My son and I have started working on a project at another farm that is going to require a considerable amount of trenching/ditch digging/shallow excavation. I've got a backhoe for my Kioti tractor and the farm is an easy driving distance from home (in fair weather). We did some water line installation about a month ago and even in coveralls it was quite a cold drive (open station tractor). Plus, I need my tractor at the home farm to feed cows through the winter.
We knew that we're going to have to trench around 1,000 feet of water and electric line, and some of it will have to be deeper than what the either of the local rental places trenchers can go. That led me to start looking at other options.
I came upon a Case 360 trencher/backhoe combo with a Deutz 2 cylinder air cooled engine. I called my local Case Equipment dealer to ask them about it and they said they still support it as much as they can, and that they also have contacts with other parts distributors to get things that they don't have (as apparently Case sold their underground/trencher line to Astec, which later sold to Toro - at least I think that's what he said).
Anyway, we went and looked at the machine and it seemed to operate fine. Got it home a couple of days later and have done just a bit of trenching (just to dig a trench to make sure it works, not for anything important) and dug out some stumps with the backhoe.
I think the backhoe may be more powerful than the one on my my Kioti, and I really like being able to move the machine around and re-position without having to change seats (or even swivel around).
I know in my searching, I came upon a few threads about Case 360 trenchers here on Tractorbynet and was curious if anybody had any comments about them - good, bad, indifferent or anything in particular to watch out for.
The dealer that I bought it from said they they had replaced all the main drive belts (and they looked new) and also put on a new starter and a new battery. They claimed the previous owner had used it for trenching and digging but was done trenching and he traded it in on a small Kubota TLB.
Just curious if anyone had any comments.
Good luck and take care.
We knew that we're going to have to trench around 1,000 feet of water and electric line, and some of it will have to be deeper than what the either of the local rental places trenchers can go. That led me to start looking at other options.
I came upon a Case 360 trencher/backhoe combo with a Deutz 2 cylinder air cooled engine. I called my local Case Equipment dealer to ask them about it and they said they still support it as much as they can, and that they also have contacts with other parts distributors to get things that they don't have (as apparently Case sold their underground/trencher line to Astec, which later sold to Toro - at least I think that's what he said).
Anyway, we went and looked at the machine and it seemed to operate fine. Got it home a couple of days later and have done just a bit of trenching (just to dig a trench to make sure it works, not for anything important) and dug out some stumps with the backhoe.
I think the backhoe may be more powerful than the one on my my Kioti, and I really like being able to move the machine around and re-position without having to change seats (or even swivel around).
I know in my searching, I came upon a few threads about Case 360 trenchers here on Tractorbynet and was curious if anybody had any comments about them - good, bad, indifferent or anything in particular to watch out for.
The dealer that I bought it from said they they had replaced all the main drive belts (and they looked new) and also put on a new starter and a new battery. They claimed the previous owner had used it for trenching and digging but was done trenching and he traded it in on a small Kubota TLB.
Just curious if anyone had any comments.
Good luck and take care.
