Hello again all you heavy iron nuts. We're looking at adding another backhoe to our ranch and after our last purchase (international td25 dozer) thought we would do some digging first. There are several used equipment dealers not to far from us in TX. Most of the machines we are looking at are 1985-1995, Case 580 C's and K's, JCB's, and there are a few Cat's as well. We're leaning towards one of the Case machines, but wanted to find out more about parts availability, known common problems, and any other snakes in the grass we should know about before buying. Please share any info and advice you have so we don't buy ourselves a machine we will always have nightmares working on.
JCB makes good hoes but they do have some gremlins . They use British pipe thread and don't have a strong dealer network so getting parts may be a pain . Case has always made good strong hoes but I don't know about parts for the older machines . Cat has a great dealer network and most parts are still available for them . Deere makes good hoes as well and good dealer network . Good luck on your purchase.
I have a 1989 Case 480E backhoe and 1987 Case 450C dozer, parts availability is still good. Case still has most of what I need and anything else can be had aftermarket. If you get a Case go with the E or K series or newer, which will get you the 3.9 Cummins engine.
Just don’t do JCB
I broke in on a Case 580ck back in about 1980, 1969 vintage as I recall. Since then, I have either owned or had in my customer base a Case 580k, 580e,580m, numerous Cat 420d in a fleet environment and one obscure International I'm trying to forget. I vote Case.
There seems to be a sweet spot for backhoes at around the year 2000. A little newer than what you mentioned, but a big bang for the buck in my opinion. I would look for one of the pre-computer controlled backhoes from this time frame.
Well said! New enough to mostly still get parts, but at the same time not have the crazy emission stuff. Also new enough to have operator amenities.
I'm a little biased but I know Case has excellent parts availability for the K series. Plus those Cummins 3.9 were indestructible.