Tooth bar

[Doofy]

Amen. Health is much more important than a few bucks spent on tools. Any tool that helps preserve your health and well-being is worthwhile.

 

[fried1765]

I dont want to pull this tread to far off topic but why does everything have to "pay for itself" or "get its money worth". Why cant it just be for the added value to your life? All my purchases now are based on how much value is it adding to my life because the true cost of anything is how much of your life you are willing to trade for it. ****, seems most people have no problem paying $50-100k+ for a boat or RV....

Most people will justify buying tools based on how much it cost someone else to do the job or how much it cost to rent said tool or how much they will use it. I used to think this same way, but a few years back I met a guy who had cut his finger off while using a borrowed table saw because he didn't want to buy a new one at the time. It completely changed his life, his line of work, etc... and this could have all been avoided by spending the extra buck (which he had) on a saw stop which he said he had previously contemplated buying. His medical bills cost more then the saw would have cost him, but as many of us do, we buy or borrow a tool that "will do the job" and don't think about how the right tool could add value to our life.

Not long after becoming friends with the guy, my wife went bought a couple of large trees to plant around the yard. I wasn't going to go rent or buy a backhoe to plant a couple trees, so I dug the holes by hand in my concrete like ground with a digging bar, pick and shovel which was very hard work (I had a tractor and post hole auger at the time but it was useless on my ground). Every time I would plant a couple trees, I would tell my friend with the sawed off finger how hard it was and how sore I was. His response was pretty much always the same... "you should buy yourself one of those tractors with a backhoe, one of these days your going to wish you did". Well 4 years later I ended up planting more than 50 trees and shrubs by hand, one day I was digging a hole for another tree and something in my back popped, that was it, I was done. Took me all summer to recover and I still have back issues today. I wish I would have spent the money on the tractor I have now, 5 years ago instead of having to deal with a bad back. At this point I don't care how much I use my tractor/hoe, just knowing that its sitting in my garage, ready for when I need it is worth it to me.

I did the backhoe thing (used) when I was 46 years old.
I am 77, the 3400 Ford is now 48 years old. 2 years ago I completely refurbished it.
I use it less than ten hours each year.
I justify it by the fact that it is very handy to have around.
People often ask me why I have it. I tell them it is simple: I like it!
It actually paid for itself early on, when I installed my two new septic systems (on the sly), and reconstructed my entire front yard & driveway.
Post demise, my kids may choose to sell it, but I NEVER will!

 

[Peter 315]

I dont want to pull this tread to far off topic but why does everything have to "pay for itself" or "get its money worth". Why cant it just be for the added value to your life? All my purchases now are based on how much value is it adding to my life because the true cost of anything is how much of your life you are willing to trade for it. ****, seems most people have no problem paying $50-100k+ for a boat or RV....

Most people will justify buying tools based on how much it cost someone else to do the job or how much it cost to rent said tool or how much they will use it. I used to think this same way, but a few years back I met a guy who had cut his finger off while using a borrowed table saw because he didn't want to buy a new one at the time. It completely changed his life, his line of work, etc... and this could have all been avoided by spending the extra buck (which he had) on a saw stop which he said he had previously contemplated buying. His medical bills cost more then the saw would have cost him, but as many of us do, we buy or borrow a tool that "will do the job" and don't think about how the right tool could add value to our life.

Not long after becoming friends with the guy, my wife went bought a couple of large trees to plant around the yard. I wasn't going to go rent or buy a backhoe to plant a couple trees, so I dug the holes by hand in my concrete like ground with a digging bar, pick and shovel which was very hard work (I had a tractor and post hole auger at the time but it was useless on my ground). Every time I would plant a couple trees, I would tell my friend with the sawed off finger how hard it was and how sore I was. His response was pretty much always the same... "you should buy yourself one of those tractors with a backhoe, one of these days your going to wish you did". Well 4 years later I ended up planting more than 50 trees and shrubs by hand, one day I was digging a hole for another tree and something in my back popped, that was it, I was done. Took me all summer to recover and I still have back issues today. I wish I would have spent the money on the tractor I have now, 5 years ago instead of having to deal with a bad back. At this point I don't care how much I use my tractor/hoe, just knowing that its sitting in my garage, ready for when I need it is worth it to me.

Right on the money here's my back saver, One of these days I will have to bury a horse

 

[flingwing1969]

... Every time I would plant a couple trees, I would tell my friend with the sawed off finger how hard it was and how sore I was. His response was pretty much always the same... "you should buy yourself one of those tractors with a backhoe, one of these days your going to wish you did". my tractor/hoe, just knowing that its sitting in my garage, ...

Back when I was buying my first tractor, I was telling my father-in-law (former OK share cropper) that I was taking a loan from my 401(k) to pay for it. He said, "Oh, I thought that money was there to make you comfortable in your old age." Then he paused and said, "And I can't think of anything that will make you more comfortable in your old age than a tractor!" How right he was. He also told me that his father frequently told him a shovel was the only tool you could leave next to the road and depend on nobody stealing it.

 

[CMV]

I had an 80hp backhoe. Not a TLB, a backhoe. Was incredibly useful and so nice to be able to use for whatever, whenever. However, it was a JD500C - very old (early 80's) machine. Lots of maintenance issues. While I very much liked doing work with it, I very much disliked playing "backhoe mechanic" to keep it going. And even a used machine but in great shape - is still pretty expensive to buy and maintain. So I rent a backhoe from Hertz (Herc? what are they called now?) at least once per year. I let those projects wait and knock out as much as possible over a long weekend rental. Sucks waiting, hoping weather works out, and paying a lot for just 8-16 hrs machine time.

But, all I do is work it and add fuel. They worry about insuring it, maintaining it, fixing it, storing it, dealing with someone stealing it, having $ tied up in it, transporting it, etc.

Do I miss a 1.5 cu yd bucket, sky high dump clearance, virtually unlimited lift capacity, and pure brute strength? Absolutely! But when the head gasket went...after sorting a ton of electrical issues, after rebuilding bottom end for spun bearing, after replacing starter, after replacing the alternator, after replacing control valves, after fixing 16,034 hyd leaks, after having a cyl rebuilt, after......that was last straw and it had to go.

Didn't come out great out that deal by any means. And only had a budget of $X to work with for a tractor and any sort of BH was > $X. I'm just maintaining recreational land....sinking excess time & $ into that endeavor is just a hard choice to make. So for 99% of what i do with my little tractor and small assortment of attachments there is something out there better suited to the task. So I make do. Maybe not as fast or efficient or the best possible way, but surprising what I CAN do with my little machine. Just takes longer, more trips, smaller bites. So my one little machine has to be as versatile as possible since I'm going to ask it to a lot. If I can add a tooth bar or buy some $500 used attachment to add to it's capabilities - great! Will I forever be working around the machine's limitations - figuring out how to do projects with it within its capabilities? yep....but could probably be said for any piece of equipment - there's going to be something that could do it better...

I can mow and I can move it all by myself with my F150...2 things I couldn't say about the backhoe

 

[YLee Kioti]

After a year's use of the Piranha tooth bar it has been more versatile then imagined.

For moving yards of dirt, cleaning fence line, removing vines overgrowth on trees, ripping hedge rose by skimming the surface.
The tooth design is very effective. I also used it to move 50 yards of gravel for our road base. Slices into the pile easily.

Do not think a plane jane flat bucket extender or other tooth designs would as versatile.
Save the 400 bucks and install it yourself. The tooth bar can be installed in about an hour. If you order from BXpanded ask for the step drill bit. Once you make the pilot hole it cuts like butter!

 

[dragoneggs]

After a year's use of the Piranha tooth bar it has been more versatile then imagined.

For moving yards of dirt, cleaning fence line, removing vines overgrowth on trees, ripping hedge rose by skimming the surface.
The tooth design is very effective. I also used it to move 50 yards of gravel for our road base. Slices into the pile easily.

Do not think a plane jane flat bucket extender or other tooth designs would as versatile.
Save the 400 bucks and install it yourself. The tooth bar can be installed in about an hour. If you order from BXpanded ask for the step drill bit. Once you make the pilot hole it cuts like butter!

Can't agree more... on all points.

 

[check]

Who said they had a 10' backhoe on a BX? I am a Ford guy! I don't even own a can of orange paint. Obviously, "check" was referring to simply having a backhoe on his BX. Not.... having a 10' backhoe on his BX.

That's right. I was referring to a BH per se. And what a great attachment!

 

[tomplum]

I have a DIY piranha tooth bar which has done a lot of landscaping. It definitely enhances what the bucket can do and stiffens the edge to keep the smiley face away.

 

[BotaTrac]

CMV:

Just my .02 cents. Maybe this will help. I have two Kubotas, but let's talk about the BX25D. 23HP with a 48" bucket. I installed this (Titan 48" Bucket 23TF Tooth Bar Universal Size Skid Steer Tractor USA Made) tooth bar last spring when I had to level out a hillside to put a 20x40 shed down. I thought about doing the whole thing with the backhoe but by dumb luck I gave it a go early spring when the ground was still a bit wet.

Buy letting the 4FT bucket slam those teeth perpendicular into the ground (which was mostly sod), I was able to drag the bucket, in that perpendicular position backwards and loosen about 4" deep, 10' long each time. I went easy and made a few passes before I turned the bucket up to scoop up the loose soil. I had to go from 10" to zero and then in 20 feet deep, 40 feet across. It took me about an hour-and-a-half to finish. I have a bit of shale here in Pennsylvania to contend with but the tooth bar made short work of it. Also, if you ever have to move buckets of gravel about the size of a quarter, the tooth bar allow you to scoop it better than just the raw edge, which has a tendency to push it around. PLUS (and finally) the tooth bar helps keep the lip of your loader bucket from bowing. Hope this helps. Good luck and Godspeed!.......... BotaTrac Out!