Just picked up this machine today. It was a ladies fathers who passed away 3 years ago and it has sat ever since. Seems like a nice old machine. She said her dad refused to not have a backhoe at his place and that this was his last of several Ford backhoes. I was able to get it for $5,500 so not too bad on the price. I checked the fluids (all were perfect) then hooked jumper cables to it and it fired right up. No blown hoses but it does need some replaced because they look rough and will go with much use. It drove up on my trailer fine and I’ve got it at the house now waiting on the weather to improve to try it out. The question I have is on the backhoe controls. It is a 2 lever style control. I am use to running excavators and the controls on this thing are difficult to get use to. I know some machines have the ability to turn a valve and switch the controls to the other style. Do you guys know if this machine has that option or am I looking at having to try to figure out how to swap the hoses around to make it operate how I prefer?
No way to change the pattern without swapping hoses on that machine. Run it for a few days and you'll learn this pattern too. I only run excavators on Cat (excavator) pattern and backhoes on Deere (backhoe) pattern. I have a few thousand hours on each, but set my excavator to Deere pattern or vice versa and I just about can't hit the ground with the bucket. In my mind they are two totally different machines and therefore have different controls.
I definitely get it. If somebody woulda saw me trying to operate that thing they woulda said I don’t even know how to put fuel in it. Thanks for clearing that up.
I can't help with the tech problem but I can relate to pattern memory. I learned on the John Deere pattern and ran that for 10 years. I found myself loading fill with an excavator with a Cat pattern and damn near tore the tailgate off the truck!! Old habits are hard to break.
Yeah man that’s a rough habbit to break.
Paint is aged, but that is a real nice looking machine! Lotta work left in her!!
Yeah she’s definitely in her work clothes. Functionally she seems solid and tight though. I do think I have a hydraulic leak under the floor board that I need to address. Altogether im very pleased with the machine though.