I'm retired at age 72 and I'm interested in harvesting some limestone rock. I have about two acres loaded with some good dry stack and splitting rock. On the backside of an old road was cut through and i can see all the levels of the rock up to about it's about 20 feet tall or so at the best. there are all kinds of thicknesses of rock. i plan to have a large excavator come in and dig it out and pile it up for me. After this is all piled up and spread out for me will I be able to use a backhoe loader to put it into a dump truck? I am not interested in going into high production. will this work for me or am i going to need a small dozer with a bucket? Most likely just a couple of truckloads per week. I think I want a john deere 310 S?. i like the 310 because it is already plumbed for a pavement breaker, and I may just buy one of those. Will I need a thumb? Please advise what I need thank you in advance. I've done a lot of reading at this forum and I really enjoy it
Sounds like a fun hobby. Deere 310 work fine machine can't lift it too big drop in the box & big slabs may work raising it & dropping em on neighbor rock break them down. Concrete slab bucket is a idea
Can you post pics. of the rock you want to load and the appropriate weight?
No i can't. Won't be back in USA until March.thanks
I like that bucket. thanks. On my list
Would that be a "bucket list?" (sorry, it's early)
I believe your question was will a backhoe work for what you are describing. Yes, provided the limestone rocks aren't enormous, it would probably work good enough. If you don't have any equipment yet and are still in the planning stages, I would consider an excavator with a thumb to be a better candidate. Even for low production stuff, with a backhoe once you pick up a rock with the hoe, you are not going to be able to move the backhoe beyond what your hoe can reach, whereas with an excavator, you can pick up the rock and then track over to the dump truck to load it. Also, it gets real old to pick up a rock with the hoe, set it down, spin around to get it with the loader, and then load it if for some reason you can't do it all with the hoe end. You may have other reasons for needing/wanting a backhoe that you didn't mention, so these are just musings.
You could put pallet forks on a backhoe. Then you could potentially pick the rocks with the hoe and put them on a pallet. I'm not sure if the rock is slabs or just broken rock used for landscaping or putting on driveways. If the rock is slabs, wouldn't it break when placed or dumped in a dump truck?
Why not to use a front bucket. And most important when working Backhoe. not to injure anybody. If you want to operate with a backhoe you gonna surely need a thamb. Only best of us may pick a stone from a solid surface. Do it man, it is fun.
Hello, Ipurchased a 2014 JD310k,thumb and forks. About 2000 hrs and well maintained 2 wh dreive. Crappy paint.
The AC doesn;t work. Any tips?