Kubota M59

[TSO]

You guys are making it very tempting. You should be salesmen.

I would love to go to Michigan but I am pretty much stuck here with my full time gig. It is not an exact schedule but I often work one week on and one week off. If I could just dink around and do a couple of days of backhoe work on my week off that would be pretty cool.

I did go to Michigan once several years ago for work. If I recall it took three days to drive there, we worked three days, and then spent three days driving home. It was in January and it was the coldest this Texas boy has every been in his life.

LOL... Yeah we do get a little chilly up here. We had more nights below -25 this year than I'd prefer!

 

[bdog]

Just heard from insurance agent. He is checking to see if my current policy covers it. If not a separate excavation policy with 75k gross revenue is about $1,800 a year with 2 million liability.

 

[LD1]

$150/month for insurance for a side gig isnt chump change. You need insurance if you are serious about doing work for hire, but you better be serious and do more than just a job here and there to justify it.

 

[bdog]

$150/month for insurance for a side gig isnt chump change. You need insurance if you are serious about doing work for hire, but you better be serious and do more than just a job here and there to justify it.

True, but I don't think I will have difficulties meeting that. I just got through visiting with my friend that has a backhoe. I am not sure what model but it is big. He is retired and charged $75/hr to do work with it with a 2 hr minimum. Heck he told me he made $150 this AM for 45 minutes work filling in a hole for someone down the road.

His is too big to fit on any trailer he has so he just does really local work as in stuff so close he can road his machine to it. He is retired though and he said if he just does a couple small jobs a month he is happy. He doesn't even advertise and said he stays as busy as he wants to. The good news is I think I can get him to flip me all the calls he gets for stuff that is outside of his range.

 

[LD1]

I could be wrong, but I doubt he has ins either.

I dont for my backhoe work. But I am in the same boat as him. Only not retired. Hoe is too big to trailer, so I just road it around the back roads here and do farm-type work. Clearing fencerows, repairing field tile, running new field tile, etc. Nothing with any utilities or structures around.

 

[RDrancher]

I didn't see it mentioned in your original post, but does the M59 you're looking at have the three point parts with it as well? That will make the machine more versatile and hopefully help you stay as busy as you want to be.

 

[bdog]

Well it is a done deal. Here are some pics of it sitting in my yard. It doesn't have a 3 point but I have a tractor and it is bigger so none of my implements would fit anyway.

I told you it didn't have much use. The guy that owned it lived next door to my mom. It has not been painted or anything this is how little wear it had.

 

[mpham]

Looks good! Doesn't seem like he used it at all. Mine had more damage to the paint at the dealer.

 

[RDrancher]

Wow, what did he do with it....dig in a cotton bin? That thing is clean!

Even though you don't have the 3pt setup, here's the nice thing about the M59. It's pretty heavy and has good hydraulic flow and a strong loader, so it'll push, pull or run about anything you'd use on your CTL.

 

[Sysop]

Very light duty work, or very soft work that cleaned up well on that machine.

First things first, go buy a couple tubes of grease and get to work on the 30 or so fittings. If he didn't work it, he potentially did no maintenance either. If that machine was worked much, it had to have been in very soft, potentially wet materials that would not affect paint and powerwash off easily. It could have water in some of the joints and pins, this should always be a concern on a super clean machine. I always like to put enough grease in that it is slightly oozing out around the pins to help keep dirt and moisture out, but it tends to be a little messy at the pins. Yours looks dry as a bone from what can be seen in the photos (which granted isn't much at that detail level).

Looks like an awesome deal!

 

[bdog]

Thats the next dilemma. I may sell the CTL. I have two of them actually a 322 and a 332. The 332 has kind of been permanently modified to dig holes. It doesn't even have the loader arms on it anymore. Really all use the 322 for anymore is a forklift for loadin and unloading pallets and occasional minor dirt work. Nothing that the M59 couldn't do.

The previous owner of the M59 bought it in his eighties. I don't think he ever really used it except maybe to plant a tree or smooth out his alley. The guy that takes care of their place said most of the 39 hours it has are from them starting it and letting it run. They started it every couple of weeks and let it run thirty minutes or so to keep the battery fresh and the fluids circulated.

 

[LD1]

What size is that bucket? and did you get any others? If not, I think the first thing (after maintenance) is some more buckets.:thumbsup:

 

[TSO]

Looks fantastic ... Price?

 

[bdog]

What size is that bucket? and did you get any others? If not, I think the first thing (after maintenance) is some more buckets.:thumbsup:

It is a 24". Probably will be fine for everything I do. I did some digging with it and am impressed. Have it pulled in my shop now and the oil drained. We had a water pipe start leaking in the slab of our house so I have been dealing with that and have not got to finish my oil change / grease job.

Looks fantastic ... Price?

They were asking $43,500. I got it for 41k. I bought it from a widow lady that I know and who is my moms next door neighbor so I didn't want to try and haggle to much. I think it was a fair price. Not the deal of the century but fair especially considering the condition of the machine.

 

[TSO]

It is a 24". Probably will be fine for everything I do. I did some digging with it and am impressed. Have it pulled in my shop now and the oil drained. We had a water pipe start leaking in the slab of our house so I have been dealing with that and have not got to finish my oil change / grease job.

They were asking $43,500. I got it for 41k. I bought it from a widow lady that I know and who is my moms next door neighbor so I didn't want to try and haggle to much. I think it was a fair price. Not the deal of the century but fair especially considering the condition of the machine.

Excellent price!

 

[LD1]

If I had to choose only 1 bucket, it would be a 24" bucket.

But it is nice to have a some more. 24" is a bit much if you are only running electric or a 4" tile or water service. And its a bit small if you ever do try to tackle a large hole or basement. What is the largest bucket that hoe is rated for? I like my 36"-1/2yd bucket for moving lots of dirt quickly.

 

[bdog]

The book lists 12"-36" as options.

I am by no means an expert operator but I was digging some with it yesterday and in our dry hard ground I am not sure I would want to go any larger. It handles the 24" but you have to pay attention to not overdo it. Anything bigger might be too much.

 

[LD1]

The book lists 12"-36" as options.

I am by no means an expert operator but I was digging some with it yesterday and in our dry hard ground I am not sure I would want to go any larger. It handles the 24" but you have to pay attention to not overdo it. Anything bigger might be too much.

I'll take your word for it. If a larger bucket slows down the hydraulics, then you wont have a productivity increase. At that point, would only be handy in soft soils or loose piles. But I would still want something smaller for utilities and such. Less to backfill, and less time to settle and be able to drive over the trench without getting stuck.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sweet Deal and thanks for posting the details...

I've found equipment prices don't vary all that much around the country...

What does vary is the cost of a machine with operator.

Up in Washington... there are plenty of experienced operators that are real reasonable once you develop a rapport... I needed some work done and the operator referred to me by the neighbor wouldn't take a dime until it was done and I had inspected it... told him I wouldn't be back for 6 weeks and said not a problem.


This would NEVER happen in the SF Bay Area... maybe too many scammers? It's also hard to find guys for small jobs... just not many around and those that are say it's not worth it or they would have to charge so much to mobilize the customer wouldn't pay...plus, all the cities around here require anyone doing any kind of work to have a city business license... doesn't matter if you are a sign painter or digging a trench...

 

[Sysop]

I'll take your word for it. If a larger bucket slows down the hydraulics, then you wont have a productivity increase. At that point, would only be handy in soft soils or loose piles. But I would still want something smaller for utilities and such. Less to backfill, and less time to settle and be able to drive over the trench without getting stuck.

I agree totally... I like having a 10 or 12 inch bucket for small trenches to drop a line or conduit into (whatever the narrowest the unit can use). 16 or 20 inches for drains and such. A 24" bucket on a smaller machine doesn't make much sense to me on 90% of what I get into. If I need to move that much dirt per scoop, I need a rental. I would hate having to cut a 24" trench all the way around a 3' stump just to pull it. Spreading the force of a smaller machine on a 24" bucket generally lowers the PSI it can apply enough it will struggle with roots a smaller bucket on the same machine would eat right through.