rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Messages
- 8,258
- Location
- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
Recently I've read a couple of threads where folks were undecided about whether to add a backhoe to their tractor purchase. Most people don't have a problem with the usefulness of 4wd or FEL, but backhoes seem to be a question. Maybe the experience we've had will help someone decide. Anyway, here's some thoughts from years of working both with and without.
First of all, all tractor work depends on the land. We have about 20 wooded mountainous acres with a creek. So our tractor use isn't for traditional Agricultural chores of plowing, planting, and mowing. Ours tends towards moving dirt, rocks, and trees. Typically it is more like construction where we are building things in the dirt, working on the creek crossing, landscaping, dirt road maintenance, and snow plowing.
For the first 20 years we just had a nifty little compact 4wd with FEL...and folks, with that combination we were simply in Hog Heaven. If you have to have only one tool make it a 4WD with a FEL - and a good 3pt hitch of course. Then one day I got a chance to buy an old 3 pt type backhoe - which we did and used it for the next 15 years. BTW, years later I sold it as is for 90% of what it cost - and the guy was grateful to get it.
From that experience we already knew that our next tractor would have a fully mounted BH with a hydraulic thumb on the bucket. That's the setup we've had now for the last five years....
Just rambling, my opinion that whenever a person can do it, the very best way to find out if you have a use for a tool is to have it handy and see it it gets used. Of course that's all easy to say and difficult to make happen, but a forum like this one is part of the answer to that problem.
What we found is that when we didn't have a backhoe we mostly didn't miss it. Many of the jobs that required digging holes or ditches could be done in some other way or just by hiring someone who did have one. Creativity helps. I even mounted a BH bucket upside down to the FEL and did some ditching that way.
Later when the little 3pt hitch type backhoe came along it surprised us with how much strength it had curling the bucket as well as how limited it was in what it could lift and how far. Particularly in how high it didn't lift! Underpowered and shaky, with limited movement, it was worth having but was basically just another implement.
It was only when I got to use a backhoe that was solidly mounted to the frame and coupled with a hydraulic bucket thumb that it suddenly became a whole different type of tool.
Now that we have a solid BH and thumb it is probably the most useful tool we have maintaining our wooded acres. Just as handy as the front end loader. One day we use the BH thumb to hold logs while we cut them to size and then it stacks them where needed. The next day we are using the BH & thumb to carefully sort and lay rocks in a rock garden. It excels at grabbing and moving things. Particularly if it needs to push some dirt around and then grab something and move it there. Also good for brush, slash, and stumps.
Final thought - It wasn't the backhoe so much as mounting it right and particularly the addition of the hydraulic bucket thumb that made the difference. We found that a tractor with a solidly mounted backhoe and thumb became a whole new & different type of landscaping tool for us.....making it easy to combine strength and a delicate touch.
rScotty
First of all, all tractor work depends on the land. We have about 20 wooded mountainous acres with a creek. So our tractor use isn't for traditional Agricultural chores of plowing, planting, and mowing. Ours tends towards moving dirt, rocks, and trees. Typically it is more like construction where we are building things in the dirt, working on the creek crossing, landscaping, dirt road maintenance, and snow plowing.
For the first 20 years we just had a nifty little compact 4wd with FEL...and folks, with that combination we were simply in Hog Heaven. If you have to have only one tool make it a 4WD with a FEL - and a good 3pt hitch of course. Then one day I got a chance to buy an old 3 pt type backhoe - which we did and used it for the next 15 years. BTW, years later I sold it as is for 90% of what it cost - and the guy was grateful to get it.
From that experience we already knew that our next tractor would have a fully mounted BH with a hydraulic thumb on the bucket. That's the setup we've had now for the last five years....
Just rambling, my opinion that whenever a person can do it, the very best way to find out if you have a use for a tool is to have it handy and see it it gets used. Of course that's all easy to say and difficult to make happen, but a forum like this one is part of the answer to that problem.
What we found is that when we didn't have a backhoe we mostly didn't miss it. Many of the jobs that required digging holes or ditches could be done in some other way or just by hiring someone who did have one. Creativity helps. I even mounted a BH bucket upside down to the FEL and did some ditching that way.
Later when the little 3pt hitch type backhoe came along it surprised us with how much strength it had curling the bucket as well as how limited it was in what it could lift and how far. Particularly in how high it didn't lift! Underpowered and shaky, with limited movement, it was worth having but was basically just another implement.
It was only when I got to use a backhoe that was solidly mounted to the frame and coupled with a hydraulic bucket thumb that it suddenly became a whole different type of tool.
Now that we have a solid BH and thumb it is probably the most useful tool we have maintaining our wooded acres. Just as handy as the front end loader. One day we use the BH thumb to hold logs while we cut them to size and then it stacks them where needed. The next day we are using the BH & thumb to carefully sort and lay rocks in a rock garden. It excels at grabbing and moving things. Particularly if it needs to push some dirt around and then grab something and move it there. Also good for brush, slash, and stumps.
Final thought - It wasn't the backhoe so much as mounting it right and particularly the addition of the hydraulic bucket thumb that made the difference. We found that a tractor with a solidly mounted backhoe and thumb became a whole new & different type of landscaping tool for us.....making it easy to combine strength and a delicate touch.
rScotty