Woods 7500 or BL4690?

[Anonymous Poster]

I am considering buying a backhoe for my L3410. I have some work to do to as we are building a new house. I have to trench about 350' to bury the power feed & telecom entrance cable. It cost about $325-$350 a day for a Kubota Excavator - KX41 I think. If I divide the approx. price of the hoe ($6000) by $350 it's 17 days to break even. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif What I would like feed back on is this...What's the difference between the Woods 7500 and BL4690? And secondly, how well can I expect this piece to work? Thanks in advance all!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I did a hundred foot trench with my BX-22 'hoe in just about an hour and a half...two days after taking delivery on the machine and with no previous backhoe experience.

If you don't have a lot of other projects that you'll use the hoe for, than the rental is by-far a better deal. That 350' trench shouldn't take you more than a day or two, including learning how to dig! But I must say, I do enjoy having the backhoe available and use it for a lot of little things, too.

BTW, be sure that your power feed and telcom feeds are spaced far enough apart to avoid interference problems...

 

[grandad]

I'm a backhoe owner wannabe also, and here's some tidbits I've picked up.

Woods 7500 and Kub 4690 are comparable. The 4690 is a "3pt" attached unit, meaning it uses the lower 3pt attachment points (which are removed when using hoe), plus the toplink. It is a "pto pump" unit, meaning it has its own self-contained hydraulics that run from the pto.

On the L10 series tractors, Kubota strongly recommends adding a "reinforced toplink bracket" to prevent potential damage to the transmission housing with 3pt backhoes. It's included in the 4690 "kit" from Kubota and can be bought extra to use with other backhoes like the Woods 7500.

Speaking of which, Woods has a good reputation for backhoes and the 7500 is a very popular product. You have more options for how you configure the Woods hoe than the Kubota model. You can choose between a pto pump or run it from the tractor hydraulics. You can set it up as a 3pt attached unit or get a customized subframe matched to your 3410.

Most everyone who has a BH favors the added strength of a subframe-style. The only potential drawbacks may be some ground clearance issues with a subframe (probably not a problem on a 3410) and possible conflict between the subframe and a mid-mount mower.

Keep in mind that I am so far all talk and no action in my backhoe shopping, so my 2 cents is barely worth that much. But I think either unit should work fine for light-medium use.

By the way, I have about 800' for my utility trench, plus about 5 years worth of stumps and deadfall trees to clear up, plus a basement to excavate, plus etc., etc. with my future BH. Renting would cost more, plus less convenient for a weekend warrior like me. Good luck with your projects!

 

[Carl_NH]

Dazed,

The Woods unit with subframe is good, also look into the Bradco 3375 or 3390 series, the 3375 is the 7.5' equal to the Woods 7500, but is now being offered with a 4 Post attachment setup similar to the Kubota TLB series, meaning there is not much subframe to deal with and the R&R is easy.

Cost for the 7500 & subframe with a new tractor is around $5K and the Bradco about $5500 with the 4 post setup. I like the looks of the Bradco as it sits a bit closer to the tractor which means a little less length. The Woods probably will have it's own PTO Hyd system though the 3410 has sufficient flow to handle the BH, and the Bradco can be setup with or w/o the PTO pump.

As to your calculation the $350/day x 2 days you will spend less than $1k for the rental and get the job done, but have nothing but a covered trench to show for that $700+ when done, so I vote for buying the BH since the depreciation you will experience will likely be about $700 in the first year of ownership and you have a great attachment to boot.

Carl