micro digger it's a bit slow to start up so when you put the lever down the hydraulics don't really react very well but um you know once it's once it's going it's um it drives all right for a micro digger you know it's this we're not we're not talking the smoothest of hydraulics again um on this sort of size machine the only thing i'd say with these really is security which is just awful they get nicked all the time um going into vans you can fit it in a van obviously take the roll cage off if it fits in a van you pretty much lift them up they're just they just get stolen and kubota haven't really done much to help us as owners for these so if you do buy one or you already own one you'll know you just do whatever you can to make the thing secure because the key is like the 50p on ebay job um and they just go missing um all the time probably one of the most common machines so yeah that's um that's the u10 really uh would i buy one well i do the bobcat slash doosan machine is is probably right up there uh at the top of the micro end really a couple horror stories on back up from people uh but i really think again that those pencils a lot of your dealer doesn't it uh kubota i would consider one of these even now in this guys against the bobcat it's going to be reliable as hell great residual value i mean they still sell for really good money um you know even 15 years old now the design of them is certainly workable enough and it's got good digging power i think it grades well enough for uh for one of these little things um and yeah i i it'd be my probably top two i'd have thought about cabelco because i think they make two or three different micros one of them's got servos and is quite tasty but i've not got a deal around this way so that would probably put me off cabelco for me uh but yeah global quota dealer local bobcat dealer it'd be between those two um you just gotta weigh out what the price is and and what you can can get on the day um but i certainly wouldn't write one of these off just because it doesn't have servos because you're in a tight spot this thing's got little features that you you want to to get you out of trouble um and built by the people who know micro machines better than anyone else really so yeah that's the goodbye um catch you in the next video

Channel: Olliegunns

Views: 14,619

Rating: 4.8974357 out of 5

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Id: eFe69HUtH4w

Length: 17min 31sec (1051 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021