I am very new to the heavy equipment world so you guys be gentle with me!!! I recently purchased 6.5acres of land and will be building a house in the near future, as a typical "do it yourself" kind of guy I have been looking at options for clearing a field with some relatively small trees (2.5" diameter and smaller), digging and transporting dirt across my property to fill in a washed out area, digging up medium size tree trunks (18" dia), and using to dig the housing foundation. The owner of the place I work has an early to mid 80's (not sure of year) Deere 410D backhoe. It is non-turbo and 2wd. It has an enclosed cabin and sliding hoe (I guess that is what you would call it, you can move it out to the edge of the tractor to dig up tight against walls and things). I have a few questions for you guys. 1st, would this backhoe suit all my needs describes above, I am pretty sure it would but never hurts to ask! 2nd, My boss has offered to rent it to me monthly for pretty cheap, we havent come up with a price but I am sure it will be in the $200-$300 per month range, with the condition that I fix anything that breaks. I dont believe that it has been maintained very well over the last few years as a lot of the hydraulic lines look old and rotted. Eventhough I will be getting it for so cheap, I am worried it might not be such a good deal if I am stuck replacing hoses and any other things that might come up. I am an auto mechanic so I could do all the hose replacements myself and it wouldent bother me, but I am just not sure of how much they would cost to purchase, as well as how much other things would cost that you think might be quick to break on a machine this age. So any thoughts on that would be great. 3rd and lastly, he has said that he will sale it to me if I would like, he even said that I can rent it for a few months and if I decide to buy it, he will put all the money I have paid to rent it towards the purchase price. The paint is pretty faded and there is some surface rust on about 10-15% of it. Also the hood is missing and it does not have an air intake filter/tube or an exhaust pipe. It has aprox 3800hrs and runs great (I use it to lift and move heavy items at our work from time to time) Cranks right up everytime and never misses a beat. He is asking $7000 for it. Would that be a decent price? Thanks in advance for any information. Also as far as the transmission, It has the lever by the steering wheel on the left to quickly shift from forward to reverse, and it has a low and high range lever on the floor and four gears in each range. Jonathan
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums Rx7thHeaven! :drinkup
Anyone???
The machine sounds very similar to one I had bought for the same purpose. I had an '81 JD 410 with the side shift backhoe to develop my property for the house. I've got 11 acres, I had the road cut by a dozer before I bought the machine, but I did everything after that. I've also built a road into the woods to haul firewood on with the 410. You should be able to do a lot of work with that machine. Hoses can get expensive, especially some of the long ones. Look the machine over good for cracks that could develop into breaks. I had a transmission shaft let go without warning in mine, that was costly, the tractor had to be split to replace it. I'd have someone run pressure tests on the hydraulics and have an oil sample analysis done on the engine oil. If everything checks out ok, I think I'd buy the machine for that amount. You'll find all kinds of things to do with it. I paid $10,000 for mine, used it here for 10 years, painted it and fixed a few accessories and sold it for $12,000.
310 j.d hoe Well, The rental is cheap enough, but as you described, the hoses can be pretty expensive to replace. The average hose that we make in our shop for the size on your machine is a size #6 or#8 with jic ends is about $60.00 to $125.00. Also you should never run and engine without an intake filter or a exhaust pipe as the exhaust may get pulled into the intake side of the engine and cause severe damage to the engine. Just to give you an idea of price, I think he is a little high for the condition of the machine. I bought a 310c with all you have but no 4 wheel drive with 2800 hours on it in excellent cond for $7000.00 After using it for a year I made some minor repairs and completely serviced it and sold it for $10,000.00. But again this machine was very well taken care of. You should also inspect all of the hydraulic cylinders for leaks and damage to the rods, Again this is very costly to repair. Hopefully the anti-freeze has been kept up to par as some of those 310 engines had a liner pitting problem causing pinholes in the liners and leaking coolant into the engine oil. I would take a oil sample and have it analized for coolant, copper, and iron contamination. 3800 hour is the right time frame for this type of failure. How are the tires, pins and bushings in the loader and backhoe pivot points? Any brake squealing? I could go on and on. As for what you are going to use this for, If you have good solid ground, It will be great, If you have soft or wet soil you are going to make more of a mess than you think, It will however dig your footers and do clean up o.k. I did alot of work with mine but I took the money and bought a mini-excavator, I love it and you can rough grade . the only downside is you cannot carry material like a rubber tired loader will. I made a skid pan for the mini-excavator to load and carry what I need. I hoped this helps . Billy:drinkup
Thanks for the info guys, I wasnt aware but the hood, exhaust and intake system were actually put away at our shop. He took all that stuff off to paint the tractor but never got around to it so I put it all back on.
My dad used to say that working a machine for a day before you buy it is a great thing. Most problems will appear by then. Out of curiosity I would phone the serial # in to the dealer, just to see what year it is. Side shift hoe's are not too desirable around here. The best part of that deal is you can rent it. If I was in your place I would only agree to "hose replacement only" in your written rental/option to buy agreement. If the guy wants alot more money, then just rent it for a short period of time, if you are considering buying it anyway. I would never agree to fix anything that broke. JD parts of that era are extremely expensive in Ontario and have affected prices/sales of older machines.Your rear tires are at least $500 each so take a good look at them too. I agree, having a backhoe for your property is a very good idea.Phil
i have a john deere 310d . Once the tractor has been ran for a while the tractor doesnt want to go forward the reverse works .anyone got any ideas.
Fluid level, maybe change oil and filters? You are going to have to start somewhere.
Look at the simple things first... Is the control linkages correct ? nothing slipped. Wires broken ?
I personally wouldn't wanna buy something that old. The side shift style is mostly for european and asian model backhoes of the 80's up to the new era, so parts for those backhoe's are gonna be rare, spendy, and possibly have a long wait time. If I were looking to buy a backhoe with that ideal price range in mind ($7,000), I personally would look for a Case 580B or 580C. Ive seen both around the $10k range and less and they are really good backhoe's. If you have a bit more budget to work with, consider a 580E or 580K, both are great backhoes with parts still readily available for both (more so K's). I would love to find a new house with a few acres to play with in a year or so and I am set on getting a Case 580SL, 590SL, 580SM, or 430D IT. All four of these hoes are probably well out of your desired spending range ($20k+). You've got a good chunk of land to play with, so Id recommend buying if you can. If you buy, get a hoe thats gonna be dependable and has replacement parts available without a long wait or hefty price tag.
I agree with D Grade. First of all a John Deere 310 or 410 of the late 70s and early 80s are not D models although the letter may be on the tag. JDs screw up there. A real 410D would be a 90s model. The old John Deere backhoes are known to be more difficult to find parts for than the old Case. I have a 92 JD 310D that I realy like and I am so far able to purchase any part I have looked for but I know some parts are already not available except used.
The JD 410D's are in the 1991 - 1997 year range, I believe. I've never seen one with a ""side-shift" backhoe, they are center mounted. Are you sure of the model on this? Can you supply a picture perhaps.
The 410 question is 7 years old and Jerry hasn't responded so don't forget to check the dates.
Not really, we were responding to jerryd....date of post Dec22/2014
Thanks Deon. Totally forgot about a true Deere D model (310D or 410D). Excellent hoes and reasonably affordable as well. Guess Im slightly biased towards Cat and Case.