Thinking of a KB 2475L backhoe for my CK2610 any thoughts?

[Peter 315]

I have a 18'' bucket ...

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I have a 12 inch. I thought I would wanna 16 inch, but I can still dig a 16 inch wide trench with the 12 inch, but not visa versa...
plus, depending on your soil, a larger bucket might have a hard time.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Does the kit include the diverter valve and all hoses? $750 might be a bit high, but dealer labor is not cheap by any means. I would not call the job hard, but time consuming. Something else to look at is if the dealer installs it, they have to guarantee the work, at least for some period of time.

My neighbor is paying $$350 in labor to have one remote installed on his new tractor. Again not hard, but time consuming.

 

[fried1765]

In researching the thumbs the Kioti thumb appears to be a three position mechanical and the only hydraulic thumb I see is a kit from Michigan Iron. They sell their kit for 1450 and I知 being quoted 2200 for the hydraulic. 750 to install the thumb sounds pretty steep. Am I missing something or is it that time consuming to install the thumb?

Also what width bucket would folks recommend for a starter, all around use bucket?

I have only a 24" bucket and that is good for me, because I have only sand, and very light sandy loam, for miles around.
I would like to also have a 16" or 18" bucket, but I need QA, and am not willing to ante up the bucks for a new QA bucket.
24" is probably the best overall size, if you have only one bucket.
Then again a lot depends on the capability of your hoe (I have a 48HP TLB), and the tractor hydraulic system.

 

[rademamj1]

A backhoe is like any tool, a few different sizes in buckets makes your backhoe much more useful. I started out doing french drains and small culverts, all which worked best using the 12" bucket. I eventually went with a 24" bucket for larger culverts and landscaping.

12" bucket used 80% of time
24" bucket used 20% of time

I have installed five 12" an 18" culverts using the 12" bucket. I have installed one large 36" culvert using the 24" bucket.

Also installed 700 feet of French drains, which works best using 12" bucket. All my French drains installed with a trencher, failed after 3 years. Best done using a backhoe.

 

[levi333]

I bought my 2610 with 2475L backhoe in January. I went with the mechanical thumb, 9" bucket for trenching and 16" bucket for all around/other. I've been impressed by it.
The thumb was a last minute addition and I'm glad I did, it was $500 which seems a bit steep but not a lot of other options. I don't think I could justify $2200 for the hydraulic version.
Buckets were $275 and $335, not too bad I thought to have options.

 

[drysalty]

I had a nice conversatIon with the dealer and got some better details. The $8300 price includes the mechanical thumb and they have one for me but they are waiting on the subframes which should be in at the end of the week. I was hoping that the 0% for 72 months financing would apply but that’s not the case. They are offering 3.99% for 60 months on the cash purchase price so that’s going to be $7300 for the backhoe installed. I forgot to ask about buckets but I have an email in to them and I’m waiting for a response hopefully that’s included as well. I’m still trying to decide in size, the soil is pretty rocky here so I’m thinking wide is not going to be where I want to go. I’m thinking 12 inch but I’m still undecided.

 

[Peter 315]

12'' bucket is pretty small , Do you know what size buckets they offer ?

 

[hkbirdman]

Yes, 12" bucket is very small. If you have much in the way of clay soil (as I do) - it will be very difficult to empty the bucket.

 

[drysalty]

Kioti website lists 9,12, 16, 18, 24 & 36 as standard sizes. I’m looking for one good all around size as a starter bucket I have zero experience to go on, the soil here is pretty rocky small, large you name it we’ve got it. There is clay out back in the field where it have some water drainage issues I haven’t dug much at all in the other areas around the house.I need to do some run off control ditching, and moving some big stones back onto stone walls , I want to run an underground conduit to an out building, and I’m sure many other things. If I need a specialized bucket I could buy it at a later date when the need presents itself.