Buy new, used, or rent?

[newbury]

If you HAVE to stick with the 0.5cu yd trailer and you have to move 140 cu yds that's 280 round trips. And I ASSUME your towing it with an ATV you already own.

Rent

But that's not how I plan on doing it.

I've a similar situation. I'm looking at maintaining narrow ATV style trails, mainly to keep 4WD trucks out, throughout my holdings. Some trails will be over a half mile one way and I know I'll want something to dig with at the end. So I bought my B7610 w/ a backhoe. Maneuverable, mobile ( lot faster than a mini-ex) and will accept all sorts of attachments. I'm sure you could plow with a mini-ex, but it would be slow.

How many bucketfuls will it be to fill your trailer using the mini-ex your looking at? 2?

I'd answer your question with Rent,

But advise you to look also at a small tractor w/FEL and backhoe. If it's a one man job you could work your behind off digging and piling with the BH, plus fill one trailer. Then haul out w/ the ATV the one load. Return and fill the trailer umpteen times with the FEL.

Depending on the BH hookup you might even drop the BH and haul with the tractor.

Good luck.

 

[Cherokee140]

It does sound like an interesting job....can you give us pictures.

 

[LD1]

It sounds to me like the only thing making this job time consuming is the small 1/2 yard trailer. I'd see about trying to get something a little bigger. Even if only a 1yd trailer, it would cut your time in half.

I agree with others that if you have no future plans or uses for the equipment afterwords, I'd rent.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Well the shale's going on my trail/ track. The link to that thread's in my signature.

Trailer;


The pile. 20 yards made a dent.


The pile's a 5min trail ride away. I plan to knock down high spots with the machine I get, and fill in the low spots first to speed up cycle times. I'm only assuming 140 yards and .5 yard for the trailer. So going by that and say 15min cycle time. 4 loads/hr X 8 hrs = 32 loads / day. 140yards= 280trips/ 32= 8.75days

Yeah, I'm leaning towards a week rental... or even a month. Skid steer or excavator's around $1500 for 4 weeks. I'd just need to take a week of vacation for the week, but could pick away at it for the month.

 

[NS Gearhead]

I did have a 1 yard trailer (pic above), but it's safe to say the wheeler's 2x faster then the Jeep was on the trail, so kinda evens out.

 

[LD1]

How rough are the trails? HAve you considered just getting a skidloader and forgetting the trailer?

A good sized skidloader should navigate the trails fine if the jeep did, and would have ~1/2yd bucket itself. Save you from swapping back and forth. Would never have to leave the seat of the SS all day except to take a leak.

 

[NS Gearhead]

I supose that's an option. If I smooth out as I go, it should go pretty fast. However, if I'm limited by hours it would be smart to use it just to load.

The website list three tracked skids; a walk behind for $575/week or $1300/ 4 weeks, 3/4 yard for $1025/ $2500 and a 1/2 yard but that one doesn't have prices.

I'm going to stop in after work to see what they can do for me. I've bought everything I have there; mower, saw, bushwacker, and rented several times. They usually give me a pretty good deal.

 

[LD1]

I would think that it the 3/4 yard would fit down the trails, that you could certainly do it in a week.

Not sure how long your trail is, but 10 minutes per cycle would be a LONG time. And the dump spots closer to the trail would take less. But using 10 minutes per cycle...

240 yards @ 3/4 yd per trip would need 180 trips.

180 trips @ 10 min is 1800 minutes

1800/60 is 30 hours. You are allowed 40 on a weekly rental. Leaves 10 hour cushion to do other things.

 

[LD1]

I would think that it the 3/4 yard would fit down the trails, that you could certainly do it in a week.

Not sure how long your trail is, but 10 minutes per cycle would be a LONG time. And the dump spots closer to the trail would take less. But using 10 minutes per cycle...

240 yards @ 3/4 yd per trip would need 180 trips.

180 trips @ 10 min is 1800 minutes

1800/60 is 30 hours. You are allowed 40 on a weekly rental. Leaves 10 hour cushion to do other things.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Good point.