Budget friendly machine for 40 acre property - used for moving big rock, trenches

boostmg · Nov 3, 2018

Hey guys, I have a 40 acre property.

I'm not a a heavy equipment expert by any means. At this point we purchased a tow behind flail mower from china. It's a beast and works great. We bought it because we have fields that get wet and were worried about larger machines getting stuck .. so we tow that with the quad.

Anyway, if I take a good hard look at our property it's ALMOST perfect. We have a mix of wooded land and field. There is some remnants of a logging road on the property but there are some rocks in the way.

If I had to boil down two projects that would made our property much more awesome it would be:

1. Remove rocks from paths we already have (these are rocks that might be pretty big ... Maybe 3 ft max for the largest ones). Every path we have has a rock somewhere that is a pain in the *** to get around.

2. Control the water we have on our property. Right now it's getting drained onto our property from the road and dispersing randomly ... causing just fractured streams, we'd like to organize it so that the majority of the fields can be dry.

The caveat to all of this is that the field can get wet, so we are hesitant on larger machines as we believe they may get stuck.

At this point I am leaning pretty heavily on a tow behind backhoe like the harbor freight trencher .. my only uncertainty is it's ability to move large rock. I know it can dig trenches, I know the wet land shouldn't be an issue because the flail mower has no issue. I don't even need the machine to move the large rocks all by itself. If we can just dig up the large rock or stump .. I can pull it with the quad to the side.

Does anyone have any advice on if this machine may fit our needs ... and also if there are other machines we should maybe look at?

The major downfall of this trencher is that I heard no parts are universal on it .. so they are all custom and irreplaceable.

Jchonline · Nov 3, 2018

Welcome!

I typed up a bunch on this and how I would do it with tractors..then realized you were considering a tow behind BH from HF for $3000.

My advice after reading your post a few times over is to absolutely pay a professional to take care of both. It probably wont cost much more than the BH, and it will be done in a couple of days. Get a 12 pack to celebrate your great decision! It doesn't sound like you want to invest in a tractor and implements. If I misread please clarify and we can talk tractors!

Don't get me started on that HF backhoe with the 60 degree boom swing, the lack of counterweight, and most importantly no breakout force listed in the spec. I would not recommend it at all.

kthompson · Nov 3, 2018

I think Jchonline gave good advice. If you experienced operator maybe rent the equipment, but renting and not already having experience in operating the equipment probably would end up costing more than hiring it done. I would ditch or install drain tile as needed to keep road water out first, then work on the rocks.

MESSMAKER · Nov 3, 2018

I think you are being headed the right way. you probably need an excavator and a bulldozer for the jobs to get the big stuff done.

flashpuppy · Nov 3, 2018

I am going to take a different path...

For myself, I LOVE big rocks. Get a hammer drill and an 18 long bit. Get some stuff and some diesel fuel and turn those rocks into gravel! Tannerrite also works well for this purpose.

Kinda like this, but rock instead of wood.

4570Man · Nov 3, 2018

Digging multi ton rocks isn’t the work of a towable backhoe and you aren’t going pull them with a quad either. The biggest excavator the local rental place rents is 5 tons and I suspect yours is similar. That’s not a big enough machine either. I suggest you higher this done or simply add some dirt over the top of the rocks.

Lowcountry Rebel · Nov 4, 2018

you can rent any size equipment that is practical to move by road- I rented a 70' reach excavator a couple of times
I own a couple of smaller excavators and I wouldn't hesitate to dig out and move a 3' diameter rock with my 5 ton machine- it will handle it just fine.

Best money spent for what he wants is to hire out the job- or if he wants to learn- rent a machine for a week.
I recently rented a Cat 4wd backhoe with 4in1 bucket for a week- cost $750 including transportation both ways- needed to move a bunch of fill dirt, level a lot and install 100 tons of rip rap. The backhoe and my 5 ton mini X with hydraulic thumb got it done.

Jchonline · Nov 5, 2018

flashpuppy said:
I am going to take a different path...

For myself, I LOVE big rocks. Get a hammer drill and an 18 long bit. Get some stuff and some diesel fuel and turn those rocks into gravel! Tannerrite also works well for this purpose.

Kinda like this, but rock instead of wood.

Just don't decide blow your tractor up.

boostmg · Nov 6, 2018

For the record I won't be moving multi ton rocks .. heaviest rock will probably be 500lbs ... most will be 2-300 if I had to guess.

Main challenges are swampyness.