I live on 5 acres of sloped land and need a bunch of french drains and ditches, terracing/retaining walls, and clearing some paths. I have a 20 year old Model 855 Tractor with a tiller, blade, and box scraper I've used for clearing, woodcutting, snow etc, but its getting beat and tired and I want something with a bucket and thumb. I have a GMC 2500hd Duramax/Allison rated to tow 14k, and a dual axle trailer w/5000lb max payload. I was considering trading up to a new tractor with a backhoe, and maybe a dump trailer beefy enough to haul it. Then my buddy - who has been a union operator for 20 years at a reputable company I know from other sources - suggested getting a 35g excavator and doing side jobs. The commercial market is hot here in Seattle and he felt confident that if we went with a 50g, we could do side jobs and even lease the machine back to his company and pay for it in a year or two. He spends a lot of time running the 50g and says it really is the **** they like. My wife is an accountant and we could depreciate a new machine in the first year if it had commercial use, and get zero-down zero interest 72 month financing from Deere. That would close the gap between new/used real quick. I'm 56 and sick of working in an office and commuting 3 hours/day, and this could be a real retirement alternative for me. We can qualify/afford the 50g, the safe side of me would prefer to pay cash for a used 35g I can haul with my truck and an upgraded trailer. But am not sure if the 35g is "big enough" to handle the rock walls and stumps I'll need to deal with, or if I want to deal with maintaining a used machine. What are your thoughts on this? Is the 35g sufficient for my property needs? Would I need to move up to the 50g to make it realistic for commercial uses? Any gotchas I need to be aware of with leasing it to local companies, and using it in my yard on weekends?
35g is nice and is small....and light...50g you need better trailer and does not haul well in dump trailer. 35 hauls very nicely in dump trailer. We built rock walls all the time with a 35....mind you the 80 has better reach...but 35 does it well
Placed with a e35 bobcat
Get the 50, and a 16 ft gooseneck dump triple axle trailer. Will tow fine. Actually the 50 would tow fine in a 14 ft std hitch dump trailer. I towed mine behind a single rear wheel F350 7.3 power Joke and 14 ft dump. But the gooseneck is much nicer to tow. Got the gooseneck 16 ft dump when I bought a 60G I personally would never want a machine smaller than a 50. I rented 35 size machines and always pushed them past there limits to get the job done.
Rental means beat till the rope is out and add some string and hope to it in other words I dont own it not my problem. Big companies turn iron over because the abuse adds to the cost of ownership when they get up in hours. Owner operators can put double or triple the hours on a machine and possibly not have anything more than regular maintenance. 35g is a pretty solid machine so are the 50s but personally I would buy a 35 before a 50 if I buy a 50 I might as well buy a backhoe I have a 17g and when you learn what it can do it's amazing 35s are in the same category Your putting a lot of hope and money into an idea that sou d like its all speculative not saying it wont work but if I was going to drop 60 grand on a machine I would either pay cash and no one but me would touch it or have customers already lined up that you can make money off of Just my.02
I have a u 25, e35, kx080. If i could only have one..it would be the 35...it can do 90 % of the work needed...and fits in little trails...easy to haul...cheap on fuel...and really handy with a thumb. Yes my 80 has reach..lift capacity...but hard to haul...and does not fit on my residence yards ...u25 is great under eaves...only place we use it....everything else is 35