Over Thanksgiving weekend I went down to my grandfather's in NJ to fix a sinkhole in his driveway. It was one of those 1" holes in the pavement that disappeared into pure darkness. He had a drainage line in that spot, and we anticipated a replacement. I was going to rent a mini excavator due to my experience with them, but my uncle borrowed a New Holland TC40D backhoe for free. Never run one before....but the price was right (thanks to Uncle Bob and Dave, whichever Dave in northern NJ you are!) Initially, I hated it. Controls lacked finesse....range of motion was weird...WAAAAY too much machine to move around for the amount of reach you had. All that seat switching... I was used to Cat controls and every time I wanted to zig, I zagged. Not a happy camper, but hey, I was running some iron! We hit some boulders, but I got the trench open. Started to get the hang of it... The second morning, the machine started fine, but started choking after a few minutes of operation. I suspected the fuel filter. Pulled it off, and it was full of algae. We got a replacement from NAPA, and I installed it after filling the filter (from OUTSIDE the membrane). At this point I was worried....New Holland alleges the TC40D has an auto-priming system. Some guys online disputed this. I decided to trust them and turned the key without bleeding anything. Started right up. Ran like a top. Ok, New Holland. I'm impressed! Backfilling the trench. At this point, the T/L/B is growing on me. Having done a whole yard rebuild with an excavator, having the loader on the other end was mighty handy. On Sunday I did a few odd jobs around the house for Grandpa, and by the end of it, I had a revelation that surprised me. I really liked this backhoe. I want one! Got the job buttoned up nice in just a long weekend. Grandpa is getting the driveway repaved in the spring, so we left compacted fill. Chalk me up as a new convert to the loader/backhoe club! Still won't say no to a Bobcat E42, though....
I think you would find that most of these objections don't apply to a real tlb. That is just sort of an attachment to a homeowner grade utility tractor. It does beat the heck out of a shovel, though, doesn't it? Just think, next year you can dig up his yard with a Gradeall!
This is true, it was not a big machine, although the geometry differences from an excavator were similar. It was initially suggested that we do the job with shovels, but I insisted on some kind of equipment. We'd still be digging the trench! And yes, once we hit those big boulders, I was definitely thinking of that big old G3WD.
I dug this little stone out with a TLB. As a farmer having a TLB that I can drive on the road from field to field is great and if it's big enough it does the job. That's my nephew in the pic. Rick
In the third photo down it appears you are dumping backfill over an unprotected pipe. I would never do that until I have a lift of clean back-fill over it. A baseball size rock directly on the pipe and then covered may be a disaster as time passes. Nice looking job though.
Thanks Tinkerer. We did remove rocks from the fill as we placed it. The piles froze overnight, so I would dig a bucket, dump it, and we would pick any big rocks out. I was actually getting concerned about volume from all the buckets of rock I took down to the woods!
Just got to run my first backhoe today (Deere 410J) It's like a loader tractor... but zippier... and it can't drive in a straight line in loose dirt I'm with CraneInnovation. I want one.