Hi all, I kind of have my mind made up but feedback and advice is always welcome. I own a 1996 JD 310D backhoe. I purchased it 15 years ago when it had 4600 hours on the meter. It now has almost 15,000. It has been an amazing machine that owes me nothing. it still works every day although it is getting much more difficult to operate due to slop in the pins and bushings. In the first phase of its life it did quite a bit of trenching for irrigation, electrical, plumbing etc on our ranch. Now it is used mostly for material handling (unloading hay, moving soil and gravel, firewood etc.) I have done all repairs and upgrades myself on the machine since i have owned it. I have secured some money to purchase a new (to me) machine. I wanted a little more lifting power so i have been looking at lower hour JD 410E and 410G. I do not want to purchase anything that is newer that around 2002. The dilemma is that whatever machine i purchase will be used mostly for material handling (probably an 80/20 split). Backhoes are much more complicated than wheel loaders and the backhoe part of the machine is always taking wear and abuse even when you are just running back and forth over pastures and bumpy roads etc. The swing frame cracked on my machine a few years ago. My son and i gusseted and welded it and it has continued to operate but the pins and bushings on the swing frame are very worn so it takes even more abuse. My idea is to go the route of purchasing a wheel loader. I will fix the 310 enough so it can be used as a back up and trenching/digging machine only and the loader will do a bulk of the work over the next years. I guess i am looking for conformation that if a majority of work is with the front bucket that having the rear hoe banging around will only exacerbate wear and tear. I am looking at late 90's JD and Case loaders. Even the W series Case because I do not care how the machine articulates. It will be a learning experience anyway. Thoughts?? thx so much to this site...vs
If you do go the backhoe route, I believe the 310SE and SG have the same lift capacity on the loader as the 410. This may help you find a better deal as you will have a broader range of machines to buy from.
Sounds like a good plan, I would not rule out older Kawasaki loaders, they are very stout and simple. Also keep in mind a wheel loader does not do great in lots of mud or on off camber situations.I’m not saying it’s impossible to run one in those situations, just not as efficient.
A wheel loader is going to be much more productive moving material with a larger bucket and higher lift capacity than a TLB. Like you mentioned you don't have to worry about where the backhoe is while you're loading either. Whether or not you can do without the backhoe is something only you can answer.