Retrofit of auction backhoe

[bcarwell]

Hi all,
I have a Kubota 7500. I've always needed a backhoe and been looking for a project. There is a "Kubota backhoe attachment" in an auction and it sounds like it would work with a Kubota L295DT also in the auction.
Three questions:
First, could it be made to fit on my Kubota 7500 with some fab and refurbishing work or could I end up with a useless pile of junk,
What would be a range of a decent price for the backhoe attachment if its condition ranged from 'rough' to 'reasonably good', and
Is there anything I can check with it lying on the ground at the auction to determine how bad a shape its in- bearings or cylinders shot, etc. ?

If it wouldn't fit on my Kubota, I've also thought as a project of mounting one on an old chasis of some sort. I am not worried about the challenge but just don't want to pay for a useless pile of junk that would entail essentially building a backhoe from scratch and salvaging only the bucket, etc.

In case the backhoe picture doesn't attach, the picture is at the end of this page:

www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/showimage.cgi?lid=243654&type=tn&in=51

Thanks for any input.

Thanks for any input.

 

[PILOON]

The costly components to replace being the cylinders (4) + the 2 leg cylinders. I would want to check for scoring and nicks on the shafts.
They could run $2-300 each!
If shafts OK, packings might be required. That could be a DIY item if you are handy.

Serious cracks, naturally.
DO YOU WELD?

Bushings and pins are a 'wear' item and can be replaced/machined, naturally at a cost.

The valves? that could cost $500+ to replace

WILL THAT HOE WANT A PTO PUMP ($5-600) or will your CUT have enough GPM's?

So, if you need to replace 6 cylinders, a couple of serious welds and buy a PTO pump and a set of valves as well as a total re bush and pin job then you need to pay scrap metal prices.

New HARDY, I believe, run in the $5000. range as a base to compare.

Just some food for thought, but then others may have better ideas.

 

[bcarwell]

Piloon,
Many thanks for the informative and quick reply (auction is Saturday)- exactly what I was looking for.
Yes I weld (have a Miller Thunderbolt but am a day away from swapping for a Dialarc which should handle big stuff easier).
My Kubota aux hydraulics put out 4.4 gal/min. I have no sense of how close to being adequate that is. Do you ?
Anyway, from what you're saying it looks like if requiring all new cylinders, all new valves, a pump and me repairing cracks, etc. I could be looking at $2500. If I could pick it up for, say, $800, I might get away with a backhoe for $3300 versus a new one for $5,000. That gets a little dicey. But if I can get it cheaper and/or its not in that bad a shape, I guess it starts looking a little more interesting, especially if I'm looking for a long interesting project.
One thing you didn't mention is how difficult it is to retrofit onto the tractor itself. As I indicated it says its a "Kubota" backhoe, but I don't have a sense for if it fits "L" models if it fits smaller ones like my 24HP Kubota 7500.
Again, thanks for taking the time.

Bob

 

[river rat]

Mcfly and myself bought a well-used backhoe sitting on the ground a year ago - we knew the owners, and it had been well used. It came off a 30hp Cub, and had dug footings, sewer lines, everything it could reach.
We had to scrap most of the Cub mounting hardware and build our own (full frame mount), which took a couple of days of careful fabbing, and have had to replace one hydraulic line. We will replace some more lines, a couple of pins/bushings, and other minor stuff as we go along, and of course it will have to be painted NH blue to match our TC40A.
We paid $600 for it, probably put $200 in bolts and steel under it, bought a $120 hose, and have gotten a year of use out of it so far. We got lucky, I'd say, but I'd take the same chance again .... We're sure a long way from the original price of over $9000 !
If your tractor doesn't have the flow to handle it (your numbers sound too low for it), you can get an auxiliary pump which runs off the PTO ... might want to check that out.

 

[DMF]

There was an old Woods 3-point attach backhoe at the local NH dealer... had sat there for a year... I stopped to check it out. Lines were dried out and cracked, cylinders had surface rust...not terrible... PTO pump...well, it turned that's all I could tell...in short it looked like it had been "ridden hard and put away wet" more than a few times. Plus I knew I'd want to fab a sub-frame mount for it so I needed to get it at the right price....
Went in to see the owner, he sent me to his "used equipment salesman" I asked him about it... he told me they needed to get $3,000 for it. I confirmed that we were indeed talking about the same hoe because my first thought was that we couldn't be...
Me: "Does the pump work?"
Salesman: "No idea"
Me: "Any waranty?"
SM: "None"
Me: "3,000 bucks huh?"
SM: "Yup"
Me: "Now I know why you've had it out there for a year..."

 

[dayrunr2]

I may be looking at your picture wrong, but it looks like a PTO driven hydraulic pump laying on the ground beside the backhoe (bottom right of picture with hose conected to it).

If so, you might get lucky and not have to buy one or try to run it off your tractor pump.

Mike

 

[BTDT]

Get it and if it works fine, if not resell to someone that it will work for.

 

[Stimw]

To check it's condition look for rust,damage to the cylinders. Check cyl and valves for leaks, sepage. Check valves for damage, wear on linkage. Check hoses and fittings for old age. If it has a hyd tank check for water on dirty oil, smell the oil too for burning smell. Look at pins, not so much pin wear as pin boss wear, much harder to repair.
It looks like the mount in the pic is bent. Check for frame twisted.
$300 is high for cylinders, I would say $100. to $150. each. Check at baileynet.com or surplusscenter.com
I bought a new Jinma Hoe off of ebay (for a real good price) and modified the subframe and am using it on a 3510 Branson. It works great and I am having so much fun!
Mounting it will depend on your fabrication skills or friends who can advise you but very do-able.

 

[SCRich]

A new Kubota will run about $7K probably a bit higher with the sub-frame which is about $350 for a L3400. I just bought my tractor on Thursday but held off on the hoe (hey dident' someone just get fired for saying that! )
and just had the tractor set up for it. In a few months I'll probably attach the sub frame and just get it over with and buy the hoe! Man every time I talk about a backhoe now I'll be thinking of Dandy Don Imus!