rented a terramite

[deereman64]

I rented a terramite for the day.Im in southern NY. The rent was $175 fir 8 hours and delivery $140.never used a back hoe before.

So i managed to
1) dig a pond 3-4 ft deep about 10 ft by 10 ft
2) dig 2 ft trench about 50 yds
3) removed about 15 tree stumps 3 inch across
4) dug up numerous rocks from the lawn.

Learnt a couple of things. I had been thinking about buying a back hoe for my deere. Not going to now You really need a quite a lot of power to do trench jobs and even so the terramite is more mite than terror.

2) should of learnt to play the piano as I continuously kept on moving the hoe from side to side when I should have been moving it ina nd out.

Hey It was a lot of fun

 

[Dog Lover]

I did almost the same thing. Rented a Terramite and it did great. Pretty powerful for its size. Dug a foundation for a wood shed, removed roots and put in gravel. I had used a Case and John Deere in a job before but always wanted my own. I recently bought a Kubota BX24 for my residential property 2+ acres. It does great and my next project is put a storm water chamber in the ground for gutter run off. Took out a 4 ft stumb ball of a 17 in pine. Backhoe's sure save the back. You ought to get one for your Deere if you can. Rental gets pretty expensive and it is a race to get the jobs done. If it rains, your stuck. Sounds like you had good day of fun.

 

[dtd24]

Wow, thats one full day of work. Looks like you got your money out of it.

 

[Lindblom Lawn Care]

The last time I rented a terramite was a year ago for a retaining wall project for one of my customers. I was moving some pretty good sized rock. As I was positioning the largest rock for this wall it was pulling the whole machine back instead of moving the rock.

Its one of the few times I have been nervous running a back hoe.

They are okay for small projects, but I think a mini-ex is the way to go if there is a fair amount of excavation.

 

[knute_m]

I recently "bit the bullet." My wife convinced me to order a backhoe for my little Mahindra 2015. It is being installed tomorrow.

Maybe it was my mind playing tricks, but everytime I looked out the windows, there seemed to be something else that needed to be done with a small backhoe.

Having spent a lot of time on the seats of Terramites, I think my little Mahindra, with a backhoe, should really be able to do some serious work.

 

[john_bud]

I rented a terramite for the day.Im in southern NY. The rent was $175 fir 8 hours and delivery $140.never used a back hoe before.

So i managed to
1) dig a pond 3-4 ft deep about 10 ft by 10 ft
2) dig 2 ft trench about 50 yds
3) removed about 15 tree stumps 3 inch across
4) dug up numerous rocks from the lawn.

Learnt a couple of things. I had been thinking about buying a back hoe for my deere. Not going to now You really need a quite a lot of power to do trench jobs and even so the terramite is more mite than terror.

2) should of learnt to play the piano as I continuously kept on moving the hoe from side to side when I should have been moving it ina nd out.

Hey It was a lot of fun

Two points:

1) Isn't it amazing how much you can get done in a day with a hoe, even a small one?

2) Isn't it amazing that the delivery is nearly as much as the rental? For some reason (probably the cheap streak in me) that always sticks in my craw.

jb

 

[jinman]

Learnt a couple of things. I had been thinking about buying a back hoe for my deere. Not going to now You really need a quite a lot of power to do trench jobs and even so the terramite is more mite than terror.

I rented a Terramite about 7 years ago to dig some pier footings for a portable building's tie-downs. The rental was about $135 for 8 hours and I used my own trailer to haul it. I found the backhoe to be nearly useless in dry packed soil. I tried to dig dry, wet, and cussin', but I could not get that bucket to dig. My soil was just too tough. I spent most of the day using the loader bucket to add to my building's raised pad. I was just not impressed with the power of that little machine for my conditions. I'm sure it would have worked fine in soil that was not as tough, but it was just frustrating for me.

When I returned the T-mite to the rental yard, the owner tried to sell it to me for $6500. He said he wanted to replace all of them (he had 6) with new ones. I just told him I was not interested.

I've rented mini-excavators for less money and with far better results. If you have a backhoe job to do, I'd sure recommend them over the "terrible"-mite. If you have a job like digging a septic tank hole, then I'd recommend a full-size loader-backhoe. You may pay twice as much, but you will get 3 or 4 times as much done.