Backhoe Are you happy with your small backhoe

[henryjacobjosh]

Amen!!!! You GO!!!!
Alot of GOOD POINTS!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[henryjacobjosh]

I'm curious as to how deep you buried your electric line and what kind of cable it was???? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[henryjacobjosh]

Hello,

WOW!!!! What a discussion you have started!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

As others have already said, only you can decide if your wallet and needs require a BH.

I can only speak from my experiance. I had a Ford 1210 (only 16HP) with a Yanmar (Woods) YBH 660 3 PT BH. It was a very impressive little machine. I used it to its full potential and it never let me down. Once you learn the do's and dont's of these small machines they can be a real asset and a backsaver to have around. If you DO NOT abuse it I think it would be fine.

As far as cost. I found that BH (which needed some TLC) for $1000.00. I put $500.00 (all new hoses, paint, hardware etc.) and my labor into it. $1500.00!!! What a bargain!!!! Maybee if you are patient and look hard enough you can find a BH used.

I have since traded that tractor in on a TC30 and yes, another BH. I was fortunate that my dealer had a 1 yr old Woods 7500 with a subframe. I would recommend a subframe if at all possible. After having both types I can see the advantages and ridgitity of the subframe vs. the 3 PT.

Can you guess what he gave me for my $1500.00 BH after I had it for years and worked it hard?
$2200.00!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bottom line is if you can warrant and afford it then go for it. If you add up the rental fees and the fact that it is your machine and worth cash when you decide to sell or trade in, it's worth it. Not to mention it can be good quality faimly time (SEE ATTACHMENT)

Just my 2 cents /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[SCB]

Yes I am very happy with my small backhoe.

 

[bmac]

Hank,

Looks like we use similar subcontractors for our BH work (See Attachment). I've been reading this thread with no intention of weighing in as I can easily see both sides of the debate. Have I or will I ever get a decent ROI on my BH? Never in a thousand years. Same can be said for my tractor, probably. However, we hope to be breaking ground soon on our wooded 12 acre parcel and I'm sure it will get more use then than now. After all, I've been told that we will need an ATV trail (which is funny as we don't yet have an ATV) and a paintball field. As I will not be a frequent user of either of these venues, seems to me that my son will be the beneficiary of both the tractor and the BH. Maybe I will then let him post a response to this thread. The way things are looking, this may still be an active discussion then. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[keeney]

I think that the intense frsutration over small backhoes comes from some strong emotional motivators

1. Renting the right machine for the job when you need it is a serious hassle: a) if its only a couple hours work. b) the work is spread out over an intermittent schedule c) the work is remote from the rental place. d)you don't have equipment to transport the rental, and/or e) you know you are paying about 5x what the rental should cost to cover all the time the
rental machine sits idle, waiting for somebody to rent it.

2. If the small hoe could do the work in half an hour, a healthy guy can probably do it with a shovel in about 4 hours. Just about exactly the same amount of time it would take to run to the rental yard, load up the machine, bnring it back, use it, load it up, and return it.

3. Backhoes are expensive compared to the frequency of use, ROI, whatever.

4. It would be fun to have another attachment to justify the tractor half of a backhoe.

It always sucks to come to the conclusion that if a small backhoe can do it, it can be dug by hand and you end up getting sweaty, sore, tired, and dirty. Thats what really puts the emotion into this discussion.

- Rick

 

[DannyD]

You guys with subs will never get any bh seat time again.......good for you! Besides that, do you know what a good heavy equipment guy makes these days. You are giving them a head start on a great occupation, or at least showing them how much fun this can be.

 

[jim_wilson]

I think the small backhoe good vs no good? discussion should be looked at the same way you would look at using any other tool - is it the right tool for the job and does it make sense costwise. When I started on the process of finding a piece of equipment to do all of the work around my 1/2 acre lot I looked at all of the options, renting, buying used, buying new, and buying and renting. I had already rented a Terramite 5C a couple of years previous so I had some idea what a small tractor would do and also knew that a backhoe would be a required tool in many of the jobs I had to do. I also have a full time job that I have to go to every weekday and have learned that weathermen are only right about 20% of the time - meaning that my rental periods are legitimately only on the weekends and if I get rain on a weekend schedules can slip by weeks because I then have to wait for the next weekend for good weather and a good rental day if I run into a problem that needs a backhoe. I also added up the amount of money I thought I would spend on rental costs based purely how much time I estimated the jobs would take if all things were perfect ( weather, time scheduling problems etc not included) and came up with a $ figure that got me about 2/3 of the way towards buying a piece of equipment. So pretty early on in the evaluation process I came to the conclusion that buying a piece or pieces of equipment was the only way I was going to get my jobs done in any reasonable period of time. I was also intimately familiar with the " it's better than a pick and shovel " argument because I have moved quite a few yards of dirt and busted up some pretty big rocks by hand over the last 5 years - and was pretty much sick of doing that. Once I decided on buying a piece of equipment it came down to what to get - I decided on the BX23 for a number of reasons - I bought new because in a large part I did not have the time to be spending looking for a good piece of used equipment and didn't want to spend my time fixing any of the 3000+ hour Bobcats etc that I looked at that were in my price range. The 0% financing helped quite a bit on the decision because instead of investing all of my money in the equipment on the front end I can do monthly payments - which spreads out the cost over time and in effect to me is like renting a little bit every month. I have over 100 hours on the tractor now and every month I have had it I ask myself - did I get my $375 worth this month? - so far that answer has been a definite yes. Does the small backhoe on the BX23 do all the work I want it to? The answer to that is no - there have been a few rocks that I have uncovered that it won't even budge - but they are so **** big I don't think anything short of a full size excavator would have any luck with them either. Do I wish I could get more work done faster - again another definite yes, I do wish sometimes I had a bigger tractor. But then there are the times I find I can get into places with the BX23 that the tractor just barely fits into and I know that if I had a bigger tractor and hoe that would not fit I would be in there doing that work again with the pick and shovel - something I wanted to avoid. There is also the wife factor - if I bought what I really wanted I would have a CUT size tractor and a Kubota mini excavator sitting out in the backyard - would the wife go for that - probably not. In the end the small backhoe on the BX23 was the best compromise for my particular situation. All the other options just didn't fit quite right. If the BX23 did not exist I would have been stuck making a choice that in the end would not have worked out as well for me as this has so far. Any choices you make are dependent on each persons particular circumstance - you just have to make the smartest choice for yourself.

 

[avclay]

I'm in a similar situation, but instead of looking at @ $5k for a bh to go on my 1910 I'm looking at $9k to go to a newer 1920 w/ a bh. Anyway, here's my considerations: I've accomplished just about everything I needed to with the FEL on my 1910, and beat the hell out of it doing so. I do the 4' stump method, but you can pull alot bigger stumps if you dig in on the sides with the FEL which wrecks the tractor and my back. Some jobs may never be completed because its not worth the rental fee, time, or effort when you don't have the equipment on hand. You never know what else you'll come up with for projects until you start using the equipment. A bh expands the range of the outside jobs I can do.
I've thought about the trackhoe too. The reasonable ones have high hours, are too big to move w/out special equipment, and is another engine/transmission/hydraulics to maintain.

 

[bmac]

<font color="blue"> You are giving them a head start on a great occupation, or at least showing them how much fun this can be. </font>

Not to mention the fact that every minute spent on the tractor is one less minute in front of the boob tube or video game. I do wonder, though, if the ease at which my son picked up on working the BH was a result of his time spent on the PlayStation.