I want to buy a backhoe for my
L3940 Kubota. I was following a thread on this subject and lost it. Under frame mounting vs 3pt. There was talk of saving only a few hundred $. I have looked at bushog self-contained for about $7,500.00 and a Kubota installed subframe for $8,300.00. I just looked at a China made Value Leader 7'/dig VLBHM7, which is self-contained for $4,200.00. It ships free and is a 3pt. intall. It comes with a two year warranty. My questions are: Can any 3pt. backhoe be modified to be sub-frame mounted, and is a self-contained (runs off of rear PTO no hook-ups and does not use tractor transmission) the best way to go. Is it less harder on the tractor to use the PTO or the tractors hydraulics?
I've only my own experience to go by. I used a 3 pt. backhoe for years, and eventually went to a solid frame mount type. The 3pt backhoe will do small jobs, but it has a lot of drawbacks. It bounces around a lot and is hard on the tractor. To avoid damaging the mount they are generally much less powerful. They also tend to have a lot less vertical lift and reach and you want the ability to be able to lift at least high enough to load a PU or trailer. Check that.
All 3 pt mount BHs have some sort of locking mechanism to hold it rigidly to the 3 pt arms so it doesn't rotate in the pins ... that's an area where they seem to all need improvement. Whatever the locking mechanism is, it needs to be easy to access since you'll probably have to lock and unlock it each time you move the tractor to a new location. Sometimes you don't have to do it, but only if the outriggers are quite long and the ground is even. My three point backhoe did have a PTO-driven pump and it's own reservoir. That was nice but required yet another wrestling match to hook it up for use.
I did consider making up an under frame mount and converting my 3pt BH to a frame mount, but even though we have a complete fab shop it's still a major job. What stopped me from doing that wasn't the size of the job, but rather that the 3 pt backhoe would still have had limitations as to what it could handle with it's boom and how far it could lift and reach. At least the one that I had came with limitations on those things...probably based on it being a 3pt type and so it wasn't expected to see the stress that being solidly mounted would put on the hoe.
There is a danger with 3pt backhoes that everyone knows about, but it's worth mentioning: If your tractor has draft control then you MUST turn it of to use the hoe. Otherwise when you are putting pressure on the hoe the tractor hydraulics will try to lift the 3 point and something is bound to break. People have been squished if the draft control is inadvertently left engaged because most 3 pt hydraulics are powerful enough to overcome whatever BH lock down mechanism is designed in.
Good backhoes seem to be expensive for good reason. Worth it though...
Bottom line is that if you can swing the price of a solid frame mount you are going to get a lot more use from the hoe. My current one is solidly mounted and it's a whole different experience. Lots more useful and particularly for tough things like lifting trees and rocks high enough to put them somewhere. Be sure to check the lift height and reach specs. It's not fun when a hoe won't lift high enough to clear the spoil pile it's making as you dig.
Having tried both, I can't think it matters as much whether the hoe is powered by the tractor hydraulics or by its own pump as long as you have the flow & pressure it needs.
It's just an opinion, but I'd go for the OEM frame mount.
Luck, rScotty
