Backhoe Mini excavator or backhoe attachment

[Lt CHEG]

I'd go with a mini excavator and personally wish that I'd done just that. Taking the backhoe on and off is a huge pain in the butt. I got a good deal on my backhoe so I could probably unload it for close to what I have in it, and just might end up doing that. I couldn't justify the extra expense for a mini excavator at the time, but wish I had just saved my money and rented a mini ex when I really needed to dig. Then I could have waited a bit longer and invested all my extra money in a gently used mini excavator with lots of life left in it. I really am wanting something like a Kubota KX 91 or KX 121.

 

[scoutcub]

For what you want to do, I would also opt for the mini-ex. I have a backhoe for my 32HP compact, and do do several projects with it, but to pull stumps nothing beats an excavator. A hydraulic thumb can move your logs/stumps, and a blade can level your trails.

Heck, for a few thousand more, I'll sell ya my bigger ex.....:laughing::

 

[Qapla]

We had a 36HP Shuttle-shift TLB. The BH was a sub-frame. It did the job and stayed on the tractor 95% of the time.

We now have a 40HP HST TLB. This one also has a sub-frame mount but will not be as easy to take off/on. It also does the job.

However, you do get tired of getting off the tractor seat and getting on the BH seat to dig and back again to move the tractor.

I have also used a TLB with a turn-around seat. Even though you don't have to keep changing seats, it still gets old having to stop what you are doing, move the tractor and reposition to go back to work.

A friend has a Bobcat mini-ex. Even though he only has a 9" and a 12" bucket (he is in the irrigation business and digs mostly trenches) it is like night and day using his mini.

If I needed to dig a large,deep hole, I might want something like a JD 310 TLB but they are too big for my everyday use.

Though the TLB we have does what we need, if I had my 'druthers, I would have a mini-ex. The ease of use is unmatched by any TLB.

BTW - my friend bought his mini used a number of years ago. It still works great.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Of course there is another reason to go with the mini excavator....

It leaves your tractor free to pull the dump trailer :laughing:

If you buy a backhoe I'm guessing it won't be long before you're in the marlet for a dump truck or another tractor and trailer... :confused2:

Good points.

We added the old BH and 16' flat dump and kept the 265 MF clean of fixed attachments.

On your own places one plus for a BH is it can serve as a dump truck and hoe. Today my son loaded old concrete blocks that that had been under an old house that burnt and I crushed them with a sledge hammer then we carried them to the burial site, dug the hole then dumped the bucket and repeated twice more. It was much less effort than get the truck involved plus it would have gotten stuck in a place or two.

The one yard bucket really can haul a lot. The church is under 1/2 mile away and we can load a bucket of dense grade lime rock and run down there to do do touch up's.

Again as has been stated over and over they are two different machines.

With a BH it would have to be around 10 miles before loading/hauling would make sense for me. More accidents seem to happen in the loading/unloading part of the job it seems to me.

There is not a use of the BH that I would not like it to be a transformer between a BH and TH.

Usually it is when I need to reach one more foot and am forced to respot the BH.

Qapla we love our JD 310 but it is not for small work spaces as you noted. At 13K pounds it is heavy enought to do a lot of work and push over some large trees without digging when the ground is soaked. It is not good for spread gravel inside a open lean to 12' wide. It can be down but is too close for the slightest error.

Grass is always looks greener on the other side. For GP usage around a farm a TBL with some kind for FEL fork option is really a good option if $$$ is a consideration for any reason. $10K will buy a lot of nice older 2WD backhoes in the 50-60 HP range. Compacts are harder to find and more $$$ due to their demand.

 

[MJPetersen]

I have a Yanmar 1510d and a Yanmar B17-2 (1.5 ton). I debated about what I wanted for some time and finally decided that a BH that would be a good subframe mount on my little tractor just would not be able to do what I had in mind to do. I have had a BH before on a skid steer. The 360 degree dump, stability, power, and maneuverability all favor the mini ex. The greatest disadvantage is simply associated with having 2 machines--getting them to/from the work site, storage, and maintenance.
I bought my mini-ex for about what it would have cost me for a new BH for my tractor. It is worn in the pins and has not always been well cared for, but it works and works well for my needs.

Mike

 

[mjncad]

My suggestion to the OP is to figure out just how much he needs to use a mini-ex to determine whether to buy it or rent one.

My needs have been minimal and I always rent. I haven't used a backhoe on a tractor; but constantly raising and lowering ourtiggers, swapping seat positions, etc would get real old fast for me.

I'll take the mini-ex given a choice between it and a TLB.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have a Yanmar 1510d and a Yanmar B17-2 (1.5 ton). I debated about what I wanted for some time and finally decided that a BH that would be a good subframe mount on my little tractor just would not be able to do what I had in mind to do. I have had a BH before on a skid steer. The 360 degree dump, stability, power, and maneuverability all favor the mini ex. The greatest disadvantage is simply associated with having 2 machines--getting them to/from the work site, storage, and maintenance.
I bought my mini-ex for about what it would have cost me for a new BH for my tractor. It is worn in the pins and has not always been well cared for, but it works and works well for my needs.

Mike

Mike that sounds like the condition of our 1983 JD 310 BH. We just try to keep it well greased now. I was in the market for a FEL to go on the 265 MF when I found the JD BH for $1200 more than just a new FEL. I understand any major failure like a blown engine would mean junking it. If it makes it through this summer it will have paid for itself just for our use.

The big thing is if I get another vehicle/tractor stuck, need to fall a leaning tree in the opposite direction, clean out a ditch, bury an old footer, large tree removal, etc I have it setting there. The ether start system does not work but it starts OK at 32F+ and have started it at 20F but do not like the sound of it or working on an open platform at those temps.

 

[AKfish]

How many acres does the OP have that will have road's built, trees logged, loaded and hauled? How many acres of landscaping, mowing, etc.

Pretty vague info from the OP... especially given all the hue and cry for him to buy a mini-X!

I've been logging and making pastures, hayfields on my 20 acres for a handful of years now. It was all trees when I started. I have rented excavators when necessary - to speed things up. Everything from a Komatsu P38U, Bobcat 485 and a Deere 50D.

I own a JD110TLB. With hydraulic thumb.

For anything less than 40 acres - I'd rent an excavator when necessary - not own.

I'd put the 110 up against a mini-X on stump removal - up to 5,000lb. I didn't say excavate... or dig a trench. The 110 has a flip-over seat and creep to reposition. You don't have to go anywhere to move; reposition, and start digging again.

Takes 2 pins and 2 hose connections to remove and reconnect the hoe attachment. Five minutes each way.

I can blade my road, clear snow and mow and rake hay (bale it too) with the 110.

I don't want another expensive "mouth" to feed in the shed... shoes, new clothes and trips to the doctor get real spendy with an excavator. Bad enough with a TLB!

My $0.02

AKfish

 

[Jnasystems]

I don't know, I got a mini for my projects and I can't believe how much work it can do. Originally I got it to waterproof the exterior of my basement and just that justified the investment as I completed the project 5k under the lowest estimate. It was a lot of work, but I am still 5k ahead and I have an excavator. Since that project I have used it far more than I ever expected. It has more control than a backhoe moving large heavy objects as it can move the boom like a backhoe, swivel, and the tracks can spin on the same axis. Mine is 7500 to 8000 lbs and doesn't move fast, but I can load more with it than I can with the tractor (it is a 23hp tractor) and the tractor can then haul it.

One day, I wanted to clean out the fire pit and used the mini to dig it out and drop the ashes into the tractor loader to haul them out. The fire pit is about 8' inside the ring of rocks and in a finished part of the lawn. Using both kept all the mess contained within the ring. Couldn't have done that with only one machine.

I love my mini and wouldn't have been near as happy with a TLB. They can't get as close to things and don't have the positioning control that a mini has. Those are important to me on my smaller acreage (10acre) since I don't have as much room to spread out. There have not been any times I wished for a larger machine yet either - maybe when I start dredging the pond, but that is still a couple years off.

 

[AKfish]

Mine is 7500 to 8000 lbs and doesn't move fast, but I can load more with it than I can with the tractor (it is a 23hp tractor) and the tractor can then haul it.

I can understand why.... how much does the tractor weigh?

I've put in roads, built a horse barn, 2 pole barns - 32'x32' and 32'x48' and now a 35'x60' greenhouse.

There's no way I could have done that with a mini-x or with an excavator. For starters; I needed to move and level and bring to grade well over 500 yards of fill material! You're not gonna do that with an excavator - at least in a "timely" fashion.

I have no idea how much "money" I'm ahead... but, it's significant!

AKfish

 

[Jnasystems]

I can understand why.... how much does the tractor weigh?

It is a Ford 1520 and the tractor data site says 2200lbs, but with the loader, rear blade and loaded tires, I figure it is close to 4000lbs.

There's no way I could have done that with a mini-x or with an excavator. For starters; I needed to move and level and bring to grade well over 500 yards of fill material! You're not gonna do that with an excavator - at least in a "timely" fashion.

Maybe not, but you could with both a tractor and a mini.

 

[grsthegreat]

there are bazillions of good used mini excavators out there. I was in the market for one a few years back, and was amazed at the number of low hour units out there. There listed on magazines like Construction Equipment, Farm Equipment & Heavy Equipment on Equipment Trader

and others. I get a monthly equipment for sale newspaper that has 100's of them.

I wasn't looking for a new one as its not used enuf to justify the high costs. But in th end i just kept on renting as i needed them. Turns out i must have been psychic, cause about 6-8 months after i quit looking, the bottom fell out of construction. that would have been a huge mistake if i would have purchased one.

But i agree. an excavator will dig circles around any backhoe PERIOD. I have run hoes and excavators for many years, and unless i NEED the bucket to move the dirt elsewheres, the mini excavators were in the neighborhood of 3x (or more) faster digging trench's.

 

[20 20]

Mini excavator

 

[MJPetersen]

Gale,

Everything is in pretty good shape on the little Yanmar mini ex except the pins and bushings are all sloppy, not so much that you cannot use it, but not tight. Little by little I am fixing it up, I replaced the tracks last fall, I had enough work for it to pay for it. I want to make a quick attach so that i can change out buckets more quickly and I already designed a thumb, but that needs to be in combination with the QA. Anyway i love it and it is a lot of fun to work.

In conjunction with a tractor you can do a lot of work!!

Mike

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Gale,

Everything is in pretty good shape on the little Yanmar mini ex except the pins and bushings are all sloppy, not so much that you cannot use it, but not tight. Little by little I am fixing it up, I replaced the tracks last fall, I had enough work for it to pay for it. I want to make a quick attach so that i can change out buckets more quickly and I already designed a thumb, but that needs to be in combination with the QA. Anyway i love it and it is a lot of fun to work.

In conjunction with a tractor you can do a lot of work!!

Mike

Your Yanmar looks nice. Our old JD 310 has a whole lot of slop but it still works.

I think if the owner is the only operator worn equipment can last a long time. Due to a lot of tree trimming I worked with the BH until 3 am nugging up a huge burn pile that I had to say with because I did not want someone to call 911 and put it out and I was trying to be the rain that turned out to be light. :thumbsup: I tell you fresh cut trees make a hot fire once you get them burning.

After learn how machines can help I would be lost without ours.