How often do you actually use your backhoe? (BX and B size)

[GeneV]

LOL... more like giggles to self softly as I wander off to bed....

how Unctuous.

I'm in the hoe camp.
1) finally got one this month.
2) finally got a tractor last summer.
3) saving my knee(VA surgery last summer) and back as often as possible now. (priceless)
4) finally upgrading the wellhouse (started digging this weekend).
5) started chicken coop a few months before the tractor. Coop is now mostly finished.
6) have plans to use BH at lakehouse when done with wellhouse.
7) have a tree to move while its dormant --- ASAP. its smack in the center of a section of the planned Driveway to the shop.
8) shop will be started soon - finally.
9) its fun. (priceless)
10) I get to teach the kiddos some complex dexterity and control with the BH too. (priceless)
11) Planting stuff for wife or kiddos in the coming months or years... "Sure Hon'- where do you want it?" (priceless)
12) will likely be helping a friend or two in its future life in our fleet.
...... paid for in.......months? Very likely.
13) my lucky number... did I say I grew up with Tonka toys.... this is; without a doubt, adult Tonka.

Anyone disagree on this last tidbit?

I'm all good with all that, and #9 is always my priority in life.

 

[fried1765]

I'm all good with all that, and #9 is always my priority in life.

ABSOLUTELY......I am way too old to be frugal about toys!

 

[electrycmonk]

NO.....it's not just... "a secret"!!

It is .... TOP SECRET!
By definition, none of us have... "the need to know"!

But, but, but....... I had a clearance in the Navy.... oh wait... I get it now...... [grabs the TV remote, goes and sits on couch and waits for the Tubes to warm up]

 

[shooterdon]

I am one of the lucky guys. I talked to the guy who did most of my landscaping when I moved here 7 years ago. I was hot to get a little Kubota with a BH. He told me save my money and get a better tractor. He lives about 3 miles from me. I have used him twice for BH work...not sure but maybe $500 over 7 years.

I would use one if I had one, but I make do without one. If you can afford it, go for it. You will find uses for it. My BH is a phone call away, and comes with a guy who knows how to work it. I am lucky.

Nearly added one to the LS I bought last year, but the cab was more important to me. Look at your needs and budget. What the rest of us do is of little consequence.

It you have to ask, you likely do not need a BH. Had to laugh at the guy who used one to plant petunias and bury a pet fish.

 

[oosik]

I think my $3700 rear blade is a pretty expensive 3-point counter weight. A $10,000 3-point BH would, in my case, be totally excessive.

 

[electrycmonk]

I'm not sure when I learned of the saying, "Run what-cha bring." It has become a valuable asset to my life in projects or what have you. Because if you know how to get a fire started & the raw materials are all around you, gather them up, stack that teepee of kindling and fodder and light it up.

If someone found a better way or even another way that's just as good, your darn right I'm gonna want to learn it.

I knew when we got this 2 1/2 acre site 10 years ago that we would finally be able to do a bunch of stuff. Big yard for kids & pets. Gardening, finally get a shop/barn so I can start work on ideas invent etal. Life happens along the way. Several plans got delayed for several years. I had to break out the 16-25lb(?) iron Spike, 8&16lb sledgehammers and several shovels have died along the way with repairs and modifications out here.... The first picture has a blue plastic plate for scale on that pile of stones all dug outta the yard for repairs with sprinkler system, installing fences, modifications to sprinkler system and moving the propane tank in prep for the driveway and shop/barn..... That pile is a gathering of the first 2-3 years here. All the years afterwards had equal to 2-3x that much stone dug up, moved and reused or piled elsewhere over the last 5+ years. Very draining work. Makes a day at the gym seem like a cakewalk, eh?(smirks) in comparison the next two pics should be comparatively straight forward.

The small (now muddy, currently raining -snow & ice to follow suit tonight) trench's I started yesterday for about 45-odd minutes with the resently acquired backhoe.
You can see some of the 100+lb rocks in the dirtpile and the 50+ pounders in the foreground.... I may have slid & stacked the foreground by hand but, the FEL pushed and piled all that the BH dug up in the 45+ minutes. My back, and knee are so not yelling at me today. And after about 10 minutes, I kinda felt like a big kid in a sandbox! That much trench work with a shovel, sledge & Pike work would of taken about 4-5 days of my manual labor, as I could only do so much per day.

What ever you decide take the big picture into full account. From 2013-2019 I missed out on over a dozen very good tractors and an equal number of backhoes too..... Life. Family, kids, pets, home emergency repairs ... They ALL take priority and in some cases RE-prioritizing.

On the Backyard chicken forum, I show what fun it was digging the trench for the 6" drainage pipe by hand.....what a week that was. If I'd of been more mindful of long-term thinking even a couple years ago. The coop would likely of taken a couple months less as well as the trench not done by hand...... Butidigress.....

Please don't see this as a pity party or the other extreme either. Just facts and lessons learned. I'm so glad for forums like this so that we all are not out "re-engineering the wheel from scratch" and perhaps I'll be apart of chorus that will help others from the same folly; be it currently or in the future.

Enjoy your life & the choices you make within it. Looking forward to the continued dialogue here.

Cheers

 

[California]

I'm not sure when I learned of the saying, "Run what-cha bring."


On the Backyard chicken forum, I show what fun it was digging the trench for the 6" drainage pipe by hand.....what a week that was. If I'd of been more mindful of long-term thinking even a couple years ago. The coop would likely of taken a couple months less as well as the trench not done by hand....

The way I heard that quote, from an old Carpenter I worked alongside on a project: "Dance with what ya brung!" :laughing:


I bought a $2500 used 3-point backhoe and immediately did projects I had been putting off.

This little ranch cabin had a 'french drain' (gravel bed) from its kitchen sink. My tenant said it had always drained slowly and now wouldn't drain. Using my powered drain snake did nothing because the drain went to nowhere.

Here in the photo I dug down and made the gravel drain field larger. This was only a few minutes work in light rain using the backhoe, compared to cold miserable hours it would have been with a shovel. It was essential to do this timely, endless winter storms were forecast and that tenant was too ideal to lose.

I don't remember if this was my first backhoe project but it illustrated how valuable the BH is.

 

[fried1765]

But, but, but....... I had a clearance in the Navy.... oh wait... I get it now...... [grabs the TV remote, goes and sits on couch and waits for the Tubes to warm up]

....and your point is....?????

 

[fried1765]

I think my $3700 rear blade is a pretty expensive 3-point counter weight. A $10,000 3-point BH would, in my case, be totally excessive.

Can a 3pt. backhoe actually cost $10,000 ?

 

[PA452]

I use mine a good bit, but it depends on how much property you have.