Suggestions for buying a used small to medium back hoe

[Pacifictimes]

Need help learning the in's and out's of the best bang for my buck for a used back hoe (mini, maybe) most dependable, easy to learn, smooth. U know want the cake and eat it too :O) Appreciate any help and suggestions U have. Dave

 

[Soundguy]

you want a standalone hoe like a small tracked machine..?

a permanent rear hoe like on a tlb?

or a 3pt hoe with a subframe on a tractor that you could remove if needed? or one of them trailer kind that fold up and you pull like on a trailer hitch?


I picked up a used woods 6500 3pt hoe at the auction.. made my own subframe and hooked it to an old ford. digs great.. smaller than the ford COPULD tote.. but i like that so i have less chance of breaking her in half..

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well I love my Kubota B26 that I bought used with 140 hours for $25K. It is a high dollar hoe when new and I could have bought a new tractor with subframe hoe for what I paid for the used one but it is professional grade equipment designed as a TLB butthe hoe is easily removed for 3PH work and it has QA bucket on hoe and FEL. IT is just what I wanted, small and agile and quiet powerful for a 26 Hp motor. It doesnt have a very long reach which is limiting on depth and length you can dig without moving but it is small footprint so you can get into some very small places with it. It handles the 12" bucket OK but I can see why the original owner cut down the 18" bucket to a 7" trencher as I dont think an 18" would do much for digging, may be OK for moving loose materials though. A mini-excavator would be perfect digging machine due to the 360 degree dumping range. When I try to use mine to clean out a ditch for instance, I have to back slanted into it in order to dump past the edge. If you try to dig from the side, then it wants to pull you sideways into the ditch so a tracked excavator would be much better for just digging duty if you can afford a single purpose machine. Kinda hard to transport dirt with an excavator and harder to haul one too.

 

[ctlguy]

If a DEAL is what you are looking for I think there are maybe more options right now in the minix world. If you are working where you do not need to propel the unit very far they are certainly a superior machine, but that is really all they do, dig. If long distances are required they are slow but they are no more difficult to haul than a cut or tlb and in many cases the angle of departure on a mini will be much better than on a tlb machine, especially the much much older tlb units the angle of departure was pathetic so loading was no fun. As far as operating the units most mini-x units utilize a pilot control style system and this does translate into even a novice operator able to smoothly control the unit. This also normally makes converting of digging controls from sae/iso simpler for the operators preference. But if transport speed and loader/pto work is also a desire than a cut/tlb is probably more bang. I could be wrong on the deals just what I am seeing in my part of the country.