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Looking at two backhoes,
One Ford, and one John Deere
Both from '70,s

Just to poke around with, stumps, etc.
not commercial use.

Any pros, or BIG cons with either??





(This is not hypothetical, and I will not entertain
any discussion about having dog tied to left or right
of hoe..... You know who you are!)

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Not expensive to run.........if nothing breaks. If you have a big property, a;most a necescity. Used/older tools can get expensive quickly.

Unless you need a backhoe for trenching and/or excavation, a skid steer might be a more compact, versatile option.

Too big for me to play in my 20K sq ft lot. I know Mamma caught me one day. Was told to park it.

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Well, I've heard stories about the JD being a bigger problem,
(maybe not problem, headache) having to do with the
transmission and hydraulic system tied together....anybody?

I had a bobcat for trenching drains, and it did fairly well,
but doesn't have the pull power for decent size stumps.
Also, going from loader to hoe requires removing-replacing
attachments, just not efficient.

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I don't know, but I know people who do.
Got specifics?

If you need a backhoe, look at Northern Tool and Equipments web site. I don't know if they still have it, but for a while they were carrying a used Yanmar Trackhoe. The reviews were very good and we have a Yanmar Tractor which has been basically trouble free for twelve years, even though we have abused it. Yanmar makes some of John Deere's engines and compact tractors, too lol. Also, Yanmars have really good fuel economy.

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I'm looking at BIG, and USED (meaning cheeper)

There are several around in the 4-5-6K range,
ford, JD, International, and I understand that
a machine from the '80s is gonna have issues.
and it won't 'look' good.
But to plunk around the homestead, who cares....

That Yanmar is 40K.....ten times what I'm willing to spend,
and again, a smaller size unit.

So far, nobody around here seems to have one,
or pros and cons, so I'll just keep looking.

Tanks.....

Oh my, that Yanmar has gone way up in price, if I had seen that I wouldn't have recommended it, lol. Last time I checked two years ago it was around 7k. Well, all I can say about the big guys is that all the construction crews around here, and the farmers use John Deere many of which are pretty old and still running, don't know if that means anything about reliability. Well good luck, sorry I am not of more help.

Ok, did a little research, Northern doesn't carry the little guy I was thinking about any more. Oh well. There are many other places carrying them, but for the 7 to 12 ton ones you are looking at at least 12000.