List of Things To Do With A Small Backhoe

[dodge man]

I own a BX2350 and there are times when I wish I had got a BX24 for the backhoe. The truth is I want one, but don't really need it. I'm not sure what the price difference is, $3000-$4000. It seemed like a big chunk of change when I bought the BX but now I wish I had gone ahead and got the backhoe.

 

[LBrown59]

I own a BX2350 and there are times when I wish I had got a BX24 for the backhoe. The truth is I want one, but don't really need it. I'm not sure what the price difference is, $3000-$4000. It seemed like a big chunk of change when I bought the BX but now I wish I had gone ahead and got the backhoe.

Every time i read something like this it it makes me thankful I paid the extra $3800 and got a BX23 instead of the BX2230.

 

[tommu56]

As a 23 owner there will be thousands of things you will use it for
hanging deer to skin them to digging septic lines to turning over you garden just double dig it.

and a thousand more things your friends think you can do.

tom

 

[2manyrocks]

I bought a used Terramite utility backhoe. Partly paid for itself in installing my septic system and then my underground drains. Most recently, I used it to install underground power to the shed. Sometimes I use it to bury the occasional deer that gets hit on the road by the house.

Maybe it would have been cheaper to rent, but it is convenient to have it here when I need it, and I can work at my pace instead of at the rental company's pace. I figure I can resell it for pretty close to have I have invested, and the money I paid for it didn't disappear in the stock market.

 

[sld]

While I am not a bh owner, I can agree with the logic of owning a tool to use at your convenience. For me it is a big hassle to plan in advance to rent a tool and then rush to get something done. Having it to use when you have the time and feel like doing it is priceless.

Plus, I like to help others out and don't mind using some of my tools to do it. What goes around comes around and I need favors sometimes too.

 

[Green4310TLB]

I agree that once you get one, you will not want to be without it again. Also, the small ones are pretty easy to position near the house so adding electric or water lines to various location (sheds, driveway lights) becomes really easy if you are the DIY type. And never fear, your family, friends, and neighbors will always have a project they would love some help with.

 

[Combustix]

Used mine quite a bit the first couple years adding drainage culvert, dig fill dirt, removing stumps, and a host of others. Have not used it much in the last two years so I mentioned to the wife I was thinking of selling. She told me no that we may need it again. God I love that women

 

[sixdogs]

You can certainly dig holes for new trees, however, in my limited experience a small BH does not work very well to remove trees for replanting. For me, anyway, it is almost impossible to scoop the tree and root system in one bucket pass, without mangling the tree or the root system...

I use my JD790 TLB all the time to dig trees for transplant and I found a method that works very well. I start by digging a square around the tree, very much like a footing for a house. The inside dimension will be a square and no bigger than the width of my bucket on the loader tractor I want to use for transplant. If I'm using my JD790, it's 4' by 4'. I dig down maybe a foot and a half or below the root line. When I'm done digging ,the tree will be on an "island" of dirt. Then I push the bucket in and just try to push the edge against the bottom of the tree-hole on one side, and then the other. When the tree looks loose, I scoop it up and put in the new hole. is not exactly smooth in that you still rip a few roots but it works surprisingly well.

For bigger trees, after I'm done digging all around the base of the tree and below the rootline, I scoop out an entrance "ramp" on one side so I can get my bigger bucket in there.When transplanting any tree I dig a bigger hole than needed and after thee tree is in, fill it half or 3/4 full of soft dirt and then fill the hole with maybe 30gallons of water to make a soupy mess that makes complete root contact. Then I fill the hole with more soft dirt, add more water and stake the tree.

Here are two that I did recently. There is a shovel in the photo for comparison. The flowering cherry I did a few weeks ago by digging maybe two feet all around the tree as described. It was maybe 5' by 5' and i dug a small entrance ramp on one side to get my JD5520 bucket in. I dug my transplant hole oversize and probably scooped out an 800 to1000 lb rootball with the tree. I had to make the tree fit correctly in the hole and did the soft dirt and water thing--maybe 70 gallons. Then I staked it and it's not going anywhere. I probably wouldn't have had to stake it since I got a good rootball.

The maple tree in the photo was done last fall and you can see is a big tree. Maybe 15-17? ft. Same drill, dug completely around with my JD790 and scooped out with the bigger tractor. I did prune pretty heavy and will likely prune the cherry by 1/3 or more in the spring. Digging this way is more work but it allows me to get an excellent larger tree transplant and far less violent transplant. I have probably done 30 this way.

My little backhoe gets used 50 hours a year but I could not get by without it.

 

[AHNC]

I have 1.5 ac and decided on a 2660. Would I like a bh, yes. I would have to have it on and off a lot as I'm using a box scraper and tiller quite a bit. I have a rental place 5 mi away that for $250/day will rent me a more capable excavator. I had a guy in last week to dig 6 large and reluctant to leave the ground walnut stumps and 400' of trenching for new water lines and underground elec service. With 10yds of sand, move in and 6 hrs of operation it was $625. The bottom of that trench was dead flat and level on his second pass. I would have been all day fiddling with that short hoe. I did the sand bed and backfill with my 2660. I voted no on the bh and second guess myself all the time, but then again I always look at bigger tractors too

If you have the resources, get the 25. If it is a stretch, I'd vote for a 2360 or 2660 or such and the tiller and other implements. I guess my question is, what other implements are you planning on? Which of those are you giving up for the cost of the bh?