What do you consider a worthless piece of equipment?

[Welder Dave]

The little backhoes are useful for some things but I think the fact people can have a backhoe (for a lot less money) is a cool factor and Kubota and other brands use that in their marketing.

 

[cuttin edge]

Not sure what they look like in your neck of the woods, but I would sooner see the one with the scales, than the one with the creeper in his hand

 

[92U 3406]

Not sure what they look like in your neck of the woods, but I would sooner see the one with the scales, than the one with the creeper in his hand

I have mixed feelings on that. Lots of junk on the roads these days that shouldn't be.

 

[Welder Dave]

Good to have inspections but don't go after guys just so you can give a ticket. I'll never forget when I got pulled over by the truck unit. I was carrying a 45 HP tractor on my 14K skid steer trailer behind a 1 ton. I just got gas and made sure all the chains were tight. I think they may have been waiting for me because I barely made it back on the road. One guy asks for my papers while the other guy is going around checking everything (and saying it's all good). Then the first guy gives me a $150 ticket because he claims I'm overweight and don't have the weight numbers on the side of the truck. I tried to explain that when I registered the truck and trailer nobody there mentioned anything about needing to put weight numbers on the truck. I know in the past if it's not a serious offence they would give you 24 hours to correct the problem. Not this guy. There was absolutely no safety issue at all, I just didn't have some numbers on the truck. What a bunch of BS. Several people told me I should have fought it because the guy was guessing the weight and never put it on the scales. I've seen so many idiots driving half tons pulling larger skid steers, on too light of trailers, that are clearly overweight with no numbers that are a clear safety issue but I get a $150 ticket because I was never informed I needed to put some numbers on the side of the truck. Just an ego thing for some of these law enforcement goofs. Go after the clear violations.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Backhoes. A poor excavator and a lousy loader. Something only a farmer could love . . .

I used to think that. But they shine on larger jobs that require moving material such as gravel on big building pads. They are 2 fold better than a skid steer. Hard to beat 3 forward gears and way less dust to eat. The hoe is handy for digging out light rocks.

 

[Acoals]

I used to think that. But they shine on larger jobs that require moving material such as gravel on big building pads. They are 2 fold better than a skid steer. Hard to beat 3 forward gears and way less dust to eat.

Wait until you try a real loader . . .

 

[Georgia Iron]

Wait until you try a real loader . . .

Depends on what you are doing. But if it takes more than a few scoops we bring in dump trucks.

 

[Welder Dave]

Cat didn't get into backhoes because they are poor sellers. They are one of the most popular machines there is.

 

[JaredV]

A lot of guys have started their business with a backhoe and a pickup. Drove them everywhere until they made enough money to buy a dump truck and trailer.

The driving factor that forced them out of residential use around here was when the authorities started going after you for getting a little mud on the road. If you need to move from one lot to another in a subdivision, you have to load up anyway so may as well have an excavator.

I wouldn't sell them short on loader work. My boss and I were loading ourselves with 1-1/4"- with his clapped out 580k. At the end of the day we had hauled 600 yards.

 

[Acoals]

Cat didn't get into backhoes because they are poor sellers. They are one of the most popular machines there is.

A backhoe is just like a Swiss Army Knife. Handy if that's all you can find in the bottom of your backpack, but otherwise generally useless for anything in particular.

Except opening letters, I guess . . .

 

[Acoals]

3 forward gears

3rd gear in the backhoe =

 

[JaredV]

I've got an old Oliver backhoe based on the 1550 tractor so long wheelbase. Not so maneuverable but dang, that thing rides good.

 

[Georgia Iron]

Cat didn't get into backhoes because they are poor sellers. They are one of the most popular machines there is.

Welder Dave. I have been using a cat 4 x 4 back hoe on my last job. It is strong and I can hit a pile of gravel in 2nd gear just fast enough for the speed and weight of the machine to get a nice heaped scoop.


Acoals as far as third gear goes, it is plenty fast enough to hit ruts or other unlevel areas and dam you hope and pray you don't wreck. Loaders are risky to move around a lot close to big concrete crews, can't see enough or hear enough. Loaders are definitely faster. But we don't get them as an option. Either a back hoe or a skid steer and a mini ex. I would rather have the back hoe. It just moves faster over the big areas we are doing.


One thing I absolutely don't like about them is they are really tippy and I have more than once thought I was going to lay it over driving over partial loads of gravel...

 

[Spud_Monkey]

Try this with a backhoe for speed…

 

[IceHole]

I guess having non loader pads helps a small amount. Sorry, I'm mostly a dozer person, but can operate many other machines as well. A 977K maybe a way better machine than the ones I have run I don't know.
I have thousands of hours dozer clearing, and never liked trying to do that with a loader, but then again the ones I ran had loader pads. One thing about the cats I just hated is the bucket control being azz back wards.
Pull to dump? Stupid

That does screw with my head too. May end up switching hoses to fix it.

 

[Tyler d4c]

That does screw with my head too. May end up switching hoses to fix it.

Switching hoses doesn't do a good job of it it makes the detents not do the right thing

 

[Welder Dave]

I meant backhoes in general are very popular not just from Cat.

 

[cuttin edge]

I have mixed feelings on that. Lots of junk on the roads these days that shouldn't be.

Yeah but the guy with the creeper in hand is not a mechanic. In the 80s an MVI for a commercial vehicle was every 6 months. They cried about it and made it every year. Now in NB an MVI for a personal vehicle is every 2 years, and they are considering doing the came for commercial vehicles.

 

[JaredV]

That does screw with my head too. May end up switching hoses to fix it.

I was told by a long time owner that was for ditching. You work crossways to the ditch line, roll the bucket all the way forward, put the teeth at the near edge of the ditch, and then with the two levers working in the same direction push them both forward and it lowers the boom and rolls back the bucket simultaneously, scooping out a rough ditch.

 

[92U 3406]

Yeah but the guy with the creeper in hand is not a mechanic. In the 80s an MVI for a commercial vehicle was every 6 months. They cried about it and made it every year. Now in NB an MVI for a personal vehicle is every 2 years, and they are considering doing the came for commercial vehicles.

I've often wondered if I could override a CVSE officer if I got pulled over for some BS violation and I whipped out my Red Seal truck & transport ticket. Wonder how that would go down?