Digging with my 448 backhoe- Pics

GalwayBoy · Dec 11, 2006

My son found the septic tank by parking the car above it.
It looked to be about 300 gallons, and not in the best of shape.
Here's a couple of images of excavating for the new tank with my 4120/448.
The excavation is about 6 1/2 feet deep.

I had to reposition a few times due to the depth of the hole, but had no other isssues to contend with. Now I'm off to get some stone and order the tank.

Jon

michiglenn · Dec 11, 2006

I have my 448 off for the winter. Seeing that makes me dream of dry ground again, I really miss using the hoe. We have the same set-up (canopy, too!), except mine has a 24" bucket. You are saving a good portion of the cost of the machine right there by not calling in excavators. I have found more and more uses all the time. Thanks for sharing.

Rob-D · Dec 11, 2006

MY BH is off for the winter too. I can't run the snow blower with the BH on.

Out in Central NY CAtskills our ground is starting to harden up with the cold snap we had last week.

ps
You bet he saved a lot doing his own BH work. These guys are getting a fortune for BH work around here.

Next spring I'll be doing lots of BH work myself.

GalwayBoy · Dec 11, 2006

michiglenn said:
I have my 448 off for the winter. Seeing that makes me dream of dry ground again, I really miss using the hoe. We have the same set-up (canopy, too!), except mine has a 24" bucket. You are saving a good portion of the cost of the machine right there by not calling in excavators. I have found more and more uses all the time. Thanks for sharing.

1000 gallon concrete tank installed was quoted at $1700
I can buy the tank and associated parts for about $600 delivered.
Two days of quality seat time- PRICELESS!

Figure another $100 for diesel, crushed stone and miscellaneuos and I'm ahead $1000. I've got a day into it, and should be able to do the hookup and backfill tomorrow, after the tank is set by the supplier. (10000lbs is a little much for the BH, lol)

I'll work for $500 a day ANYTIME, but it would still take about twenty eight tanks to pay for the machine at that rate of return. (I can dream right?)

The hole had about a foot of water in it when I got there with the stone this afternoon. I expect that it'll have about the same tomorrow morning. I pumped it out with an old pedestal sump pump, then set the pump at the bottom of my six inches of gravel. Hopefully I'll get it dry again before my delivery time.

FWIW- I've got a 4 in 1 on the front. Came in handy today for grabbing the stone off of the trailer. I get more use out of that than anything else.

It was sure fun to finally dig with the machine, rather than just pull the occasional stump or set a fence post!

Jon

michiglenn · Dec 12, 2006

I have never used mine for a hole yet. Trenching, tiling, stumping, clearing dozens of small trees (now THIS is fun!) by pushing over, and twisting the roots out. Dug a 1/8 mile long ditch for my neighbor. Unearthed tons of boulders. So much that I can't begin to remember all of it. You will definitely start to create projects for it now that you know how effortless they move tons of dirt in a short amount of time. Happy digging!

ddivinia · Dec 18, 2006

Help talk me inot buying a backhoe for my 4720.

How hard is it to install, take off, etc.

What all do you have to buy for it.

How much did you pay, etc?

Thanks,
D.

michiglenn · Dec 18, 2006

I bought my 4320 mostly because of wanting a backhoe. Otherwise I would have bought a used tractor. There were not many for sale with hoes, just with loaders it seemed at that time. I think it was an extra 8K at the time, with power beyond, installed. If I am in a hurry I believe I could get the hoe off in about 3 minutes. Putting it on takes 5-10, depending on how well the pins line up that day. Not a big deal, but like anything, practice pays. If you have property you want to change beyond light landscaping, they are a must. Many farmers by me have a hoe for tiling, ditching, etc. I have used my hoe about 100 hours of the nearly 300 on it now. MX6, boxblade, loader the rest.

GalwayBoy · Dec 18, 2006

D,
My experience is very consistent with Michiglenn's. The only snag I hit is changing from the hoe to anything else. I then need to remove the hoe (easy) and attach my I-Match (not so easy). The lower links on the QH need to be positioned just so in order to slide onto their pins, and while it's a bit of a PITA, I've gotten good at it. There's just not a lot of clearance there.

At first I thought that there had to be something wrong, that there was no way to get the arms attached. After trying different tactics, I've found that this order works-1) Attach top link, 2) rochshaft arms 3)raise rockshaft so that lower arms are roughly parallel to the ground and attach to pins. 4) sway links.
I wasn't fortunate enough to have my dealer demonstrate their procedure, because my machine resides 200 miles from the dealer.

Anyone else have difficulty with an I-Match /448 combination?

Jon

GalwayBoy · Dec 18, 2006

A few more pictures.
Setting of the tank, hookup and backfill.
The supplier drops the tank in the prepared excavation via the truck mounted crane. He was in and out in under a half hour.

Nice job said he. Told us that most guys won't bring in either sand or gravel, they level out whatever soil is there- rocks, boulders, whatever. Also said that he's set tanks in holes with three feet of water in them and thet have to pump water in the tanks just to sink them!

Jon