Rough value of a backhoe attachment for a John Deere 770

[sandman2234]

One of my in-laws, probably my favorite... who sold me my first tractor at a really great price, is preparing his estate to make it easier on his family. He has a JD770 tractor with FEL and BH attachments. The tractor with FEL is needed on the property, but the backhoe has seen better days. According to him it needs pins, cylinder rebuilds, valve rebuilds so it probably will never be used again after he is gone. I suggested that maybe he consider selling it off now rather than having them deal with it later (or not deal with it and it just rust away. I am fixing to visit with him and really could use some insight to guide us.
I purchased a Ford backhoe of similar size a while back in pretty good shape for $1400 and sold it because it was the wrong color and too small for my tractor. I also bought an International 3pt with good pins, very little actual use, but had been sitting for at least 15 years.... so all the hydraulics were pretty much gone. I paid $500 for it, just as a reference to ones that have been available around here. Don't know if I have tripped over two of the best deals in the world or just lucky, but thought I would ask everyone what their gut feeling of value might be. I might try to get a model, etc on it just to help with rough pricing, but any thoughts would be appreciated.
David from jax

 

[jenkinsph]

Wow, sounds like everything is worn out. I have see alot of small backhoes but rarely is everything worn out as you describe. I would give it a close look to see for yourself what kind of shape it is in. Most of this could be fixed easy enough though. Packing and Orings are cheap enough, pins are more costly but shouldn't be too bad for a small hoe. Good project for someone who has the free time to make the repairs. Don't know if they are still around but there was a company named Sunnen that made cylinder hones for reworking hydraulic cylinders. I built two honing machines from scratch years ago, the larger machine could hone cylinders up to 24" bore and 14' in length that some big cylinders. Back to the present a small drill and the proper hone often will make reworking the cylinders easy enough to do at home.

 

[sandman2234]

I would buy the hoe and rebuild it, but it is way too small for my JD2555. Thought about buying it and reselling it to recoup some of.my money, simply to make it easier on them. They use the tractor for garden chores and Bush hogging so it isn't going anywhere. David from jax

 

[crashz]

David,

It should be a model 7 backhoe. It was installed on 770's, 755's and I think 855's. Usually anything that had a model 70 or 70a loader.

In my area they are hard to find and will bring good $$. If I was close, I'd make an offer on it.