Buying backhoe for CK2610 vs Renting Mini Excavator

[Citydude]

My local dealer rents by the day, week or month. There is no way i could by a backhoe for my tractor and come out ahead of renting. Yes, it's a pain to to get a rental and return but that pain saves lot's of money.

 

[DK35vince]

A mini x isn't the right tool for the job either IMO.
Are you loading into something to move the dirt ?
A mini isn't going to have the reach you need for a 60x30 pond. (unless you want move the same dirt multiple times to get it needs to be)

 

[WVH1977]

"so I started looking at new and settled on the Kioti CK2610HST as the just right size for my needs."

If you want a tractor, go buy one and use it on your property. A CK2610HST is not going to do what you want for the pond. It is not designed for digging a pond even with the backhoe. You need construction equipment and know how. That little backhoe on the tractor might dig a little, but as others have stated it is not meant for breaking ground and dirt removal.

It seems to me based on your post that what you really want is a "tractor' and using the pond as the reason to buy it. I am not saying don't buy the tractor. It will treat you well but don't expect it to be a super digger.

Side Note: I bought an expensive heavy duty bush hog to clear small pines on my property to build my house. It was $2600 at the time. Used it twice on the property and quickly realized this was not the way to go. I rented the biggest mini-ex I could get and took two weeks off and cleared 2.7 acres. Cost at the time $ 3000 with fuel and delivery. If you can run equipment and do it yourself, take the time off and rent the machine and get as much done as possible. Buy the tractor for property upkeep and maintenance.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have a backhoe and wouldn't be without it. However, there's no way that I would try to dig a pond with it. (Actually I did try, but quickly gave up.) It's not just the reach, it's being able to swing around and place the material after you dig it out. The BH will loosen it up and maybe pile it 7 feet away, but you will constantly have to move it with the bucket. After getting a few feet down, you will be reaching up to get the material out of the pond area... a BH just doesn't have the reach.

 

[5030]

It's also not going to be easy to sell just the BH as they tend to be matched to the tractor to some degree --- sub frame and hydraulics for example.

My dealer always tries to discourage a new buyer from adding a backhoe. Like he says, they buy one, use it a couple times and it comes off and sits in the corner of the garage or barn not used and they are an expensive accessory. He encourages them to rent a mini ex or small excavator as well (and no he don't rent them either). We have 3 rental places close by, Black Swamp Equipment, Buck & Knobby Rentals and Herc Rentals. Long or short term rental places.

If it was me, I'd rent a mini ex and not have the responsibility of maintaining it and return it when done.

The outfit I retired from would do just that. They were a Freightliner dealer with a large paved lot. In the winter if we got a huge snowfall, they'd rent a large articulated loader to move and pile the snow. It never warranted owning one, made no sense and as a business, they could 'write off' the rental as a business expense anyway.

 

[5030]

A mini x isn't the right tool for the job either IMO.
Are you loading into something to move the dirt ?
A mini isn't going to have the reach you need for a 60x30 pond. (unless you want move the same dirt multiple times to get it needs to be)

Depends on the stick configuration. I just happen to have a Doosan mini ex in the side yard that the bucket needs some work and the Doosan has an extendable (and pivoting) upper stick on it, so it has a lot of reach. Guy that owns it uses it for tile ditching and occasional stump removal. Nice machine, cabbed. Bucket is cracked and missing a couple grouser teeth.

Not hard to run either. All upper movements are via a joystick and the travelling motion is controlled with foot pedals and 2 upright sticks and it has a dozer blade on it too.

 

[tlj87]

One more vote for skipping the backhoe for this job. Hire or rent a large machine(s) and don’t waste your time. And, yes, I do own a tractor mounted backhoe on a large frame compact (JD4700 with Woods BH85). It’s way above and beyond a shovel and spud bar, and I’m thankful I have one for our 100 acre property, but it’s usually a hassle to deal with ((I.e the backhoe is never on the tractor when you need it to be, OR when you want to use a 3pt implement, the backhoe is on it, it feels like you always need to reposition it (which requires getting off the back and in the drivers seat, moving 8’ and starting again), you can never quite lift that big rock or stump out of the hole, bucket size is always too small or too big, etc etc etc).

 

[M59]

I need help deciding if I should buy a backhoe attachment or just rent a mini excavator. We live on a 10 acre hobby farm in Ohio, and have some flooding issues in part of our yard and apple orchard in the late fall and early spring. I decided to put in a small pond (roughly 60'x30') and some drainage tile to help give the water a place to go.

I got an estimate from a local excavator for $15k-$20k. I decided for that amount I can sell my 90s MF 240 and buy a newer 4wd tractor with a backhoe. I haven't had much luck finding anything decent on the used market, so I started looking at new and settled on the Kioti CK2610HST as the just right size for my needs. My dealer is offering me $19,950 for the tractor and loader, or $27,750 with the backhoe.

My plan would be to use the backhoe for a year or two while I build the pond and do a few other jobs I have in mind and then sell it, but keep the tractor. Would I be better off renting a mini excavator to do the pond and not buying the backhoe? Excavator rental would be about $500 per weekend, and I estimate I would need it two or three weekends.

I would be paying cash either way, and I would prefer to buy the backhoe so I can take my time with the pond project, but not if it would be more economical to rent the mini excavator instead of taking the depreciation on the backhoe.

Brownac71,

I will try and collect the consensus of other responders about building a 60' x 30' pond.
You have not indicated what depth the pond will be so I will presume it is 1 foot to make future calculations easy to extrapolate.
You will be moving 66 cubic yards of dirt. WOW.
Your pond will more likely be 2-4 feet deep so 132 to 264 cubic yards.

The Kioti CK2610HST with backhoe at 24 hp and 3580 combined Lbs has 24" and 36" wide buckets and 10' reach is NOT enough machine to be digging a 60x30 pond because you don't have enough machine weight and reach.

rScotty with his JD310 has a 24+ foot reach which has sufficient reach to create a 60x30 pond BUT you will have some really big spoil piles around that pond perimeter. Anything with less reach means you are moving the piles multiple times. NOT fun.

Regardless of what machine you choose ( excavator or a TLB such as M59, M62 size of JD310 ) you need some method to move all that dirt. I run a 9,000 Lb M59 TLB with 36" buckets and 12 reach and I would not attempt to dig a 60x 30 pond using just a backhoe or even an excavator. You are looking at bulldozer work or backhoe/ excavator with either a dump truck or truck and 7-10 yard dump trailer.

I have dug similar size holes and use multiple pieces of equipment, the M59 along with a 14,000 Lb dump trailer (7-10 yards/ load) pulled with 3500 dualie.

This is all contingent upon ground being dry enough for tractor and truck use otherwise a excavator and truck.

Hope this helps

 

[Diggin It]

With those dirt pans, you're not digging, lifting or swinging anything into anything else that has to be moved and dumped.

You drive forward, open, drag/scoop, close and drive to where you want to dump, all in one continuous motion. Repeat as needed. Depth of the pond would be limited to the slope you want to descend and climb on each pass.


Neighbor down the road had that done when he built a house. Ground was near flood plane and he had the build site raised about 6 feet. Paving and excavation contractor came in with four very large commercial CAT dirt pans. They dug a large pond about a thousand feet from the house and moved all of the dirt to the house site. Took them about three or four days and I can't imagine what it cost him.

But those I posted above would be reasonable to buy or rent.

 

[M59]

With those dirt pans, you're not digging, lifting or swinging anything into anything else that has to be moved and dumped.

You drive forward, open, drag/scoop, close and drive to where you want to dump, all in one continuous motion. Repeat as needed. Depth of the pond would be limited to the slope you want to descend and climb on each pass.


Neighbor down the road had that done when he built a house. Ground was near flood plane and he had the build site raised about 6 feet. Paving and excavation contractor came in with four very large commercial CAT dirt pans. They dug a large pond about a thousand feet from the house and moved all of the dirt to the house site. Took them about three or four days and I can't imagine what it cost him.

But those I posted above would be reasonable to buy or rent.

Diggin It,

I see one significant downside to using a "dirt pan". I was concerned about the tires being incapable of carrying a load since they looked light load duty but smallest pan is 1.5 cubic yards rated load and up to 4.5 yard. A Kioti tractor at 2,700 Lbs might be enough tractor weight to haul the 1.5 yard dirt pan but in my opinion is too light.
My significant concern is travel time. Moving 1.5 yards at a time from pickup point to somewhere else would be hugely time consuming. That is why I suggested 7-10 yard trailer or dump truck.