hbaird
Silver Member
Harbor Freight had the Trencher on sale this week for $2499.99. The best deal on a backhoe I have found and fits my budget. It is well constructed. Good welds, lots of steel and the hydraulics don't leak. The 9HP Subaru engine starts on the first crank. The dry weight is 1056LB. After several hours play/learn time I have learned a little about operating a Backhoe. The bucket now goes to about where I want it. The bucket curl is by far the most powerful action on the hoe. I have been practicing in the woods with a lot of roots. The curl will get those the boom and boom extension won't cut, all round there is plenty of power. Now a question please. Do controls get smoother or am I? It looks like it can dig all the geometry will allow. At full throttle, it is not fast but with 2.7GPM it can't be. The pins connecting all the pivoting points are greased internally with a needle adapter. This is new to me. Yes it does bounce around ,sometimes, but I expected it to and can live with it. I have crawfish walked it a lot learning the controls. It works, but is slow and best on short moves . I am getting two more wheels and axles to allow tractor towing without moving the wheels around. Over all it will do all I need. It came with parts to rebuild the hyd cylinders.
Harold
Harold
