**** backhoe's are expensive

[ovrszd]

Are you saying that anyone who disagrees with you should keep their opinions to themselves?
Boils down to your individual situation. I'm in the camp where it would be nice to have, but could never justify the cost, so if/when I ever need one it will likely be a rental. If you think you'll get enough use out of one, have at it. No one's stopping you.

Yep, that's what he's saying. Couple posters here doing that.

I bought a TLB 18 months ago. Built a new shop and house. Paid for the TLB. That has no bearing on the benefits of renting. Use does that.

 

[grsthegreat]

Not wanting to start an argument, but my thoughts on needing a backhoe are totally dependent on ones future needs. if i lived in an area without rental options nearby or needed a hoe on a regular basis than i would get one without an issue. In my particular circumstances i very rarely need a backhoe. Other than the occasional root needing pulling, all of my main underground was done back in 1996. All my underground is 5' down due to frost issues. I planned everything out and did all my work years before buildings were erected. Not everyone does things that way, so to each their own. Like i said i have 3 rental units within 15 miles of me. For you nonbelievers on cost to rent a small unit, ive attached a screen grab of the unit i rent most often. . At $185 a day i would have had to rent it like 35 times to pay for an attachment for my tractor. I'll bet you if i checked my records i have rented it less than a dozen times since 2000. But for someone that digs alot more than i do, have at it.

Then again, i sure love running a mini ex, there a kick. Its actually a joy to operate, and my customer pays the rental time. In other words someone else pays for me to have fun.

Back in the 1990's i leased a Case 580 extendahoe. Now that was a nice machine. I was doing alot of commercial underground and foundation work back then, and mini excavators were a dream in someones head. I guess if i could get one of these older machines that was 4x4 and could still run, i wouldn't mind having one. Maintenance was alot simpler than a complicated track machine, but you dont see many of these around here in north idaho. I cant throw a burrito without hitting a mini ex., but they are way out of my price range.

For my own needs i know a backhoe attachment would set me back $8,000 for by DK45 and sit unused too much of the time.

 

[ovrszd]

Well stated.

I have $8500 in my TLB extendahoe. Will dig a hole and bury a CUT with a backhoe attachment in a very few minutes. Will pick up and toss a SCUT with backhoe using the digging bucket and thumb.

That doesn't mean that those owners are wrong or irritating. We each have different needs. More importantly, different expectations.

 

[CMV]

So, every time you want to dig something, it costs you $250 plus travel time, no matter whether it would take you an hour or a day. And maybe the digger is available when you need it.

I can dig a hole whenever I want to, no direct cost.

The rent it guys are starting to irritate me. Aside from the unrealistically low rates they often quote, they don't consider that many rural areas don't have rental places at all. If they do, they probably don't have a hoe of any kind for rent. On the off chance that a rural rental place does have one, you still have to schedule and transport it. Then who's to say it will be available when you need it? Or will you have to take time off from other projects to meet the rental schedule?

We're not talking about cutting thousands of feet of trench on a schedule. We're talking about a couple of hundred feet of water line or trench that we can do as wee feel like it.

But quite frankly you can slowly dig a very small hole.

For many of us in the "rent it crowd" it just makes more sense. If you really need a backhoe so frequently that it has to be there on demand you probably need something a little more substantial than a smallish tractor mounted one. When I need a backhoe, I need an honest to goodness 75+HP construction backhoe. For some of us, just making a phone call and having the lowboy show up next day is a better option.....


That one is 75HP, 13k lbs, yard bucket, 9' dump clearance, can lift > 3 tons. Most recent one they brought was a 410J which is even a lot more machine. So yeah, let some small projects pile up, then knock them out all at once with ease with a beast. It's an option.....

And the hoe isn't the only part of the machine. Although it is incredibly more capable than a small tractor one - esp like the one on an MT125, it's attached to brute of a machine that can do a whole lot of other work while its there....

An MT125 would only do maybe 10% of the tasks I need done with a hoe. The factory backhoe for mine would probably do half - so I'd still be renting or borrowing or leaving ..... Sometimes brute force and a machine with a lot of @$$ is what's required.

And I owned an 80hp, 14k lbs construction BH. Sure it was convenient, but reality was it sat idle for long periods of time too. That's a lot of $, a lot of maintenance time, tied up for an occasionally used item. I can rent something stronger, nicer and I don't have $ tied up in the machine, I don't have to do maintenance on it, I don't have to insure it, I don't have to worry about it growing legs, I don't have to have a place to store it, I don't have to replace it with another big $ purchase when it finally dies for good, I don't have to deal with unexpected and expensive repairs.

So be as irritated as you want of hearing from the rent it crowd - it doesn't make us wrong..... It is a stretch to say a tiny TLB with very limited capability but is available 24/7 is > than an excavator or construction BH that has to be scheduled and paid for as used. For many of us, a BH & subframe is a good $9k extra expense.....that's a lot of rentals.

 

[fried1765]

But quite frankly you can slowly dig a very small hole.

For many of us in the "rent it crowd" it just makes more sense. If you really need a backhoe so frequently that it has to be there on demand you probably need something a little more substantial than a smallish tractor mounted one. When I need a backhoe, I need an honest to goodness 75+HP construction backhoe. For some of us, just making a phone call and having the lowboy show up next day is a better option.....
View attachment 599769

That one is 75HP, 13k lbs, yard bucket, 9' dump clearance, can lift > 3 tons. Most recent one they brought was a 410J which is even a lot more machine. So yeah, let some small projects pile up, then knock them out all at once with ease with a beast. It's an option.....

And the hoe isn't the only part of the machine. Although it is incredibly more capable than a small tractor one - esp like the one on an MT125, it's attached to brute of a machine that can do a whole lot of other work while its there....

An MT125 would only do maybe 10% of the tasks I need done with a hoe. The factory backhoe for mine would probably do half - so I'd still be renting or borrowing or leaving ..... Sometimes brute force and a machine with a lot of @$$ is what's required.

And I owned an 80hp, 14k lbs construction BH. Sure it was convenient, but reality was it sat idle for long periods of time too. That's a lot of $, a lot of maintenance time, tied up for an occasionally used item. I can rent something stronger, nicer and I don't have $ tied up in the machine, I don't have to do maintenance on it, I don't have to insure it, I don't have to worry about it growing legs, I don't have to have a place to store it, I don't have to replace it with another big $ purchase when it finally dies for good, I don't have to deal with unexpected and expensive repairs.

So be as irritated as you want of hearing from the rent it crowd - it doesn't make us wrong..... It is a stretch to say a tiny TLB with very limited capability but is available 24/7 is > than an excavator or construction BH that has to be scheduled and paid for as used. For many of us, a BH & subframe is a good $9k extra expense.....that's a lot of rentals.

"For many of us, a BH & subframe is a good 9K extra expense".
Yup!
If you buy NEW, that may be true.
Why buy new?
Read post #133

Full disclosure: I have not bought any NEW cars, or NEW equipment in the past 25 years,..... no NEW wife either!

 

[Industrial Toys]

Why not drive a Kia and rent a truck only when you need it? Weird how people own all kinds of under-used stuff and even quite useless stuff that has no market value when you leave the store, but say, no way, to a backhoe that happens to keep it's value. To each his own, I guess, but people do ask for opinions.

 

[Oldoak]

no NEW wife either!

:laughing:

I keep telling everyone I don't have time enough left to break in a new one. Forty-seven years and counting.
I guess I'll keep her. Of course it works both ways and we both joke about it.

 

[fried1765]

:laughing:

I keep telling everyone I don't have time enough left to break in a new one. Forty-seven years and counting.
I guess I'll keep her. Of course it works both ways and we both joke about it.

I had a bit of a different meaning.
Mine left for greener pastures 25 years ago (she did not find them).
I have (intentionally) not done a permanent replacement.

 

[hawkeye08]

Interesting how many friends that say it is easier and cheaper to rent (than getting a backhoe or backhoe attachment), but come asking to borrow backhoe when I bought mine.. LOL, I don't loan my tractor or attachments.

 

[Phantese]

I think the original poster has left a long time ago, this thread has digressed maybe we should kill this thread?