praire dog

[Moon]

I was picking up some parts at a local tractor dealer, and admiring a back hoe they were working on. He offered me a new 'praire dog' hoe, 7 1/2 ' arm for 3800. pumps included.
My questions are:
Is this a good deal?
Anyone else on here using a 'praire dog' hoe?
What size hoe can I use on my Grand L 3010 tractor?
and what are the prices running on hoes (all brands) for my size tractor?
Thanks!

 

[PineRidge]

Never heard of a Praire Dog or Prairie Dog Backhoe. A Google search result brought up 0 hits. That must be some rare piece of machine for Google not to find it.

 

[Knight9]

Google brought up lots of hits for me. The only two that had pictures were:

Praire Dog

and

Prairie Dog 2

Look interesting to me....although not nearly as common as some of the other brands so maintenance/parts may be an issue.

Kevin

 

[JimMc]

If memory serves they are imported from England. You might find further info on a UK based search.

 

[PineRidge]

Ohh, its a 3-point mounted backhoe. I think I'll pass heard too many bad things about backhoes without subframe mounting brackets. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[dfkrug]

The Prairie Dog Digger is a 7.5' or 10.5' backhoe that can be subframe or 3-pt mounted. They are made in a factory in Bulgaria, which is owned by Rustic Tractor in Holly, MI. The 7.5' product is essentially a copy of the Woods 7500, and can use the subframes sold by Woods. There are a few improvements over the Woods units, including dual instead of single swing cylinders, a much nicer seat, and only 60% of the Woods price. All replacement parts for the 2 products are available and reasonably priced. I am planning to buy the 7.5' unit and custom make a frame mount for a Kubota L2550.
More info is at http://www.rustictractors.com/.

-Dave
NorCal

 

[reedfish1954]

Guys,

I live 5 miles from Steiner Tractor Sales in Grand Blanc Michigan. I have a seriel #103 Praire Dog 7.5 backhoe for over 1.5 years now. I have a Kubota B-2150 and have a Wood's's subframe made for a Wood's 7500 backhoe that fits like a glove to my Praire dog 7.5 and B-2150. The PD is powered by the optional PTO Caproni gear PTO pump that works just "Peachy keen. Dual swing cylinders and thicker plate steel are just some of the upgrades over the Wood's version. This PD was cloned off a Wood's 7500 which was sent to Bulgaria for measurement. At 1800 RPM power and speed are just PERFECT, after 1800 rpm the swing gets a little jerky.

One problem I ran into is the PD's seat which was designed for the angle one would have with a 3 point mounting set up. I had to totally design a new seat bracket to accomadate the close to tractor subframe mounting or the low angled seat bracket would NOT have cleared the B-2150's rear diesel tank. If you like the Wood's 7500 backhoe and don't like the Wood's price....give the PD a look. The only 2 problems I have had is 1 leaky hydraulic hose pressed fitting and a broken 1/2 inch thick bucket toothbar mounting plate on the 12 inch bucket due to overzealous use on a stump coupled with a cold mig weld on the mounting bracket of which I fixed myself. I have both a 18 and a 12 inch bucket but the 18 inch bucket sits in my garage new and unused. I bought the last one of a 12 lot from another of Steiner's dealers who didn't want to inventory it over the winter. All together with 12 and 18 inch buckets,optional PTO pump, I have 3500.00 in it not including the 400.00 wood's subframe. I think it is a great unit and offers a ton of "bank for the buck". I painted mine ORANGE to match the tractor......canary yellow is a NOT the color I wanted on the back of my tractor. All in all for the money I can do EVERTHING that people paid 7000 for their backhoes.

I might add too the Wood's backhoe subframe fitup was designed to connect into my Wood's 1006 loader frame which makes what I think is a real solid TLB hookup.

If you look closely at the PD picture in DFkrugs's post and the PD on the back of my B-2150 you will see that the extra 1/4 inch steel plate on the boom has been extended higher up on the PD on my B-2150. This beefy modification was done after the first 25 units. The yellow PD in DFkrog's post wast the 3rd unit made.