Last year purchased L4701 with a back hoe attachment and have been very pleased and impressed with the combination.
Ive had over twenty years in farming cranberries where I operated JD back hoe 410 and JD excavators 490E and JD 160G in New Jersey.We moved to NC two years ago bought a 18.5 acre property that was a tree farm that didn't sell many trees that got over grown and crowded.
Trees consisted mainly of holly and cypress with some of which where 35-50 feet tall and stumps 20 plus inches.I probably took down around 400 and removed all stumps with the L4701 in red clay as southerners know weii
l cut most large trees off with chain saw then removed the stumps after I picked tops up with forks and piled them up to burn.
For it's size my Kubota has impressed me knowing what larger machines can do and in faster time but my tractor has lot less ground compaction than a 410 back hoe (which) I like around a yard and small property
lm pretty sure this is why they where invented for home owners.I have never used a tractor as a mini back hoe until a year ago but have been very surprised by its performance for its size
with that said an operator will soon figure out its capabilities and time needed to perform a task .
I believe my BH95 back hoe attachment was $5800 not cheap but I don't regret it (and)
as many others have stated it's more time consuming taking off and putting on 3pt arms the back hoe is so easy and fast it's incredible how fast and easy it is to remove and attach to tractor.
I recently rented a Bob Cat BX 85 excavator with hydraulic thumb for burning my tree piles tractor not ideal for amount I had to burn
one week rental was $2200 dollars which I thought was reasonable for week full seven days.
Now that my tree job is done back hoe is off and grade box is on but to me if I only use back hoe one day year it's worth having around I'm 50
in June and shoveling is to a minimum if one stump needs out or a dog needs burying the back hoe is going on !!!
I would think about what you want to spend on tractor and attachments what possible use you would have for a back hoe now and in the future I知 very pleased with mine I'm very aware it's not a full size back hoe but pound for pound will hold its own !!!
