Talk me out of an excavator!

[mike69440]

Here is the Power Trac Forum

Power Trac

Discuss Power Trac equipment!

www.tractorbynet.com

Actually if not clearing forrests, a Power-trac would be handy for heavy duty cleanup.
Basically you purchased land, now you are doomed to be buying equipment if you want to manage it.

 

[JLinOK]

We just purchased a new property thats 48 acres, approximately 25 acres in hardwoods, 20 in pasture, and half of a 5-6 acre pond. I've got the pasture maintenance covered, and have a grapple to clean up downed trees, etc. I've gotten really interested in a 3-5 ton mini excavator with a flail or mulcher head to clean up the woods and pond bank. I've been watching videos lately and they just seem so useful for keeping the underbrush in the woods cleaned out, which makes for a much nicer property. On the flip side, I don't NEED to clean out the underbrush or most of the pond bank, and their very expensive.

Am I better off just leaving the woods natural? Hiring someone with an excavator to come clean up a little? maybe just the pond bank? Or are these things really as useful as they look and a great investment for a landowner?

I am fixing to have to rebuild all the hydraulic tubes on my John Deere 540 FEL. That is because I use my tractor like an excavator. If you can afford it with or w/o the divorce, go for it. Go the next size up to be sure, and maybe get an old used bulldozer to go with it. And a skid steer, and a ....

 

[Drstrangeglove]

Why a big swiss army knife and an even bigger multi tool? I can see the either the 420 or M62 but would not a CTL, or excavator with blade and thumb be more productive as the second machine?

Different jobs and people. The m62 can be pulled by a f250 and no CDL. It can do small jobs. The 420 will go out with a vermeer plow pulled by a class 8 truck. The kx080 is my personal toy. I use it on the farm.

 

[Ken45101]

I have 30 acres of pasture and almost 90 acres of steep wooded hillside, too steep for pasture since I don't have mountain goats. I use the mini ex for cutting trails on the hillsides, it is so much safer and easier than a skid steer, tractor, or backhoe. It is also good for trail maintenance and clearing downed trees. One nice thing, it is the easiest equipment to reverse and get out if a trail is blocked as it is the only equipment that can turn around without actually turning the vehicle.

 

[mike69440]

Different jobs and people. The m62 can be pulled by a f250 and no CDL. It can do small jobs. The 420 will go out with a vermeer plow pulled by a class 8 truck. The kx080 is my personal toy. I use it on the farm.

You have some good equipment used to make income. My L39 is weighted to over 8,000 lbs and is carried on a 3,000 lb flatbed. Being a combined 11,000 lbs., if I was doing commercial jobs, from what I understand, it would require a CDL. A M62 is 8,300 lbs. bare weight. With some add ons and loaded tires it is 10k lbs. Add the trailer, how do you move this legally without a CDL? Still, as you can pull it with F250, most cops won't even notice.

 

[4570Man]

Different jobs and people. The m62 can be pulled by a f250 and no CDL. It can do small jobs. The 420 will go out with a vermeer plow pulled by a class 8 truck. The kx080 is my personal toy. I use it on the farm.

A KX-040 will out dig a M62 and you can trailer it with the same hauling requirements as the M62.

 

[4570Man]

You have some good equipment used to make income. My L39 is weighted to over 8,000 lbs and is carried on a 3,000 lb flatbed. Being a combined 11,000 lbs., if I was doing commercial jobs, from what I understand, it would require a CDL. A M62 is 8,300 lbs. bare weight. With some add ons and loaded tires it is 10k lbs. Add the trailer, how do you move this legally without a CDL? Still, as you can pull it with F250, most cops won't even notice.

Only a few states go by the 10k trailer deal. In most states you can pull a 14k trailer with the F-250 GVW at 10,000 pounds which makes a 24k combo which is legal.

 

[Normand50]

After getting on for 45 years on off of smallholding, I say buy an excavator. I have had my 1.5 ton Pelljob for nigh on 20 years now and would not be without it even though I only have 2 acres. It is my go to machine. It may be small by the standards of most of you here but I have done so much work with it. Not just digging holes, foundations and preparing for concrete floors and slabs, but pulling down trees, moving logs from trees I have cut to where I can get the tractor in. I move the hay and straw round bails for the animals with it. It is my crane for moving my machine tools. The trailer gets unloaded with it when stuff is to heavy. As getting older I don't have the strength I used to have, I dig the veg plot with it before incorporating manure and rotavating with the my Kubota micro tractor. The uses are endless, so go for it!!!

 

[Drstrangeglove]

A KX-040 will out dig a M62 and you can trailer it with the same hauling requirements as the M62.

But you can't drive it down the highway. That is why I bought it. I will have 5 jobs done and your still moving to the second one. Also you can jack the back tire up to a cable spool and wind up the cable.

 

[Drstrangeglove]

Only a few states go by the 10k trailer deal. In most states you can pull a 14k trailer with the F-250 GVW at 10,000 pounds which makes a 24k combo which is legal.

In Alabama, the magic number is 26000 lbs. An f250 is 10k gross, and the trailer is 16k. My setup is 12500 lbs empty.

 

[Jaybr]

Can y'all explain this to me?

In VA:

• A combination of vehicles with a gross combination weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 pounds or more if the vehicle(s) being towed has a GVWR of more than 10,000 pounds.

I know some 3/4 ton trucks have a GCWR of over 26k. My understanding of this is if the truck has a GCWR of over 26K and I'm pulling a 14k trailer, I'd need a CDL regardless if my total weight is under 26k. Am I correct on this?

So if I'm shopping for a new truck I want to avoid 1 tons and make sure the 3/4 ton has a GCWR less than 26k?

 

[4570Man]

But you can't drive it down the highway. That is why I bought it. I will have 5 jobs done and your still moving to the second one. Also you can jack the back tire up to a cable spool and wind up the cable.

There’s just no real world application where that’s true. Driving the backhoe a mile down the road I get but doing 5 jobs to my 2 come on let’s be real. It takes me maybe 5 minutes to load and chain the mini. Driving a machine to a job sucks too. The truck carries a lot of useful stuff as well as going much faster.

 

[Fixastuff]

There’s just no real world application where that’s true. Driving the backhoe a mile down the road I get but doing 5 jobs to my 2 come on let’s be real. It takes me maybe 5 minutes to load and chain the mini. Driving a machine to a job sucks too. The truck carries a lot of useful stuff as well as going much faster.

Machines love to leave mud on roads also.

 

[4570Man]

Can y'all explain this to me?

In VA:

• A combination of vehicles with a gross combination weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 pounds or more if the vehicle(s) being towed has a GVWR of more than 10,000 pounds.

I know some 3/4 ton trucks have a GCWR of over 26k. My understanding of this is if the truck has a GCWR of over 26K and I'm pulling a 14k trailer, I'd need a CDL regardless if my total weight is under 26k. Am I correct on this?

So if I'm shopping for a new truck I want to avoid 1 tons and make sure the 3/4 ton has a GCWR less than 26k?

The GVW is the important number. If the truck GVW and the trailer GVW add together to make 26001 pounds then you likely need a CDL. And a 1 ton dually may get you into trouble with a 14k trailer. Single wheel 1 tons are usually fine.

 

[Jaybr]

It's the GCWR in the regs that throw me off. According to that most any 1 ton truck towing more than a 10k trailer would need a CDL and a lot of 3/4 ton trucks also exceed 26001 GCWR

 

[Fixastuff]

I did a lot of work one summer in Maryland. The drive up highway 13 eastern shore is a weight truck watch area or something. Twice with my 10k ram and 16k trailer I had state troopers in SUV. They rode next to me for a mile or so while passenger police was typing in laptop. Both times they turned around to check someone else, Botha time other vehicles were pulled getting scaled. There were multiple state troopers with others pulled over. So at least in VA my understanding is a 10k truck and 16k trailer is legal without a CDL(I guess state police agree because they didn’t pull me).

 

[4570Man]

It's the GCWR in the regs that throw me off. According to that most any 1 ton truck towing more than a 10k trailer would need a CDL and a lot of 3/4 ton trucks also exceed 26001 GCWR

The C in GCVW stands for combined. Regardless of what the suggested towing capacity is you have to add the truck GVW and the trailer GVW together to get the GCVW. My single wheel one ton GVW 9900 pounds is legal to tow my 14k trailer with no CDL. I doubt the towing capacity is there to support the idea but I should be able to pull my 16k dump trailer without a CDL on my single wheel one ton. If I hooked either trailer on my F-350 dually GVW 12,500 pounds I’d need a CDL. To further muddy the water I think it would be legal to tow a 9900 pound trailer on my Dads F-550 GVW 19,500 pounds. That would put the GCVW over 26k but it should be alright with the sub 10k trailer.

 

[Drstrangeglove]

There’s just no real world application where that’s true. Driving the backhoe a mile down the road I get but doing 5 jobs to my 2 come on let’s be real. It takes me maybe 5 minutes to load and chain the mini. Driving a machine to a job sucks too. The truck carries a lot of useful stuff as well as going much faster.

Where are you going to unload? Today, there was no parking in the ditch, and you have no idea who is going to call the cops using their private land. The state engineers and cops aren't going to let you unload in the road. Some contractors use a mini ex others use a backhoe. The larger production one here has backhoes. They are wide open from one job to the next and may dig 20 holes a day. That's over 1.5 hours loading and not counting your unloading. These guys get paid by the foot, so they don't screw around.

I prefer my 10 ton mini ex in the woods and farm.

 

[Drstrangeglove]

Where are you going to unload? Today, there was no parking in the ditch, and you have no idea who is going to call the cops using their private land. The state engineers and cops aren't going to let you unload in the road. Some contractors use a mini ex others use a backhoe. The larger production one here has backhoes. They are wide open from one job to the next and may dig 20 holes a day or more. That's over 1.5 hours loading and not counting your unloading. These guys get paid by the foot, so they don't screw around.

I prefer my 10 ton mini ex in the woods and farm.

 

[mike69440]

A KX-040 will out dig a M62 and you can trailer it with the same hauling requirements as the M62.

I think a M62 will slightly edge out a KX40 pulling a stump or digging out a big rock as long as the TLB can maneuver. In terms of speed, the typical job is done faster with a KX40.