Buying Advice Help with Tractor purchase - newbie

[kminnick]

Thanks for all the nice comments on my purchase. I had one more question on the pros/cons of a backhoe attachment Vs. a mini excavator? Seems like the cost of a used excavator is only slightly more than a BH attachment. Ideas?

 

[mike69440]

Excavator Will Outdig a BH by far.
But do you have the work for it?

I have an excavator, purchased late in the game hogging our farm out of a chunk of NH rocky ridge. Still it paid for itself. Used it a lot.
However, Costly upkeep. Real expensive to repair.
Now that the farm is established, I should sell it, but I want decent money for it.
Even though it is worth it, buying it is risky, so people offer low.

Problem is anyone who buys used takes a big chance.
I take a big chance keeping it, as if it breaks, it's worthless.

Still very handy to have, but I put just 100 hrs on it in the last 3 years, vs 500 hrs/yr previous to that.
You have to figure cost to rent vs buy.
I would not recomend 3PT BH

 

[kminnick]

Excavator Will Outdig a BH by far.
But do you have the work for it?

I have an excavator, purchased late in the game hogging our farm out of a chunk of NH rocky ridge. Still it paid for itself. Used it a lot.
However, Costly upkeep. Real expensive to repair.
Now that the farm is established, I should sell it, but I want decent money for it.
Even though it is worth it, buying it is risky, so people offer low.

Problem is anyone who buys used takes a big chance.
I take a big chance keeping it, as if it breaks, it's worthless.

Still very handy to have, but I put just 100 hrs on it in the last 3 years, vs 500 hrs/yr previous to that.
You have to figure cost to rent vs buy.
I would not recomend 3PT BH

Some very good points Mike. Having a neighbor with a Cat 304.5 who is willing to rent it to me makes it hard to justify owning one. I imagine a dozer would be the same story. Upkeep is very high and how much would I use it. Renting would be way cheaper. I've grown up with the 'I can do it myself' attitude and hate not having the right tool for the job when I need it. That's a financial luxury I can't afford with this kind of equipment.

On the other hand, I have some friends who bought used, performed all the work they needed and then sold for about (or sometimes even more) what they paid...

 

[mike69440]

Some very good points Mike. Having a neighbor with a Cat 304.5 who is willing to rent it to me makes it hard to justify owning one. I imagine a dozer would be the same story. Upkeep is very high and how much would I use it. Renting would be way cheaper. I've grown up with the 'I can do it myself' attitude and hate not having the right tool for the job when I need it. That's a financial luxury I can't afford with this kind of equipment.

On the other hand, I have some friends who bought used, performed all the work they needed and then sold for about (or sometimes even more) what they paid...

Swwet your neibor has a machine that you can use.

This weekend I'll be using the ex to reach in the cow pen to muck it out.

Beats taking doen the fence and getting in there with the little tractor. I can do a better job with the excavator and have very little handwork, vs using the rake and FEL of the tractor.

Still it should be pushing over trees and diging holes. It is an excavator.