Chinese Mini Excavator: DIY Hydraulic Oil Change

Chinese Mini Excavator: DIY Hydraulic Oil Change. in this video i show you what is involved with a hydraulic oil change on one of these little machines. I also have amazon affiliate link for the correct filter below!
Donaldson P551551 hydraulic oil filter: amzn.to/3Hxolbz
Hydraulic aw 46 oil: amzn.to/3SthSF0
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[@amandasterling7948]

Lost the manual to this and had no clue what type of hydraulic oil to put in. You're a life saver!

[@FabbinAdventures]

Thanks, glad i could help!

[@lupus247]

I have my manual, and that info isn't in there. It's why I went looking and found this video.

[@FabbinAdventures]

@lupus247 yep, that manual is pretty much useless. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@tigertoilet2]

So what type of oil.

[@FabbinAdventures]

I say it in the video, the manual calls for 46 i believe, i used aw32 hydraulic oil.

[@GlorytoGod580]

Thank you brother. Iv been looking all over the place for the filter and no one knew which one. Just ordered will off of Amazon thanks to you.

[@FabbinAdventures]

No problem at all, it took quite a while for us to figure out the right filter so i thought id pass on the knowledge! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@GlorytoGod580]

@@FabbinAdventures which hydraulic fluid do you use? I can’t find anything that matches what they have in the side by the fluid indicator so I just bought some 5 gallon bucket off of Amazon.

[@FabbinAdventures]

I used aw32 for the cold weather we have here. Any aw 32 or 46 will work.

[@DAS-Videos]

How much hydraulic oil does it hold?

[@FabbinAdventures]

@DAS-Videos roughly 8L give or take a liter or so.

[@petermcaree]

this guy has to be the must honest guy on youtube thanks

[@FabbinAdventures]

Gee thanks! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@johnelmore9755]

All cylinders are dual action, each side of the cylinder can be pressurized so there is fluid in them whether extended or retracted.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yeah i realize that now..lol someone else beat you to telling me that, and i shoulda known too, but, i failed to use more brain power. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@patrickclochesy1990]

This is absolutely true, but these cylinders are also not equally acting. The space that the rod takes up reduces the force in one direction, and when the cylinder is closed it also stores less fluid than when it's open. So there was still somewhat of an advantage to having the cylinder fully retracted!

[@FabbinAdventures]

@patrickclochesy1990 yeah, i kinda figured something like that after i thought about it. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@maximus297759]

Simple fact the most fluid get in reservoir is way you did it.

[@GunHolsters]

How do you get all the hydrologic fluid completely out of each cylinder?

[@Tunzbig]

Love the work as always. You can also use some types of chewing gum as a sealant, Something reacts in the gum with the hydraulic oil and it works as a seal on some threads and bungs. I used it for a hydraulic ram on a hoist that had a small weep. Good for emergencies if your in the sticks doing jobs.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Thanks man, great tip!

[@dough6393]

Good morning Ron. The amount of hydraulic filtration is impressive. Thanks for the video.

[@FabbinAdventures]

You bet, thanks for watching and commenting!

[@stevellb5403]

Hello from northern Alberta I picked up one of these little hoes last week and was wondering if yours came with the hydraulic oil filter set up. Mine does not have one and I think I’m going to have to add one. Trying to find the right adapters at this point

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yep mine did come with the hydraulic filter set up, if you watch some of my other videos on the mini excavator you will see it and a few mods and what i had to do to it. I too live in Northern Alberta. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@stevellb5403]

Thanks will take a look at them.

[@jeremyc9229]

Thanks for the video! Its about time for my first oil change, but first I need to hinge my rear panel like you did! Those are double acting cylinders, so I believe they still contain basically the same amount of fluid no matter the position of the ram.

[@FabbinAdventures]

No problem and yes you are correct about the cylinders, my mistake, thanks for pointing that out. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@benlenders7813]

The difference is the size of the rod. So the amount of rod you put back into the cylinder is the amount of oil you put back in the tank. That is also why the cylinder has more force extending because it has more area to push on without the rod in the way and also why they are setup to be extending during the part of the dig when you need more force.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Good info, thanks for watching and commenting!

[@stevellb5403]

Is your hydraulic filter plumbed from the top nipple on the tank to the filter housing and from the filter housing to the main pump. Can’t see in your video thanks for the info.

[@Thepreppersbunkeroutdoors]

I just got one last night. Mine is a bit jankety but the price was right. Ill be doing oil and hydraulics shortly after my first few hours. It took me longer to take the covers off the seat cushions that i hope itll take to change the oil lol

[@FabbinAdventures]

Awesome! You'll get it sorted. They are not perfect, thats for sure. Hinging the rear cover is a real bonus too, saves a bunch of time!

[@Thepreppersbunkeroutdoors]

@FabbinAdventures oh that is certainly a MUST do. The packaging of the qh12 is kind of a bummer compared to some of the other Chinese mini x's but it's what I could get.

[@FabbinAdventures]

They seem to be an all right machine for the money as long as a guy goes into it knowing theres gonna be some fixing and checking over!

[@Elliott_Ray]

How many gallons of hydraulic fluid did it take?

[@FabbinAdventures]

Not quite 2 roughly

[@boostedlsjuan5307]

I think some shields for the hydraulic lines going into the final drives would be a good idea

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yeah i will look at doing that for sure in the future. Though i dont see it as real high priority for what i use this machine for at this point in time. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@skeller0160]

I bought the QH12R and I'm not seeing a hydraulic filter anywhere. Is it somewhere I'm not checking? Maybe inside the hydraulic oil reservoir tank like it is in this video? And would that be enough of a filter or should I add an external filter? Its the 2024 model with the R420 15 horsepower motor.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Wierd, there is not many placrs to hide a big external hydraulic filter. Im guessing if you dont see one, you dont have one. The filters in the tank are really just screens. A real filter would be nice, but not sure if its really needed. It definitely will help if something breaks down in the system to stop the pieces from going through your pump and valves. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@LiesaHyldig]

Awesome thanks so much!! Any online manuals were no help at all. Now I have to work at getting that dumb back panel off!!! I'll have to do your mods on that after too. I'm from Woking originally..so maybe somewhere near where you live!

[@FabbinAdventures]

Glad you found some value in my video. Putting a hinge on that back panel is a game changer! The paper back manual for the excavator is horrible and useless at best..lol I also have a video on the hydraulic thumb i fabbed up, check it out. Im located between Hinton and Edson.

[@irakozak1]

Did you add the hinge and locks to the rear panel mine bolts on. I have a larger model ME-10 with a closed cab

[@FabbinAdventures]

You bet, it was the first thing i did, you can see why if you go back a couple videos and watch the first video to this mini excavator series. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@tomgiroux2407]

Thanks for the great Video. I don't understand how you read the hydraulic oil level on the clear gauge. What level did you fill yours to?

[@FabbinAdventures]

About 2/3 to 3/4 up the glass, need room for expansion for when it gets got. The guage is a temperature guage/visual level guage. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@maximus297759]

I’d think about removing sun shade. If it tips you will be trapped and that skinny pipe will fold.

[@FabbinAdventures]

We dont have anything steep enough to tip it here.

[@denslod2930]

@@FabbinAdventures Talking to a guy that didn't have a canopy, he bumped a tree, a dead limb came down and hit him a the head and chest.

[@FabbinAdventures]

@denslod2930 yup, id keep the canopy on, especially if your working where something can fall from above. They are wide open enough that if it did tip you can bail, why would you want to ride it out anyway..lol

[@denslod2930]

Most machines have a filter in the hydraulic tank. You have to take the plate off to unscrew it, I think it’s pipe threads.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yeah, i was just surprized that a "chinese" one would have that much filtration. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@davehimlin2374]

it not really a filter though..its a screen ?

[@FabbinAdventures]

@davehimlin2374 yes it is a screen but it does filter out the big pieces..lol

[@terrya6486]

What are the Dimensions of the hydraulic cylinder you put on the thumb ?

[@FabbinAdventures]

2x8"

[@LiesaHyldig]

Great video..ive just got 10 hours on and i cant figure out how to drain the engine oil..have you got a video for that?

[@FabbinAdventures]

I just did a short on it, here you go. kzbin.infoCYLvHalj0xA?feature=share

[@denslod2930]

@@FabbinAdventures When changing oil, add a drain hose, That will stop the mess and make it easier, M12x1.5 fitting I think, check.

[@gmkdesign]

You referred to doing an engine oil change in this vid. What engine oil did you use? Thanks

[@FabbinAdventures]

I just used regular old 10-30. Nothing too special other than i added a oil drain hose to make it a bit cleaner next time. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@gmkdesign]

Thanks

[@shanerogers488]

What size O-ring was that?

[@FabbinAdventures]

Good question, im not sure, i just tried a couple till one fit. Sorry i cant be more helpfull.

[@JIgginCrappie]

I bet the Napa filter was boxed wrong

[@randyx007]

Cleans out a tank with a fiber rag. Should have sucked the debris out. Just a tip.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Thats what the filters are for, i just cleaned up the big pieces if any. I also put a magnet in which i forgot to show, so there is that too.

[@randyx007]

@@FabbinAdventures yeah I suppose that would catch fibers. Probably not as bad as metal bits. That is a good idea as well, to use a magnet. Just picked up a Chinese mini skid and boy are they fun to fix out of the box lol.

[@FabbinAdventures]

@randyx007 yeah they give a guy stuff to tinker on and improve upon plus they are kinda fun to run!

[@randyx007]

@@FabbinAdventures yeah they are, only issue for me is, I have about 10 zero turn mowers, 5 snow plows, 5 trucks and other stuff I have to tinker with lol. But I expect this.

[@FabbinAdventures]

@randyx007 well if a guy goes into these things knowing you need to tinker then its kinda fun. But if you expect them to work like the pro units your gonna be severly dissappointed. They do work pretty good and definitely better than a shovel. Right now im using mine to lift the hood off my tractor that needs the rad fixed. The hoods on these old tractors are heavy, they used real steel back in 1969!

[@backdoormanintheend]

There's a youtuber who's going to build and sell hydraulic filter/cooling kits ($400) for these machines.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Thats garage connection i believe. He seems to know alot about hydraulics. Probably a decent deal if its plug and play.

[@VergorioVergara]

I’m pretty sure the cylinders hold fluid even retracted there is less when they are retracted because of the space the ram fills but you are pushing a rod one way or the other with fluid so by pushing it all the way one way it doesn’t mean is completely empty

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yes you are correct, i didnt think about that at the time. Somebody else corrected me a few months back on this already. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@VergorioVergara]

@@FabbinAdventures ok i just didn’t know if you were aware , but let me ask you something, i got one of these mini X recently and it has issues , it didn’t have much power and when you move something let’s take for example the boom up and down the engine sounds like it’s maxed out under heavy load and i my thinking was that going down it shouldn’t even do that because the weight of the whole arm it’s already putting pressure down so it’s technically just letting the pressure out one side , so i had an idea and made a test , i took both hoses off the boom and connected the together in a closed loop with a TEE and a gauge on it , when i worked the lever the pressure on the gauge gets to 2500 or 2600 psi where i think it should be near nothing since it should be going right back to the tank so i think it’s fighting 2k plus pounds just to move , what do you think it’s wrong with it ??? I think it’s the multi hydraulic valves assembly

[@FabbinAdventures]

@VergorioVergara definitely sounds like you might be fighting a restriction somewhere. Definitely shouldnt be struggling when its unloaded, unless your not running enough rpm and your asking for max movement, then it might sound like its loaded.

[@VergorioVergara]

@@FabbinAdventures not rpm issue , it gets worse the faster i run the engine , a restriction or the valves are feeding pressure on both houses at the same time , i ran it on a bucket and i had fluid coming out on both hoses when actuating the lever , one had a lot less flow but still was coming out

[@FabbinAdventures]

@VergorioVergara wow thats strange, do all the controls react that way or just the main boom. That doesnt sound right at all.

[@steffo4296]

There is fluid around the Rod in the home position. Am I wrong? 2:00 I mean hydraulics is connected to both side of cylinder

[@FabbinAdventures]

You are correct, not sure what i was thinking. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@JIgginCrappie]

A Napa 1551 is the same as a wix 51551 and crosses to that Donaldson filter you used. The Napa filter you had was boxed wrong

[@FabbinAdventures]

Ahh maybe thats what went wrong. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@Mikefestiva]

Great video Ron! I have definitely been enjoying this series 👍 I just ordered myself a mini last Friday! Looking forward to going through it and tuning it up. I was looking at the QH12 or a 1 Ton Rippa, but the QH12 went up $300 overnight on EBay from all of the sellers that ship from Illinois. So I decided to pay a few hundred more and get the Rippa 1Ton. Hope it turns out to be decent. It’s got the spin on filter, Parker hydraulic pump, electric fan in the engine bay, hydro thumb and 3way ball valves on the Aux lines going to the thumb. Should be here in about a week! Thanks again, I’m looking forward to your next video 😊

[@FabbinAdventures]

Thanks Mike! Thats cool, hopefully the Rippa will be a good unit! You gonna do some vids on it? Im sure there will be mods or tooling that will need to be made. Thanks for watching and commenting man!

[@Mikefestiva]

@@FabbinAdventures Yes I definitely plan on making some videos on it. I will give your channel and mini Excavator playlist a shout out in the video I make, Keep up on the good work man 👍

[@FabbinAdventures]

Awesome man maybe we can bounce ideas off each other! I cant wait to see what kinda stuff you come up with also, should be a fun project! I just got thr Cut 65DS from yes welder to review so i'll be cutting bucket, rake and ripper parts out pretty soon! Maybe we can share cut files too or R&D some better accessories for these units!

[@Mikefestiva]

@@FabbinAdventures Definitely sounds good! I plan on making some buckets, Ripper hook, a brush rake and a few other things. Definitely will share some files back and forth. I don’t think my machine has a counter weight so I may Fab a thin metal box behind the engine inside the engine bay and put concrete into it? These machines can be fitted with small 3 cylinder diesel engines so I think that probably adds another 300 plus pounds to the rear, so the counter weight shouldn’t hurt anything.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yeah mine doesnt have counter weight either. I was thinking of getting old wheel weights from the local tire shop and melting them down into a custom fitted box or form kinda like a rear bumper and bolting them on! Should be pretty fun working together on these units even though we are probably over 1000km apart..lol

[@Mikefestiva]

Any New mini Excavator videos coming out soon? I definitely been interested to see what you have been getting done around your place with your mini excavator. Hope all is going well for you this summer. 😊👍

[@FabbinAdventures]

Hey Mike, good to hear from ya, no new excavator vids as ive been working hard on my square body project, it was a bigger project than i had inticipated..lol 1 ton axles, 6" lift, rebuilt turbo 400 transmission and a freshened up 350 with new rings, bearings, aluminum heads and intake, cam and lifters and roller rockers. Working on the cross over steering today and hopefully 3" stainless exhaust tomorrow and saturday. I gotta get this thing done, hunting season is right around the corner. I have a few review videos in the works though. How bout you? Whats up and coming?

[@keepinglifesimple4974]

Just purchased the qh13r model think it's a great exvator plan on using it to make a camp new Brunswick like the tickle trunk reference watch that show my whole childhood

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yeah they seem to be decent little machines if used within their boundarys. Lol, didn't think anyone would catch the mr dressup lingo!

[@keepinglifesimple4974]

Classic TV show

[@FabbinAdventures]

@keepinglifesimple4974 sure was, i grew up watching it as well.

[@tlgsolidrock777]

Great video Fabbin. Any thoughts on oil filling and draining of the travel and swing reducer? How and type of oil? The diggers have the lines, but aren't the typical drain and fill, the manual does have details, but they don't look correct. I emailed the company typhon, who said it doesn't need changed. Any details on how to drain and fill?

[@richallen7989]

Do you know the size of the hydraulic hoses? I have the DK12..i assume i would just use the stock hoses that ae in my machine...i want to add one.thanks..great vids by the way.

[@scottBROWN-h6k]

I have a AGT QH12 with less than 5 hrs on it. The valves that control it is leaking from the washer and nut. the one in front of valve (front of valve closes to the bucket). any idea on how to fix it. not sure what is behind the plate. any feed back would be helpful. THX

[@FabbinAdventures]

Thanks for watching, unfortunately i can't help you there, i havent had it apart to even look in there, mine was all good that way with no leaks.

[@lancerekve2914]

Hello, I followed your video, works great 👍 Do you know the size of the grease fittings? I want to change them out

[@FabbinAdventures]

The grease fittings are M10 and M8. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@JIgginCrappie]

Mine had a 14 mm head for the drain plug

[@FabbinAdventures]

Not surprising, seemes the chinese use the closest part at hand sometimes..lol

[@bobhuddleston8883]

you never mention capacity, show us the guage and your not sure if you overfilled it?

[@FabbinAdventures]

When i was filling it i said that i pulled about 6L from the tank when draining it, so i put about 6 or 7 back in or about 3/4 of the way up the glass. Sorry i didnt show that. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@gmkdesign]

Why would you need to change oil after only 8 hours?? Just curious

[@FabbinAdventures]

I do it with every new engine that i get including vehicles, quads, every engine. Metal filings or particals come off the new parts in the first few hours of run time and get suspended in the oil. The early oil change flushes a bunch of that crap out so it does less damage to the new engine. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@gmkdesign]

Thanks for the info, I may get mine done lol 50hrs😅

[@denslod2930]

And they put the worst oil in those excavators.

[@FabbinAdventures]

Yup, thats why you should change it asap!