This paper presents a three dimensional modeling and dynamic analysis of a hydraulic excavator. An excavator composed of a boom, a bucket, two boom cylinders, an arm cylinder, and a bucket cylinder is used for the analysis. Each cylinder is modeled to two separate bodies linked by a translational joint. Judging from the actual degrees of freedom of the excavator, proper kinematic joints are selected to exclude redundant constraints in the modeling. In order to find the reaction forces at kinematic joints during operations, inverse dynamic analysis is carried out. Dynamic analysis is also carried out to verify the results from inverse dynamic analysis. The DADS program is used for analysis, with proper modification of the DADS user routine according to various motions.