Backhoe vs Tractor with backhoe

[Texasmark]

I've thought about the HF backhoe at times. How do you get it where you need it to work and then reposition it as you are digging with it?

Has a trailer hitch on the engine end. PUll it with your PU or a tractor. The wheels and stabilizer arms are about 3" square steel and are identical fit for the front and rear "receivers". When you get where you are going you lift up the machine with the bucket and swap the wheel positions with the outrigger arms.

 

[paulsharvey]

Read first couple, But; you didn't mention specifically any back hoe tasks; and for general, around the house stuff, the tractor is the tool. If you have specific back hoe task, rent a full sized one, $2500/month, ($750-1000/week) and do the heavy work. A tractor mounted back hoe is almost never the right tool for the job.

Tractor mounted backhoe is a pain, they tend to either stay on all the time, or end up stored for years in a barn. Not saying it takes 4 hours to put one on/off, but its not a 5 minute job. You can't pick up, and remanuever the whole machine from the hoe, (like a real back hoe), so you end up climbing down/up, and switching seats over and over. They will dig, but its dang hard to grade a trench, ready for conduit/pipe, they don't have Nearly the balls of a real hoe, and if your think stumps, a real stump is a fight for even a JD-85 sized mid sized track hoe, an hours long fight with a JD-310, or a day or more, (and maybe some broken parts) with a 30hp tractor mounted one.

 

[MaxLee]

Read first couple, But; you didn't mention specifically any back hoe tasks; and for general, around the house stuff, the tractor is the tool. If you have specific back hoe task, rent a full sized one, $2500/month, ($750-1000/week) and do the heavy work. A tractor mounted back hoe is almost never the right tool for the job.

Tractor mounted backhoe is a pain, they tend to either stay on all the time, or end up stored for years in a barn. Not saying it takes 4 hours to put one on/off, but its not a 5 minute job. You can't pick up, and remanuever the whole machine from the hoe, (like a real back hoe), so you end up climbing down/up, and switching seats over and over. They will dig, but its dang hard to grade a trench, ready for conduit/pipe, they don't have Nearly the balls of a real hoe, and if your think stumps, a real stump is a fight for even a JD-85 sized mid sized track hoe, an hours long fight with a JD-310, or a day or more, (and maybe some broken parts) with a 30hp tractor mounted one.

I like my tractor mounted back hoe not a pain at all.. does a lot of work for me since I have had it. I can put it on and off less then 5 mins. I have taken 10 stumps out this summer among many other things, no issues at all...

Ya know the best thing , the cost is included in my tractor payment at 0% interest
Ya know another thing... I don't have to schedule to get it delivered
Ya know another thing.... in my parts of the country a Mini X is 650 a day so I am sure a BH is close or more then that a day.
Ya know 1 more thing... I can hook a rotory cutter, land plane, wood chipper and venture out and get done what I need done.... or in 5 mins hook that back hoe up and get even more things done.

Lots to think about , the OP is a happy home owner, not running an excavation business

 

[paulsharvey]

Hey, I'm not saying they don't have a use, just offering my personal take. It really depends on the jobs. They really shine when it's small, necessary, but unplanned jobs. If you can schedule a whole week, I would rent, beat the heck out of it, get my jobs done and have them pick it up. Don't 100% know what the OP really has planned. What is the cost upgrade for a rear backhoe on say, 45hp machine? $7k? Now, if you can get a package deal where the price increase isn't that bad, I say, go for it. If we are talking $7k, that's a lot of week long rentals, of a better, more efficient machine, that repairs aren't on you, but thats just my opinion.

 

[Hay Dude]

I found the most versatile combo was my New Holland backhoe and my Challenger MT285.
I could take down trees and dig out stumps large rocks, dig foundations, footings, septic systems, rainwater retention systems and any other heavy work.
They I could use the smaller compact‘s smaller loader for lighter work and for a Harley rake.

When it came time to lay block or frame, forks on the backhoe could move lots of block, plywood, studs, etc.

A full size 4WD backhoe and a 40-50HP compact with a loader are a great combo. What you do is spend 20-25K on both used, instead of buying one new small machine.

 

[paulsharvey]

Another option, a imported tracked mini-hoe. Think I've seen posts where it was only like $9k (plus import fees). And the tractor.

A full sized TLB is not the tool for your garden, and depending on what the 6 acres is, soil type, moisture content, you might end up rutting it up pretty good (didn't say if it's yard/field/kinda landscaped woods, ect)

What kinda budget are you working with? If it's say, $40k, I would say tractor (and impliments) you want for your long term maintenance needa, and rent for the heavy work.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve had full size backhoes and they’re a lot of muscle for cheap but the lack of having attachments is extremely limiting. Sure the option exists to add attachments but it’s expensive and that’s going against the whole point of where you started. I’m not going to spend 30 grand to put a quick change coupler and a hydraulic thumb on the backhoe and a quick coupler and auxiliary hydraulic on the loader when I could just buy a different machine that has that.

 

[MaxLee]

I’ve had full size backhoes and they’re a lot of muscle for cheap but the lack of having attachments is extremely limiting. Sure the option exists to add attachments but it’s expensive and that’s going against the whole point of where you started. I’m not going to spend 30 grand to put a quick change coupler and a hydraulic thumb on the backhoe and a quick coupler and auxiliary hydraulic on the loader when I could just buy a different machine that has that.

I bought this in the spring, used all the attachments and BH alot. I know it limits, it very versatile , can do a lot of things with it. and I did add the hydrailic thumb to the BH bucket
Something like this would serve the OP for a long time.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hey, I'm not saying they don't have a use, just offering my personal take. It really depends on the jobs. They really shine when it's small, necessary, but unplanned jobs. If you can schedule a whole week, I would rent, beat the heck out of it, get my jobs done and have them pick it up. Don't 100% know what the OP really has planned. What is the cost upgrade for a rear backhoe on say, 45hp machine? $7k? Now, if you can get a package deal where the price increase isn't that bad, I say, go for it. If we are talking $7k, that's a lot of week long rentals, of a better, more efficient machine, that repairs aren't on you, but thats just my opinion.

Say what?

 

[paulsharvey]

What I was trying to say, is, the price to add a back hoe to a 'mid sized tractor' would pay for quite a few week long rentals of a real TLB. So, if it's the kinda work were you can line up a few days worth of solid back hoe work, and rent a real TLB for a few days, and get the jobs all done; that's what I would do. I dont think there is any argument that an actual TLB is more capable, more efficient, than a 'mid sized tractor with a back hoe'. Plus, yiu can abuse the heck out of the rental and not feel bad about it.