First decision: CUT vs construction backhoe

[Coach v]

I am a school teacher with more time (summers off) than money.

 

[Teachu2]

We grow 'em here, too.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Those are some meaty looking rocks. A compact tractor will have a heck of a time loosening and removing those without a lot of manual labor involved too. A construction TLB will work circles around a compact, doing earthwork. Just don't ask it to mow.

If it were me, I would buy an older Case 580 or Ford 555, preferably with 4wd. Do the heavy work with it and then if warranted, trade down to a smaller machine when you feel the backhoe is no longer needed.

There's the RIGHT answer right there...

SR

 

[fried1765]

Maybe he meant Tractor Loader Backhoe (TLB)?

Those are some meaty looking rocks. A compact tractor will have a heck of a time loosening and removing those without a lot of manual labor involved too. A construction TLB will work circles around a compact, doing earthwork. Just don't ask it to mow.

If it were me, I would buy an older Case 580 or Ford 555, preferably with 4wd. Do the heavy work with it and then if warranted, trade down to a smaller machine when you feel the backhoe is no longer needed.

++++ on the Ford 555.

 

[spitter]

If you don't mind turning wrenches go for a case 580 with a cummins in it 90's to early 2,000 ,s . Easy to work on parts are easy to get through auto parts store. Used parts will be around for a long time. If you go the tractor route Ford 2120 probably will be the best all around easy to work on and parts or dealer is that[ close ] New Holland dealer. Just throughing ideas out .:drink:

 

[rScotty]

We are looking to buy our first tractor. We built our home about 10 years ago in the mountains of rural NE California at 3500' on about 3 sloped rocky treed acres in the woods.
.....SNIP...
I have been looking at used older 2x4 construction backhoes in the $10k range. I have not pulled the trigger as I worry about them being too big and too much work/problems.

I think a compact farm tractor would be more versatile, but worry about not having enough power/weight and they are 3x the price.

I have a Deere dealer about 25 miles from me. Closest Kubota dealer 2.5hrs. Branson, Mahrinda, Koiti, LS, New Holland dealers between 1 and 1.5 hours out.

I have been going in circles over decided and need some help. Which direction would you go?

We started out doing much the same thing as you are but 45 years ago..... We built a house in the mountains, & later bought a sweet compact 4wd tractor & loader. Nice, but a bit light for the work especially on slopes.
However, we wished we had bought it sooner.

Looking back on it, our tractor ownership has gone through 4 phases:

First was the compact 4wd tractor w/loader & blade. Wonderful thing & much better than doing things by hand, but powerwise not a whole lot different from what you can do by hand.... just way more convenient. Kind of expensive for us at the time.

Later we bought an older farm tractor and added a loader & wide front. Inexpensive, very powerful, very stable, very reliable....rather unwieldy though. Has PS (a must), a category II 3pt hitch + 3pt backhoe.

30 years later & retired, my wife bought us a new semicommercial TLB: a Kubota M59 with interchangeable cat. II 3pt/ frame-mounted backhoe. BH HAS A THUMB!!. We still use it everyday. Remarkably handy & crazy strong.
A flood wiped us out in 2013. As part of the rebuild we bought an older construction backhoe - a typical JD310G - to work alongside our M59. It is often used as a dumptruck, in the creek, or for really heavy rocks. No thumb :-(

So we have a lot of thoughts on comparisons if you have questions...
rScotty

 

[GSVette]

I bought a used 580D as my first big ‘tool’ as I knew that digging through the decomposed granite underlying my acreage was going to challenge (and likely defeat) most tractor mounted backhoes.

It is more expensive to fix and does require more frequent repair than the LS XR4155HC I bought a couple of years later but I wouldn’t be without it-the capabilities of an industrial TLB far outstrip any CUT or SCUT mounted hoe-particularly with an extenda-hoe version.

For me it all comes down to what you want to do and the ground conditions you want to do it in-in my case hundreds of feet of water lines, powercable and septic lines in the ground conditions I have drove me to an industrial 4x2 extenda-hoe.

YMMV

 

[TractorNH]

I have both a CUT (Mahindra 2655) and a 1970 Case 580CK 2 wheel drive (and a Deere 350C Dozer). I will say this, any CUT is NOT an industrial machine. I have my Mahindra primarily for snow removal, firewood, etc.

I say full size construction backhoe and here's why. We have beat the snot out of the Case and it always comes back for more. We bought it in 2000 for about $9k when building a house and putting in almost 1200' of driveway. Did sitework for another house in 2006 too. The first couple years we replaced just about every hydraulic hose on it as they blew but it's pretty reliable, always starts and runs well. We use it strictly for earthwork, digging stumps, etc. No snow removal. Just be prepared with any machine to fix things as they break. The only regret with the Case is that we wish it had 4wd and the extend-a-hoe would be nice. Even without 4wd we've never had it so stuck we couldn't get it out with the loader or backhoe.

As far as electronics on the old machines...we forgot the key for the Case one day when we were building. Started it with a screwdriver across the starter. No electronics at all there.

Some people will say keep it as long as you need it and then trade for something else but I have a problem losing the versatility of having a backhoe and a dozer when I feel like I've got my money's worth out of them. We probably don't even put 50 hours on the dozer or backhoe per year but they don't owe me anything and it sure is nice to have when you need it.

 

[dodge man]

Through my work I am around construction equipment all the time, and everyone is spot on that any CUT tractor just won't be the same as a piece of construction equipment. The problem is I can't image having something that big on my property, I also live on three acres. Like others have said, you can use it for a period of time and sell it later and get something smaller.

 

[rScotty]

Through my work I am around construction equipment all the time, and everyone is spot on that any CUT tractor just won't be the same as a piece of construction equipment. The problem is I can't image having something that big on my property, I also live on three acres. Like others have said, you can use it for a period of time and sell it later and get something smaller.

Being handy in small areas without tearing things up describes why we got a medium size Kubota TLB - the M59. Very precise and maneuverable. 980 hrs on ours now. Good side hill stability. Plus being about 60% as strong as a full size backhoe - which we also have, but use the M59 most of the time. I could go on and on about how well it works. Lots of features.... It has a thumb, turbo, quick change buckets on both ends, 6 speeds F&R, and a cat. II 3pt as well if needed.
Kubota makes even smaller TLBs. They are pricey but beginning to appear on the used market. The L39 still gets a lot of good reviews. Nice size for a few acres & landscaping.
rScotty