Compact Tractors are Designed All Wrong

[Agvg]

Someone in the 50's had the right idea for their loader build.

From:
D&RGW :: Photographs - Western History

View attachment 545753

Bruce

Well, this wasn't a very good solution and we ended up with the modern wheel loader.

 

[Agvg]

And this is the modern back hoe

 

[VeRV77]

How did I never come across this thread before? It's brilliant.

 

[MossRoad]

How did I never come across this thread before? It's brilliant.

It started about 17 years ago, and I like to bump it up every so often just because it's such an enjoyable read that also makes one question everything they know about humanity.... ok, it's not that serious, but it is informative. :laughing:

The folks that started it are responsible for my decision to purchase and articulated machine with all attachments up front where I can see them. While it's not the perfect design for some people, I'm convinced it's a better choice for most people's homeowner tasks. Unless you have to frequently pull stumps, or plow dirt, or pull a hay bailer, things like that, there's little reason to have a pulling-type machine around the homestead. Just my opinion, of course.

For example, today, I took my machine, 48" brush cutter, pallet forks with extra-wide forks and backstop, small bucket with teeth, and large light material bucket out to our tree farm on our car-hauler trailer. In about 4 hours I moved many yards of 30 year old piles of dirt full of trees and brush that had grown up in the piles. It required switching between the forks, tooth bucket, and large bucket many, many times, all of which took about 15 seconds per implement change without getting off the machine. These types of little articulated machines are very, very productive. :thumbsup:

 

[4570Man]

And this is the modern back hoeView attachment 545818

I don’t see the current backhoe going away any time soon. Sure they’re not as good as a skid steer and mini excavator but that package is a lot harder to move around and more expensive.

 

[MossRoad]

I don’t see the current backhoe going away any time soon. Sure they’re not as good as a skid steer and mini excavator but that package is a lot harder to move around and more expensive.

I am currrently in the area of many construction projects, both commercial and private.... I haven't seen a backhoe on one of them in several years. It's all tracked excavators of varying sizes, telehandlers, a dozer for initial top-soil removal and again at final grading, maybe a skid steer, but not too many anymore, dump trucks on the commercial sites to move the dirt from the hole to and from the storage pile, and that's about it.

Really, it's primarily the tracked excavators and telehandlers doing 90% of the work on both the commercial and residentail projects.

If I could afford it, I'd get a tracked excavator over a backhoe on a tractor.

 

[4570Man]

I see skid steers, backhoes, and excavators on the same construction site all the time. Backhoes pretty much own the small construction sites. City’s will never give up their backhoes. Good luck driving the mini a couple miles.

 

[4570Man]

My experience with a 50 series mini, a Kubota svl 95-2, and a full size backhoe is the size difference is too much for the mini to over come and it looses most of the time. The CTL isn’t as strong as the backhoe loader, but it’s a better loader platform and wins most of the time. All 3 machines service a purpose.

 

[MossRoad]

I see skid steers, backhoes, and excavators on the same construction site all the time. Backhoes pretty much own the small construction sites. City’s will never give up their backhoes. Good luck driving the mini a couple miles.

All I'm saying is I'm seeing fewer and fewer backhoes and more and more excavators of varying sizes.

 

[4570Man]

All I'm saying is I'm seeing fewer and fewer backhoes and more and more excavators of varying sizes.

They definitely are, but I don’t see backhoes or tractors or internal combustion engines going the way of the woolly mammoths any time soon.

 

[Creamer]

All I'm saying is I'm seeing fewer and fewer backhoes and more and more excavators of varying sizes.

Y4eah but I hate what those dang tracks do to my lawn when they turn. the same with a skidsteer.

 

[Agvg]

Here I live the backhoe is totally dead, in commercial use it vent totally away in the end of the eighties. It was replaced mostly by 6 to 8t excavators, at first moved on a truck and now mostly moved by tractor.

 

[Agvg]

Very flexible way to do it

 

[Xfaxman]

For me, a compact telehandler replaced my utility tractor. Here they are both in the same picture from before I sold the tractor 8 years ago:

 

[4570Man]

Y4eah but I hate what those dang tracks do to my lawn when they turn. the same with a skidsteer.

That’s my biggest complaint with a skid steer. I need to work over grass pretty frequently. As long as it’s dry the wheeled machine doesn’t hurt anything. The tracked machine rips up everything.

 

[4570Man]

Very flexible way to do itView attachment 552803View attachment 552804

They must only be working big jobs. Only working a day or two in the same place they sure spend a lot of money to move something that a backhoe could do itself. And over here tractors aren’t setup for that. No brakes on the front, pretty crude rear breaks, and no road gears.

 

[Agvg]

No, takes just a minute to climb on and off the trailer so the job can be small.

 

[Agvg]

A truck would do the same job to carry the excavator.

 

[4570Man]

And it takes another trip to get the skid steer to do what the backhoe would do. And the skid steer doesn’t truck load hardly as well. Now you’ve got a skid steer, an excavator, truck and trailer to do what the backhoe could.

 

[bcp]

Small projects benefit from a general purpose machine.

Large projects benefit from specialized machines.

Bruce