1971 caseck 580 backhoe

[Irey Ranch Mema]

First timer here. I'm a widow looking for a bigger tractor. Looking at a Case CK 580 1971 backhoe. Asking a bit over $11;000 for it. I'm a widow so not sure about the price. Owners service it themselves. Showed some rust. I'm on a lave bed so need some power. I'm strong but here by myself and definately not a beast.

 

[IndyJay]

Irey, welcome to TBN. Lots of knowledgeable people on this forum. First thing they are going to ask is what you will mostly be using the tractor for. What type of terrain, things like that. Good luck to you!

 

[rScotty]

We did something similar. Older, retired, just like our tractors. But a couple of hard winters, forest fires, and a flood all convinced us that it just made sense to have at least one heavy duty tractor with a cab that could move trees, boulders, or whatever necessary. Yet be affordable.
Found that if we looked with a careful eye, there were older commercial machines like the 580 with huge ability but at surprisingly affordable prices. Not surprising, they were built to last. We found an early 90's model Deere 310 backhoe with loader for $18K. 2wd, but that's OK. It needed tires and batteries, and was worn but without being beat up. The motor & transmission & hydraulics worked like new, and everything basically worked right....but everything on it showed worn edges. Manual transmission with a shuttle shift. Heat, but no AC. 5500 hours on it. My buddy was glad to take that one for every penny we had in it when we bought another good one - this time with 4wd, and some upgrades. Frankly, the older simpler one was just as good.

Bought right, and if you find a good one they are as good as money in the bank.

What I'm saying is that you are making sense to me. Just take your time - there's not a lot of competition for those older yellow machines. You want a good one and they are definitely out there - especially here in the rural western states. Look especially at church groups, camps, and small school districts. They often have older machines set off to the side but very well maintained by members.
rScotty

 

[fried1765]

We did something similar. Older, retired, just like our tractors. But a couple of hard winters, forest fires, and a flood all convinced us that it just made sense to have at least one heavy duty tractor with a cab that could move trees, boulders, or whatever necessary. Yet be affordable.
Found that if we looked with a careful eye, there were older commercial machines like the 580 with huge ability but at surprisingly affordable prices. Not surprising, they were built to last. We found an early 90's model Deere 310 backhoe with loader for $18K. 2wd, but that's OK. It needed tires and batteries, and was worn but without being beat up. The motor & transmission & hydraulics worked like new, and everything basically worked right....but everything on it showed worn edges. Manual transmission with a shuttle shift. Heat, but no AC. 5500 hours on it. My buddy was glad to take that one for every penny we had in it when we bought another good one - this time with 4wd, and some upgrades. Frankly, the older simpler one was just as good.

Bought right, and if you find a good one they are as good as money in the bank.

What I'm saying is that you are making sense to me. Just take your time - there's not a lot of competition for those older yellow machines. You want a good one and they are definitely out there - especially here in the rural western states. Look especially at church groups, camps, and small school districts. They often have older machines set off to the side but very well maintained by members.
rScotty

"Frankly the older simpler one was just as good"

Could not agree more!
I sold my 1970 Ford 3400 TLB, and bought a cherry 2006 Kubota L48 TLB.
The Ford easily did what I needed, and the much newer Kubota does too.
Bottom line: I really do miss my old Ford!

 

[Sportsman762]

A Case 580Ck for 11K seems steep unless it is very cherry. But without location and photos of machine it is hard to tell.
A true backhoe like the 580 is a requirement in rock and hard soil. What do you plan on doing with it? 4wd is nice, but depending on your use it might not be a requirement.

 

[rScotty]

A Case 580Ck for 11K seems steep unless it is very cherry. But without location and photos of machine it is hard to tell.
A true backhoe like the 580 is a requirement in rock and hard soil. What do you plan on doing with it? 4wd is nice, but depending on your use it might not be a requirement.

I'd have a different opinion on most of those things, but that could be no more than using the same tractor in different climates and soils.

We have granite based "soil" here in the western Rocky Mountains. It's not like the sandy clay-based loam east of the Mississippi. Ours has no clay at all and the "mud" doesn't stick to tires or shoes. Ours is more like sand and gravel. But we do have snow and cold.

Sooo..... here a 2wd will do most of what a 4wd will do except in deep snow. You can't get stuck with any loader/backhoe anyway, and neither will work on ice.

As for pricing, 11k seems a little low to me. I would be reluctant to buy any backhoe/loader for under 15K unless I knew it and trusted the person selling was deliberately giving me a special deal. After all, new set of tires all round will set you back $2K. A full routine service can easily go $500 in lube & filters alone. A good set of batteries (they typically take two) isn't cheap either. The upside is that both tires and full service are good for a decade....

We are keeping the JD310. It's not worth selling, and it is nice to have something with all that spare power. It can literally lift a car out of a ditch.
But strong as it is, the Kubota M59 gets ten times the use. Particularly in our granite soil with so many boulders. The Kubota has plenty of spare power, much more accurate controls, has a thumb strong enough to crush rocks, and will lift a couple of tons.
There are few jobs that the 310 can do that the M59 cannot. Mostly the 310 is better at moving large bucket loads long distances. And it has a cab.....

Something to keep in mind is how the visibility is from the operator's seat to the front bucket. These yellow commercial loader/backhoes don't have a 3pt hitch, so you end up using the loader & BH buckets creatively to do a lot of jobs. You can see the BH bucket pretty well, but you also need to be able to see the loader bucket.

After power steering, an SSQA front hitch is the best thing that ever happened to any front end loader.
rScotty

 

[4570Man]

Most 1970s backhoes are worn out junk. Unless this one is homeowner owed and garage kept I wouldn’t buy it.

 

[rScotty]

Most 1970s backhoes are worn out junk. Unless this one is homeowner owed and garage kept I wouldn’t buy it.

I agree. On the other hand, I'm still kicking myself because I heard several times about a local 1980s model JD 310 with less that 1000 hrs on it.
The guy wanted his original price for it, and the way I heard about it was the dealer told me about it when I had ours in for service..... he wondered if I was interested.
I wasn't, because it didn't have 4WD. That's before I became more experienced and realized that 4WD didn't make near the difference on a 10,000 lb machine that it does on a compact or utility size tractor.

 

[4570Man]

I agree. On the other hand, I'm still kicking myself because I heard several times about a local 1980s model JD 310 with less that 1000 hrs on it.
The guy wanted his original price for it, and the way I heard about it was the dealer told me about it when I had ours in for service..... he wondered if I was interested.
I wasn't, because it didn't have 4WD. That's before I became more experienced and realized that 4WD didn't make near the difference on a 10,000 lb machine that it does on a compact or utility size tractor.

I think the newer 310s are 16,000-17,000 pounds but the 80s model ones were smaller. But yes 4x4 doesn’t make a lot of difference on a hoe. The back end is so heavy most of the weight is already on the drive tires. I kinda want another full size backhoe. They’re a lot of muscle for the money.

 

[etpm]

I have a mid 70s 580 CK backhoe. I bought it about 15 years ago for 5 grand. That was a good deal even though the thing had been beat up. I used it to put in my septic system. It has a shuttle shift which makes it very easy to use when using the loader. One time I tried to push over an alder that was too big. I put the dipper up as high as possible against the tree trunk and the loader on the ground then I raised the complete tractor off the ground. I was impressed. With the tree too, cause it wouldn't fall over with all that weight. I really like the machine but it does have some problems now. Make sure the hydraulics are strong after the oil has warmed up. My pump is now worn enough that when the fluid gets hot the pressure really drops. But I can get a new pump for less than 300 bucks so that's gonna happen this year.