BX 24 digging capability & my quote

[Tom_H]

Beneath my hard dry clay, I have Duripan, which is one of 3 true hardpans. Duripan is clay that's been silica cemented from old volcanic obsidian ash. It is almost completely water impermeable. (The other 2 true hardpans are Ironpan, which is cemented by Iron Oxide, and Caliche, which is cemented by Calcium. These 3 are much harder than fragipan, which is what forms from heavy equipment continually running over and packing clay.)

I struggled for a very long time over whether to buy a Woods BH6000 bh to go on my BX2200. The local Kubota dealer would not let me rent a BX24 to do a test dig on my property; he was convinced that it was impossible for any BX with a bh to dig in our Duripan. I had a TBN member who is only a few miles away bring his BX23 over for a test dig in Feb. The clay was saturated, but I was surprised that the slightest amount of moisture had worked its way into the Duripan. The BX23 did actually dig very slowly in the Duripan. I went ahead and ordered a Woods BH6000 for my BX. By the time it arrived and got mounted, our wet season (winter) was over and the ground baked dry. I got both a 12" and a 9" bucket. With the ground dry, the bh will dig about an inch at a time in the dry clay, but not at all in the dry Duripan. The clay is easily moistened (you have to wait a couple of days for it to soak in, spread out, and become not soupy) and diggable, but the Duripan has to sit beneath water saturated clay topsoil for weeks to gain enough moisture to be diggable. There is, however, one way to dig into the Duripan in the hot dry summer. I bought a single tooth ripper and a bh thumb from Richard at Bro-tek. With the bucket off, and the single tooth ripper on the end of the bh, it is able to rip through dry Duripan (this stuff is as hard as concrete-no exaggeration) about an inch at a pass.

If you can borrow or rent a BX24 to test dig, that would be very advisable. Even if it does not dig, it is possible that having a Bro-tek ripper tooth in place of the bucket might make the difference.

Another item that Richard offers at Bro-tek is a very nice thumb. With the bucket in place and the thumb extended, you can pick up and move many of those numerous rocks you mentioned. Another way to handle some of those rocks could be with an American Solutions grapple attached to your FEL bucket. The bh thumb and the FEL grapple would each be able to handle certain rocks of a size and shape that the other one could not, though there would be certain rocks that could be handled by either one. A landscape rake would help with the smaller rocks after the bigger ones have been removed.

A toothbar from Markham for the FEL is another very useful item.

Here are links:

Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons

American Solutions LLC

Markham Welding - Tooth Bar

Best of luck with your decisions.

[jaybrad]

I just priced a BX24 a few weeks ago, and your price is better than what I was quoted, and my quote did not include a MMM.

I wound up buying a Massey Ferguson GC2310, which is a similar size and configuration. The tractor and bucket were an easy decision, but I really wrestled over the backhoe for a long time. Now that I have had it for a couple weeks, I am very pleased with the TLB setup and think it was worth every penney.

I did get a Bro-Tek thumb as part of the deal, and it is a great accessory. You will be amazed how this enhances the backhoe. If asked, I would highly recommend it.

Good luck with your decision - and with your new BX. :-D

Jay

[bx24d]

I have 100 plus hours on my bx24 and have been impressed with endless versatility and power. If you're looking for a backhoe that can dig quickly and easily in hardpan, you'll need a tractor that is much too big for your lot and other purposes. For small rocks like you describe, I can't imagine you will be disappointed. For all your other purposes, it'll impress you. Yes it is expensive (you're price blows away anything in the Northeast by far). Jump on this offer before July and by the end of the Summer, you'll wonder how you got along without. Renting one is a good idea but not likely to disappoint either.

[Shmudda]

I purchased a BX24 in December 2007 and took it out the first time around March/April of this year. My job at the time was to dig some stumps and grade some small hills and mounds of dirt that had been piled for 50 years. The machine made short work of it. By all regards the machine is small, but over time you can really accomplish a lot of work.

I live about 40 miles East of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and my price was $16,800 plus tax, with a 54" MMM, hoe, 12" bucket, FEL, and a tooth bar. Not bad from what I have seen. Be sure you get the toothbar...makes a world of difference!

Attached are some pics of stumps I dug with it so far, and a Thumb.....just amazing for its size!

Craig

[warhammer]

That looks like a subdivision I looked at west of Austin off of Hwy 71.

WarHammer

Originally Posted by txkevin

To give you an idea of the conditions....

[txkevin]

Originally Posted by warhammer

That looks like a subdivision I looked at west of Austin off of Hwy 71.

WarHammer

Off 1431 near Lago Vista.

[txkevin]

Thanks for the input everyone. The pictures are very impressive.

[Jim_Becker]

I have a BX22 and have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of work I've been able to do with it...once I got over the "go slow and baby it" phase. At this point, I'm not afraid to horse it around and it's done some impressive work, not just with digging, but for things like moving large limestone boulders around using a combination of bucket curl and other movements. Not "fast" work, but effective, nonetheless. I've also removed some fairly large stumps with the machine.

We have a heavy clay soil inundated with limestone rocks of variable size. When you get into the harder stuff, digging slows, but good technique gets the job done. I agree with the poster up above that there may be good value in some aftermarket attachments from places like Bro-Tek (Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons) to help break up difficult soils, etc. I'm considering the thumb at the least for some of the heavier landscaping work I now am faced with since our addition was completed. I may also opt for their skid plates, especially since I'm selling my MMM after buying a ZTR for mowing duty.

As to the cost...yea, not inexpensive to buy one of these big orange power tools. But when you take the cost over time and consider the cumulative rental cost and time lost locating, transporting and returning a rental, things smooth out. You can add to that consideration the potential cost of hiring out the work, etc. For us, having our own machine has paid for itself several times over I'm quite sure.

[easygo]

TexKevin,

I have a B7510 that has about the same ability as the BX (may be a bit more) My wife wanted nothing to do with the tractor purchase and now a year later even she thinks it was a good idea. The tasks that used to take hours to complete and left me dog tired at the end of the day now are fun time. I just hop off the tractor and say: "Anything else you want me to do honey?"

[txkevin]

Originally Posted by easygo

TexKevin,

My wife wanted nothing to do with the tractor purchase and now a year later even she thinks it was a good idea.

I am making some progress. She wants to go look at / test on this weekend. A step forward it seems..... A big step since she sees it as going up against a pool installation.