Mini excavator/skid steer vs backhoe.

[4570Man]

It wasn’t intended that way but this video does an excellent job at what I’ve been saying for a long time. Mini Excavator vs Skid steer - YouTube. With my M59 I could have have dug the footer with the backhoe, moved the fill material with the front bucket. Dug up whatever stray stump there might be, used pallet forks to move the retaining wall blocks that weren’t there yet, kept the ground destruction to a minimum, cleared the brush with the backhoe thumb or the front bucket whichever proved better, and move cement in the front bucket if it’s too soft to get the truck around and showed up with a 3500 pickup and 14k trailer. If you had all of the equipment in the video I’m done for but who brings a semi and low boy, 2 skids and a mini with 2 operators to do a couple hours of work?

 

[EddieWalker]

I agree that a backhoe is the single handiest machine a guy could have on the farm.

 

[mickeyw]

I think the tractor backhoe is a good all-rounder, where as the mini excavator or a skid steer is more of a specialist tool.

The mini excavator can often get better access and be more manoeuvrable on a job.
Skid steers, especially tracked ones are also surprisingly effective at ground preparation, very quick and agile for material handling, and leave the site tidier than a wheeled machine.

Of course it depends what kind of work you need to do, and your resources for equipment ownership. On our farm our antiquated Ford 3000 does all our loader work and a fair bit of implement work on the 3-point.
The mini excavator I bought a few years ago has made a huge difference to how I do certain jobs. In wet weather I can use it to load a dump trailer without chewing the ground up. It takes long to do the loading but a lot less time is needed clearing up after.

Do you ever watch Andrew Camarata's videos? As a guy that works on his own he still prefers to use an excavator and skid steer over a tractor backhoe. He's certainly done plenty to prove to himself what works best.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve ran a CTL before and can do first class work with one but they have their downsides. Imagine if that site was a grassy area and the 4 yards of material was gravel. With the CTL the the ditch is a mess and needs a lot of hand work and is probably too big and waste material. And the grass is destroyed. With the excavator the ditch is neat but the material moving is so impractical you’re probably out of the one machine race. The gravel is going to be full of dirt and the grass is full of gravel and the farther you go the worse it gets. The grass is equally maybe worse destroyed than with the CTL. If it’s too wet to load my truck with my backhoe it’s far to wet to get my dump truck within the reach of the excavator. I’m not saying those machines don’t do a good job, but limiting yourself to one or the other you’re compromising a lot. Here’s a site prep I did with a CTL. The only hand rake that touched that job was used to rake up that small pile of sticks.

 

[fried1765]

I agree that a backhoe is the single handiest machine a guy could have on the farm.

Times 2

 

[Deerherd]

Times 2

Only if you have multiple tractors. For those of us with only one tractor switching out to put on plow, rake, cultipacker, disc, mower, box blade, land plane, logging winch etc is way too cumbersome and time consuming. Get an excavator.

 

[ovrszd]

Only if you have multiple tractors. For those of us with only one tractor switching out to put on plow, rake, cultipacker, disc, mower, box blade, land plane, logging winch etc is way too cumbersome and time consuming. Get an excavator.

But, you could have bought a very nice TLB for what you paid for the excavator.

 

[4570Man]

But, you could have bought a very nice TLB for what you paid for the excavator.

The difference between a real TLB and a cumbersome backhoe attachment is lost on most. Mini excavators are nice machines but there’s not many jobs where they’ll really beat a backhoe. Sure if it’s a swamp or 360 swing mandatory but it takes a long time of digging a little bit better to make up for all the extra time spent everywhere else.

 

[ovrszd]

The difference between a real TLB and a cumbersome backhoe attachment is lost on most. Mini excavators are nice machines but there’s not many jobs where they’ll really beat a backhoe. Sure if it’s a swamp or 360 swing mandatory but it takes a long time of digging a little bit better to make up for all the extra time spent everywhere else.

I agree.

If I can only afford one, of the three in your title, I'll take a TLB. A real TLB. Like your M59. Or bigger if it's in the budget.

I put in a lot of road culverts. Excavator is the tool of choice there because of it's ability to pile the dirt farther from the hole. But for "farm" use, TLB.

 

[4570Man]

I agree.

If I can only afford one, of the three in your title, I'll take a TLB. A real TLB. Like your M59. Or bigger if it's in the budget.

I put in a lot of road culverts. Excavator is the tool of choice there because of it's ability to pile the dirt farther from the hole. But for "farm" use, TLB.

I have more money in my M59 than my pretty nice 310 that I used to have. Like 30 percent more. The full size hoes have half way obsoleted themselves. If my 310 had front 3rd function front hydraulics, front QA, rear QA bucket, and hydraulic thumb it would be a different machine. I’d still have it and the Kubota dealer would still have my M59 if the 310 was setup like that.