LOOK AT THE NEW TOY. . . Henro, eat your hear out!

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Oh, and while the lovely Mrs is gone, I'm trading in my 10 year old Befco Cyclone RFM for a brand spanking new NH 914A side discharge MMM. And putting 3 skylights in the garage. And putting UV reflective film on 13 windows that catch the summer sun and warm the house. And getting the driveway repaved. And getting a decorative aluminum "wrought iron style" fence put in (by a fellow TBN member who is going to bring his PT 422 to drill the holes and let me play with it) )</font>
WHEW! Bob, I'm tired after just reading that list! You're certainly industrious. That EX sure sounds like a lot of fun. i'll have to rent one some time when I get ready to clear some of my property next door. John

 

[Bob_Skurka]

John, it really pretty cool. But it could use a "road gear" for traveling. This evening I took it on the road about a 1/2 mile to help out on a community project. Talk about a S-L-O-W journey! There is a pedal on the floor board that increases the travel speed from painfully slow to just pretty darn slow.

We had a steel gate at the entrance to the road we live on. It was hit by a car and cracked off several posts at ground level. We were able to pry out most of the posts with a tractor, but a couple of them were concreted in too firmly. The track hoe just grabbed them and yanked them right out of the ground with no strain at all.

 

[MossRoad]

Bob, knowing what you know now, would you spend $6-7K on a new backhoe for a CUT or would you pony up $10-15K for a used mini excavator?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Actually, I said before, I would never buy a backhoe again. The Great Bend backhoe on the B2910 works great, but is not worth the price. The Kubota bh was even more money. To be blunt, I think RENTING a backhoe is probably going to be the most VALUE for MOST people.

Backhoes are expensive and MOST people simply don't use them enough to justify their cost. I know that many here do have lots of uses, and for those people a backhoe may make economic sence. But for me, and my neighbor, who I co-own the unit with, the B.H. is an unused implement that was very expensive. I think it has been used less than any other implement by a long margin. The big track hoe I rented cost me $225, it was delived late this morning (Saturday) and will be picked up on Monday. It is much more capable than any backhoe on any tractor I have seen, and that alone makes RENTING the better answer in my mind.

Even if I rented the Track Hoe twice a year for 10 years it would be a better deal than buying even a small back hoe. The Track Hoe got a job done in about 5 hours that I am not sure my back hoe could actually do becuase of its lack of reach, however, IF the back hoe could do the job, I would say it would be much closer to a 20 hour job because the bucket is much smaller, the reach is much shorter, and the ability to move the machine at will is simply not existent with a TLB type machine.

So to answer your question, I would not buy another back hoe, nor would I buy a used mini-excavator.

 

[Darren]

Speaking of dogs. Here's another rental unit with a bite.

 

[Darren]

Re: LOOK AT THE NEW TOY. . . Henro, eat your hear out! *DELETED*

Post deleted by Darren

 

[Darren]

Widening the bench on the hill for a cistern.

 

[Darren]

Here's a picture of the business end.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Cool toy, sure beats my Thomas mini-excavator! But I'm not sure if I could have gotten into the spot I needed to work in.

So tell me, with that much power do you need to submit to a background check and a 7 day waiting period to rent something like that!?! Seriously, I paid $225 for rental from Noon Saturday to 9am Monday. What does a unit that size rent for? And can you rent them without also paying for an operator?

 

[Darren]

Size was one of the considerations. Like your situation, I had to get the appropriate sized equipment. The road up to the house is cut into the side of a ravine. I needed a machine that was narrow enough to fit. The Ms. would have raised a ruckus if I'd have dug out the uphill side for extra clearance. It's all because of those pesky flowers.

Besides that I wanted something that could go deep. I think the JD could dig down to 19'. I managed 13' before hitting rock that the bucket couldn't handle. The monthly rental was somewhere between $4000 and $4500. I think the daily rate was about $400. The only thing required other than a credit card was a certificate of insurance. The insurance agent had no problem getting a rider on the homeowners. I think that ran a bit over $200.

When the excavator was delivered, the driver of the low boy unloaded the machine, had me sign a receipt and then drove off. The rental company never asked me who was going to operate it (me) or my qualifications (no experience on an excavator). The only problem I had was that when I climbed into the cab the engine was running but none of the controls worked!!!!!! It took me a few minutes to figure out that the lever on the left of the seat is a safety cutout. Moving it forward semi-blocks the doorway and activates all the controls. Moving it to the rear to leave the cab disables all the control functions.

It doesn't take too long to get used to the twin joysticks. I didn't swing it as fast as it would go, simply because I didn't trust my coordination that much. The machine could work must faster than my skill level. Other than the weather not cooperating and winching the dump truck up the access road when it was wet, the only problem I had was when I brought the JD off the hill and parked it by the barn to clean it. Doing a ninety on grass scrapes up a lot of turf. The Ms. was steamed.

I've attached a picture of the bench before I started the pit.