What backhoe did or would you buy?

[jymbee]

Thinking about a backhoe for our Massey 1652. Must have a hydraulic thumb but from what I can find out, MF models don't offer a thumb. (?) Hoping to get some input from other MF owners here with a comparable tractor and that have some insights as to what's out there.

 

[Turbys_1700]

This is just a thought...
Take it for what it is worth...
Backhoes are expensive...
Personally I would rather opt and buy a used Case 580 for 10K and be done with it...
You are gonna spend 5K to 8K on an attachment to your tractor that you are gonna use several times a year and then take off...
The power of those units versus an older dedicated backhoe loader are not comparable...
I am fixing up my dad's old 3616 International Harvester backhoe loader...
Very heavy machine and will flat out dig...
Hard to get parts for the backhoe but the tractor is easier...
You can buy a machine like that all day long for 5K...
Just another point of view...

 

[rmorey]

You can buy an after market thumb for around $1,000. Turbys has a good point, the 580 would have more power, except its another machine to maintain. Can be good or bad depending on your ability to do maintenance yourself.

 

[jymbee]

This is just a thought...
Take it for what it is worth...
Backhoes are expensive...
Personally I would rather opt and buy a used Case 580 for 10K and be done with it...

Hi Turbys,

I can appreciate where both you and rmorey are coming from with respect to the 580, but I had to chuckle since I just sold my Case 580CK to buy the Massey.

The Case was a great machine and for the dozen of so years I had it-- including throughout my house building adventure-- it served me very well. For example, along the 1,000 foot trench I dug to install underground power/cable I had to dig out some sedan size boulders. Ok, slight exaggeration, but those suckers were BIG! Also saved $$$ by digging out for my own septic & leach field. Numerous other projects as well.

But I'm at the point these days where it was just too much machine and not flexible enough for the many smaller jobs I want to do now. And yes, given it was a 60s vintage machine, the maintenance just wasn't worth it any longer.

 

[mguitas]

Thinking about a backhoe for our Massey 1652. Must have a hydraulic thumb but from what I can find out, MF models don't offer a thumb. (?) Hoping to get some input from other MF owners here with a comparable tractor and that have some insights as to what's out there.

You could get a wallenstein gx920 with hydraulic thumb. They have four point hitches also for the backhoe.

 

[MFRED]

Woods makes a nice backhoe too. The BH-90x with a hydraulic thumb is a nice setup for the 1652.

 

[jymbee]

Both the Wallenstein and the Woods model mguitas referenced seem to be viable options. Wallenstein has tons more info on their website but I guess that's a testament to their webmaster, not necessarily a meaningful indicator of the respective merits of each..

Appreciate the info.

You could get a wallenstein gx920 with hydraulic thumb. They have four point hitches also for the backhoe.