I've had this trencher for about 3 yrs now. The only problem I've had has been with bucket,James
First, I'd like to THANK James for his comment. First one that actually addressed the question of whether the HF Backhoe is worthy of a purchase. The rest of the tyrade was people praising or complaining about other non-related HF products.
That said - I too have had mixed luck with Harbor Freight, which is why I went looking for a review on this one. Mostly - their steel sucks, which I've seen is the case with almost any chinese steel. I don't think they've quite figured out metalurgy yet. I often said that if the Chinese made their battleships out of the same steel they make their tools, I could sink the entire chinese fleet with one American made ball peen hammer. There is also a "precision" problem in some of their products. If you know how to properly handle tools, you can overcome that with proper care, but when a pot-metal C clamp breaks in half or twists, there's not much you can do about bad steel.
That said, I just bought a 10+ acre plot and need to put in some septic, widen out a pond, etc. Looking at renting vs buying, at $5K or $10K+ I'd rent every time. But to buy a backhoe for $3K... that I could use repeatedly and even rent out in a pinch - might just do the trick.
If all I'll be doing with it is digging up one bucket of dirt at a time - the hydraulics SHOULD be enough to do the trick, and if not, I can always replace a ram with a better one. B&R Motors aren't that expensive. There is always Motion Industries or Grainger for other stuff. So the only thing I feer is breaking the steel parts. If they hold out, then the rest is common sense, and not trying to use a 5 gallon hat to hold 10 gallons of water. I am comforted by the fact they sent you a new bucket, and that the hydraulics held out.
That said, I'm now leaning toward buying one. Here goes - I'll try to keep you updated on the outcome.