i guess i get a little confused with all the stories on how much people use or need backhoe attachments on their compact tractors.
I can hardly find an issue that i cant resolve with the loader alone, except for roots and trenches.
And i hardly ever need to deal with either. I personally HATE running my tractor arround uneven ground hauling a backhoe that rocks the **** out of the tractor all the time. I take it there not too hard to unhook and rehook.??
I can always find a rental excavator when needed myself, as we have 4 rental yards wthin 20 miles of me, and i haul with my own trailer. When i need one for a job, id rather haul it a few miles to the job then haul my own on a 40 mile roundtrip. The rental yards here are always updating their equipment every other year, so the rental fleet is in very nice shape. Ive never had a unit fail me on the job.
I include the cost of rental to a job bid, so the money factor isnt an issue. I dont have to maintain the how, bucket, digging teeth, hoses, etc. Heck, i dont even have to grease it unless i need it for more than 1 day.
I cant use the thing to move my large rocks, cause these rocks more than outweigh even my new DK45.....there huge. Ive had to get a huge excavator in here to move and place them.
The thumb is nice, but i cant move trees with them cause my trails are too narrow. I guess holding up trees while i cut them with a chainsaw would be nice, but i can cut them on the ground 1/2 through and roll them for the other 1/2 easy enuf.
oh well, some people may get alot better use of a BH than i could ever get. all the power to them. Now a TRACTOR, that i cannot live without.