Maybe someone can help me with the pros and cons so I can decide whether or not to hire or buy a compact excavator? I have a 120 acre property with a winding 1 mile driveway. I plan to hire a big machine and operator for land clearing, but after that there is a lot of work that a compact excavator could handle. I'll need to spread gravel on the driveway, excavate for 2 buildings, dig some service trenches, and then just maintain the property in the future. I could probably take care of the immediate work with a 1 month rental of a compact. Would it make more sense to hire or rent as needed, or is there a case for a purchase for the long-term? Thanks!
Do you have any experience with construction and equipment?
OF COURSE YOU DO. Just read this thread and you'll be all set. HeavyEquipmentForums
Delmer, you took the words right outta my mouth....what place doesn't NEED one.....that may be the greatest thread ever, wish that guy would show up here again....
Right, forgot to mention that I already have a small tractor with a loader (but no hoe). I'll probably take your advice and rent when necessary.
Construction experience, yes. But not much mechanical.
hahaha
Delmer, You Sir; are inspiring, with your; "two 80 ton - DouglasCo" link. How about picking up a 3 acre - playground lot, alongside the railroad track where the HOA won't complain ? Just make sure it's not on the wrong side of the tracks, so the mob won't pinch your "heavy" equipment. Then you could build a six story concrete home with a workshop on the first floor large enough, it would shed/store an excavator. BNSF claims they can move equipment with Weight under 286,000 lbs. Height less than 17' above top rail, Width less than 11' at any point. I'll have to check and see how much they charge to move excavators, then find the biggest one that will fit on the rails. Has anyone moved a excavator by railroad ? I see myself as another DouglasCo. I couldn't find any specs. on this one: https://www.machinerytrader.com/listings/construction-equipment/for-sale/16987005/1981-insley-h1000c Can anyone recommend an oversized excavator for me ?
A 3 pt box blade with a couple of height adjustable swivel casters mounted on the rear of it will work wonders for your driveway for both spreading and maintaining it. Mike
Buy it. Then you only need to get it to a railroad siding equipped so it can be loaded and then another where you can unload. Go for it, but keep us posted.
you might buy a monster excavator for pennies but then to move it will cost you..riggers,crane time,trucks and permit loads with pilot cars, from point A to B and then reassemble it..$10K would be a good minimal starting point for transport.Then the first time you go to use it,the hydraulic pumps blow a seal or two and now you're into it for 100gallons of hyd oil and another $15K..suddenly an old Case 580K looks real good.FWIW
What kind of budget do you have for a small excavator? If you have the means to get something decent I would get one. Sounds like you have some future building projects to do also. The key is if you like to do things yourself and have the time to do them, you will find a 100 more uses for your own machine once you have one. Sometimes its timing, If you have a little project to do and only have a couple of days off to work on them, you don't have to wait for someone else or get a rental. I would not be afraid of looking for a machine to own.
Welcome ricks! As a backhoe owner I'm with farmerlund... If you have the money I think there'll be few times that you'd be disappointed you had one sitting in the barn. Someone once pointed out the value of owning a piece of equipment versus renting one was really in the case where you have a free hour to spend on a project you just walk out and fire it up, no phone calls or waiting or any of that. It's also amazing all the new things you find you can do easily with that piece of equipment. Tree removal becomes less an issue, picking up and moving heavy stuff, etc. The tractor is nice for a lot of projects but it may not have enough butt to do some more major stuff. What I did, when we first got our house (I'm jealous of a mile long driveway and that much land!) is rented a backhoe for a week and I was amazed at the amount of work made possible, so it made me consider buying a backhoe. All that being said, a small excavator can be relatively light, right? Maybe a good truck and trailer and rental would make more sense if you can go pick it up when you want. Not worrying about maintenance and junk sounds ok!
For that much land, I would go with a backhoe over an excavator. I don't say this to "one up" you, but I have 2 miles of driveway and I can tell you, even on a backhoe, it is a long way to go all the way out to the main gate to clean out a ditch or move a fallen tree. I also have a dozer and that take 5 times as long, I suspect it would be the same with an excavator. I tend to plan out my projects and group them so I can make the most of my travel time. Where I live, there are so many rocks that it is nearly impossible to dig even even a foot with a shovel. For me, some type of digging machine is essential when it comes time to bury a dead goat or trench a small section for a new waterline or the countless other things that come up on a ranch. For pure roadwork, I'd rather have an excavator so I didn't have to reposition all the time, but I wouldn't want to give up the heavy duty loader and speed I have with the backhoe.
Yes you need one.The fact your mind is telling yourself that something is missing from your life is reason enough. With 120 acres you also need a tractor, and a small dozer, and a small sawmill. Now go do the right thing, or you will end up maintaining that place with a pushmower, weedeater, and pruning shears. Not getting a machine will most likely have you banned for life from this site also.
Going to put my two cents in, I am with everyone saying backhoe, not just distance and acreage but also fuel economy of getting a tracked machine over that much acreage is more expensive than a backhoe. I have 3 parcels of over 70 acres in a 1 mile radius and can vouch for a backhoe on simplicity, fuel efficiency, ease of use and time. I own both a backhoe and a tracked loader so that's my experience
Over 4 years later I wonder how ricks turned out since he only posted 4 times...
Though you banned him for not proving he bought a machine. lol
I'll voice my opinion, worth two cents less inflation Unless I have a bunch of ongoing tree removal and hoeing in my future, I would opt for a tractor loader with a PTO for most acreages. I would then rent a nice new mini now and again when the *infrequent* digging jobs came up. Note the emphasis on infrequent. I'd value a big brush hog over dang near anything. The tractor loader will take care of general scoopy things, and a back blade with turntable and angle frankly kicks a backhoe bucket to the ditch, LOL. In other words, I am not a good TLB advocate because of the no PTO thing.
Crap, got me again! Good catch, I thought it was new!
PaulLind, there is a lot of good advice here. My advice comes as a former auto mechanic, Cat mechanic and machinist prior to a life change and now a degreed and licensed 61 year old medical professional with back and knee problems. I downsized from a 234 to a 111 acre cattle ranch with a 3/4 mile private limestone road. What type equipment you need may be much different than what you want. Additionally, what is the condition of your place, what you want to do with it and how well do you realistically plan to maintain it. You could spend a king's ransom and then some and still not have everything you need or want. If you have to call a dealer for every time a piece of equipment burps or has a hiccup you may wish you didn't have that machine. 25 years ago I started with a 70 hp 4x4 open cab tractor with FEL. It would pull a 6' disc reasonably in moderate soil, handle round bales, pull a fertilizer spreader, sprayer, 15' batwing in low height pastures. Then came 4 serious encounters with Africanized bees. Solution, a cab 95 hp 4x4 tractor. It does everything the smaller tractor does just better and in comfort. Then came construction work. A home, barn, loading dirt, digging trenches. Well I purchased a TLB which became the most used machine on the place. Well it's not efficient to haul soil in a 1.25 yard bucket very far so I purchased a POS single axle gas dump truck which really sped things up. The old place had a 1.5 mile red gravel road that had heavy traffic with a horrible easement that was abused by a neighbor and row crop farmers that needed maintenance. Well I purchased an old grader that fixed that in short order. Also quickly knocked down thousands of up to 1.5' tall fire ant mounds and smoothed the fields allowing a reasonable speed with other machines in the fields. Well for some reason I needed a CTL so I purchased one. That became the most universal machine on the place. Than came attachments, multiple buckets, hydraulic concrete auger bucket... Prior to the current political environment I all but purchased a 4 ton mini excavator which I still have plenty work for. I am not a wealthy man. For 20 years I worked 80 hour weeks and made good money. Time was precious and still is. Like an other member said being able to go out, turn a key and get the job done without waiting for a rental to be available or delivered is a big deal. I have a incredibly high pressure job and seat time has been the best therapy I know! I have no sons for help and everything I purchased saved time and reduced the physical burden on me. My medical career is rapidly winding down due to changes in healthcare beyond my control. Good income is gone. Degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, knee issues have taken their toll. Do I have any regrets over my decisions, absolutely not. That mini excavator sure it tempting. But I will do my best to fight off the urge. This has been a long post. I hope it helps.
It's called getting old. Considering the alternative I will march on!
I was de
Who said one tractor?
If you were thinking about buying new, you can probably forget about it for the near future, at least that's been my experience.
you have to set some boundaries Willie I'd like a 135 blade runner on rubber shoes please
Tractor/Loader/Backhoe is my large Swiss Army Knife. It does such a large variety of chores! Mine weighs about 18,000 LBS. It doesn't dig as fast as a similar weight excavator, but I feel it does better at managing huge rocks. Otherwise, it's more versatile than an excavator, & my land three miles away can be reached in minutes. In the time it would take to hitch the truck to the trailer, I'm at the land with the hoe.
Willie B is spot on with the TLB. My 580M is just too big to get into some areas. But, it sure can move some dirt, lift, drill holes,load dump trucks...
Gee, mine is seven feet wide.
That's probably close to the width of my TLB also. Last year I rented a Bobcat mini ex and got into many tight places the 580 couldn't. Being able to swing 360 is a blessing and the blade was a bonus. I had better stop here or I might be over come with desire to go ahead with the Kubota U-35 that I almost purchased in 2020.
Occasionally, I find myself on an excavator. A customer bought a late model, low hour Kubota 8 ton. For reasons I can't explain he still hired a contractor with 7 ton John Deere to dig for new underground service. Like ALL vacation home owners, he NEEDED to have the generator FAR from the house where no one can see it. A few weeks after the seed was germinated, the power company set a new pole 200 feet from the house, nowhere close to the original pole. At the same time, the landscape architect decided to build a road dead center through the generator. Clearly, we had put the generator in the wrong place. This time, we used the Kubota to dig. First day, we found the 48" toothless bucket partially decoupled. Bucket, & coupler were both damaged. It was turned over to the Kubota mechanic to repair at a later date. Weeks later, it was fixed & the owner was anxious. Found it at the other end of a mile long STEEP driveway. We spent time moving it to the house. Switching buckets was almost fun, hydraulic coupler & all. We dug without incident, but on steep ground, I did not enjoy that there is no way to level the house & turntable on smaller excavators. I really don't like that! Working under tree limbs is a disadvantage with excavators. On another job, the pool guy had hired a professional excavator, but forgot electrical conduits. He rented a mini & started to dig. Two hours into it, he hadn't made much progress. In the interest of finishing in one day, I took over. The machine was the nicest sandbox toy ever! A cross between a rocking horse & an excavator. I felt like I was sitting in a bowl instead of a digging machine. It tipped with every scoop. Brand new, I think 120 hours on it, a 3 ton Gehl. Soil was wet heavy clay like, each scoop involved a loud suction sound & with the tiny bucket, there were a LOT of scoops! By days end I dug & filled a ditch I'd have done before noon with my backhoe.
If you want an excavator and can handle the expense... go for it. Personally I side with skyking, large tractor is best for land, rent excavator when needed.
It is the idea of getting a brand new one each time that really makes me happy
Concerns over the results of the 2020 election.
I stopped trying to make business sense a couple decades ago. I lusted for a digger & bought a "cheap" one maybe 2000? I'm not tempted by an excavator, a hoe is more versatile. If I had it to do again, I'd have started with a nice one...might still have it. I've upgraded again & again. I always sell for more than I pay, but I spend a lot to make them valuable.
I'm with you. My first TLB was a 580L 4x2. A patient of mine informed me they were were trading it for a new machine and I was able to buy it for trade in value. It was in good condition. Several years later I traded it in for a 580M 4x4 with extend-a-hoe. They gave me more on trade than I paid for it as there was a shortage in their rental fleet and needed it. One of the few times I was able to come out on a deal.