chinese version of the Toro Dingo.

I've hauled a fair amount of these chinese made auction pieces from auctions in the recent past for customers that resell them to homeowners. Everything and anything from mini/micro excavators that are Briggs & Stratton gas powered, 22" wide rubber tracked with thumbs, to all the attachments you can think of like augers, mulchers, brush hogs, grapple buckets, rakes, you name it. Nothing I'd want to go out and try to use commercially, because for one thing if something breaks, you're not getting parts...you're going to have to improvise. The machines all come with their own little plastic tool boxes with their own little chinese tools in them to fix what they expect to break on a normal day. But my curiosity has gotten the best of me with these little chinese stand-up tracked counterfeit Dingos that would be pretty handy to have around for what I do. Moving electrical transformers in and out of tight spaces in old buildings, I need something narrow and agile to maneuver transformers out of and back into places that is impossible with anything wider than 48". Not that I'm looking for lifting capacity as much as I am using it just to pull the dollies that these transformers sit on, some are as much as 1500 lbs...and I'm tired of being the mule. Has anyone in here had any experiences (good or bad,) with these little counterfeit Dingos and could either tell me if they're worth the money and aggravation to own one, or just immediately talk me out of one completely? I'm fully aware of the fact that I'll be making most anything that breaks on them myself...Just wondering if they do a decent job and the tracks don't constantly spit off, etc. things like that.

Have you driven one yet ? I have stood right beside them when they are moving them, and hear complaints of not very smooth/sensitive etc.

DDoug said: Have you driven one yet ? I have stood right beside them when they are moving them, and hear complaints of not very smooth/sensitive etc. Click to expand... Yes, I have moved quite a few of them from an auction to my customer's for resale. They are not smooth to run at all...quite jumpy. The little excavators are way worse, they are pilot controls with short levers, and very sensitive. However, I'm not so worried about that as much as I am curious to hear what anyone has run into as far as problems with them, especially like tracks flying off, etc. Because most of the time they're running on the front idlers all the time when carrying things. I am looking at them strictly for one purpose, which is to be a "tug" to pull my home made machinery dollies around tight areas with, inside old mills to remove and replace transformers.

I have a lot of experience with them at a local auction company. They are JUNK! I could write a book about the problems we have with them. The excavators are worse than the mini track loaders. The machines are dangerous they are so jumpy. Never seen a track come off. With what we have seen of them, I don't see how they would go long without problems. Some of them don't work right out of the container! You would be a lot better off with a BOBCAT MT55, 85, 100, TORO, or BOXER.

. LowBoy said: I am looking at them strictly for one purpose, which is to be a "tug" to pull my home made machinery dollies Click to expand... I have a Toro Ding TX425, and I think in general Toro makes a pretty good design and a strong machine. To just tow, maybe look for something that people use to move trailers and aircraft. Check out the brand Airtug in Ohio. https://www.airtug.com/product-category/trailer-tugs/ There are many brands of these new imports, and some are getting better. But a tug may be best for you. Post an image of your dolly.

PeterG said: . I have a Toro Ding TX425, and I think in general Toro makes a pretty good design and a strong machine. To just tow, maybe look for something that people use to move trailers and aircraft. Check out the brand Airtug in Ohio. https://www.airtug.com/product-category/trailer-tugs/ There are many brands of these new imports, and some are getting better. But a tug may be best for you. Post an image of your dolly. Click to expand... I need something very, very narrow to fit in through entranceway doors. that's why I was leaning towards these little junk chinese things, just to pull the dollies with a load on them from each room out to where I can grab these transformers with something else. I have a rental place close by that has several Dingos, and when I checked the capacity I was surprised that they will lift 1100 lbs, so I'm going to rent one this time but will probably end up with a used Dingo before long based on all the positive, happy feedback on these soy sauce burning ones. I know they're junk as well as anybody, I've moved dozens of them as well as the mini excavators. They're literally uncontrollable to run, they can't be feathered, they just jump all over the place. You don't wanna be standing near anybody that's running one, I'll tell you that.

Mr. Wrench said: I have a lot of experience with them at a local auction company. They are JUNK! I could write a book about the problems we have with them. The excavators are worse than the mini track loaders. The machines are dangerous they are so jumpy. Never seen a track come off. With what we have seen of them, I don't see how they would go long without problems. Some of them don't work right out of the container! You would be a lot better off with a BOBCAT MT55, 85, 100, TORO, or BOXER. Click to expand... Oh, I agree. I've loaded dozens of these things on my stepdeck at auction, they forklift them on, then I get on them and track them into place. Talk about tightening your butt cheeks up; try being 5 feet off the ground on that upper deck, getting these hunks of junk in place to secure them down. They only put a half a coffee cup of gas in them to start them up enough to get them out of the overseas containers, and they all run out of gas right in the middle of when I'm loading them. The mini-ex's are miserable to run too. there's no feathering the controls, it's either full swing or nothing. Miserable little things to run. I'm only thinking of having one for one purpose only, and that's to do a special job with. I work with an electrical contractor and energy company that removes old transformers and we replace them with modern ones. The transformers are in basements, in boiler rooms, in closets, you name it. They weigh anywhere from 500 lbs to 1500 lbs the biggest ones do. So we jack them up, get a dolly under them, then we have to pull them from the room they're in out to an accessible area where I can get to them with a normal forklift. So I need something narrow enough to fit through standard doorways JUST to pull these units on dollies that I built to carry them. Not really lifting anything with them, they're just a tug machine. If anyone knows of anything that's narrow enough to fit through a standard walkway door that's capable of pulling something on wheels that weighs 1500 lbs, I'm all ears.

Have you checked out powered pallet jacks? Some claim to be only 27 inches wide so they should for through doors.....

LowBoy said: rental place close by that has several Dingos, and when I checked the capacity I was surprised that they will lift 1100 lbs Click to expand... The rentals companies rent something like a walk behind narrow track Toro Dingo TX420. It's narrow for sure. I have the wider track TX425 that fits through a 42" gate. Mine has the riding platform you stand on. With my weight, and even if someone else stands on the platform with me (Highly dangerous) the most it will lift is about 800lbs an inch or two off the ground (lightly dragging). To lift 4' or so high is about 600lbs on firm flat surface, maybe a touch more if you weigh 200lbs and the firm ground is sloping upward. Newer machines from toro and Kubota can certainly lift over 1000lbs, but their weight climbs up to the weight of a small car, and the width is about 48" and more. To tow, you install a hitch attachment to the front and either push or tow backwards.

One of these sounds like it's what you're looking for. https://www.amazon.com/trailer-tug/s?k=trailer+tug This looks cool, 25" wide. Joe H

https://heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/namco-forklift.117629/#post-1349298 Goes through doorway. Handy if you can find one.

For occasional homeowner-type work, I probably wouldn’t completely talk you out of one, especially since you’re comfortable repairing and fabricating things yourself. But I’d be careful buying a completely unknown auction brand. From what I’ve seen, the Briggs engine is usually the easy part to get parts for. The bigger concerns seem to be hydraulic valves/components, track rollers and bearings, replacement tracks, and oddball attachment mounts. There are owners who are happy with them, but there are also reports of tracks coming off, bearing issues, and cheap factory tracks wearing fairly quickly. For your transformer work, I wouldn’t assume a machine can safely pull a 1,500 lb dolly just because it has a certain loader lift rating. I’d want actual specs and good control/braking on the machine. One other big issue: if you’re planning to use a Briggs gas-powered one inside old buildings, I wouldn’t. Gas engines can build dangerous CO levels indoors very quickly. For indoor transformer moving, that alone would push me toward an electric/battery machine or another purpose-built mover. So for outdoor/light use, one of these could make sense at the right price. For professional indoor work where downtime matters, I’d be much more cautious about a no-name auction unit.

I assume the counterfeit dingos do not eat babies?

Northern mb said: Have you checked out powered pallet jacks? Some claim to be only 27 inches wide so they should for through doors..... Click to expand... I'd need something powerful enough to pull a dolly. And provide some lift, more than a pallet jack would have. Good thought however.

Wishope said: For occasional homeowner-type work, I probably wouldn’t completely talk you out of one, especially since you’re comfortable repairing and fabricating things yourself. But I’d be careful buying a completely unknown auction brand. From what I’ve seen, the Briggs engine is usually the easy part to get parts for. The bigger concerns seem to be hydraulic valves/components, track rollers and bearings, replacement tracks, and oddball attachment mounts. There are owners who are happy with them, but there are also reports of tracks coming off, bearing issues, and cheap factory tracks wearing fairly quickly. For your transformer work, I wouldn’t assume a machine can safely pull a 1,500 lb dolly just because it has a certain loader lift rating. I’d want actual specs and good control/braking on the machine. One other big issue: if you’re planning to use a Briggs gas-powered one inside old buildings, I wouldn’t. Gas engines can build dangerous CO levels indoors very quickly. For indoor transformer moving, that alone would push me toward an electric/battery machine or another purpose-built mover. So for outdoor/light use, one of these could make sense at the right price. For professional indoor work where downtime matters, I’d be much more cautious about a no-name auction unit. Click to expand... You're not really "pulling" 1500 lbs on a rolling dolly. I can move a 1500 lb object on my dollies by myself, so all I need is some assistance as I've gotten older and a bit wiser (so I think anyway.) I have come-a-longs, 12v winches/snatch blocks, Johnson bars, machinery skates, all kinds of rigging tools that I use to move heavy things in & out of odd places all the time. And I've been using gas powered equipment inside of buildings for years. I was just "testing the waters" as usual looking for input if anyone had any about these off-shore pieces that have hands-on experience in owning one. I've concluded that I'm just going to rent a Dingo from my local rental place and get this over with.

Mike-G said: https://heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/namco-forklift.117629/#post-1349298 Goes through doorway. Handy if you can find one. Click to expand... That would be the cat's meow...but yeah...try finding one in a certain amount of time that I have anyway. But that's definitely the concept that I'm looking for.

If you can rent a dingo, and you don't need it more than 6-10 times a year, I would rent. I'm in that spot with 10k telehandler, and a tracked skidloader. I need one or the other about six times a year. But I can rent either from about 6 different places, and haul it myself. So I can't see owning one making sense. I want to buy a 30-40,000lbs forklift. Probably two - one indoor and one outdoor. I can't rent anything like them in my area, so I'm looking to buy one - about like your big lift. We keep getting more calls for equipment moving/rigging. Let us know how the little dingo works out.

crane operator said: If you can rent a dingo, and you don't need it more than 6-10 times a year, I would rent. I'm in that spot with 10k telehandler, and a tracked skidloader. I need one or the other about six times a year. But I can rent either from about 6 different places, and haul it myself. So I can't see owning one making sense. I want to buy a 30-40,000lbs forklift. Probably two - one indoor and one outdoor. I can't rent anything like them in my area, so I'm looking to buy one - about like your big lift. We keep getting more calls for equipment moving/rigging. Let us know how the little dingo works out. Click to expand... I'm caught between a rock and a hard spot myself with all that. I am getting more and more call for what I'm doing in rigging/millwright work, and that's the direction I want to go in for the rest of the time I have to make a living, which isn't all that many more years. I wish this had come around 20-30 years ago. I rented a Kubota tracked skidsteer for a job I have tomorrow (Sunday) removing/replacing a 1500 lb transformer inside a medical clinic (hence doing it on a Sunday when they're closed.) Tracked because of the terrain and it's supposed to rain tomorrow here, making things slick for my Bobcat rubber tired skid. I could also use a 10k telehandler and a tracked skidsteer, for many things, along with a tandem axle rollback. One other job I have I can't get to with a big truck and lowbed so I have to hire the move out, and these local guys are all pretty proud of themselves here lately on the rates to move/tow with rollbacks. So you always need SOMETHING more than what's in the yard no matter how much iron you already have. It never ends. The Dingo I'll be renting is going to be in the 3rd week of October, where I have a 3 day project R&R'ing 9 different transformers out and back into several locations in an old mill down the road from here. That will determine how badly I think I will want one after seeing how it will do. It's only money they say.......

Joe H said: One of these sounds like it's what you're looking for. https://www.amazon.com/trailer-tug/s?k=trailer+tug This looks cool, 25" wide. View attachment 365122 Joe H Click to expand... Now THAT'S interesting...thanks for that.