Front backhoe usefulness?

[edritchey]

I bought one of these little guys to use to uncover my septic tank lid every couple years to get it pumped out, I also buried a dog we had to put down and planted a couple shrubs and trees with it. It works great for light duty use. It's been sitting since I bought my JD 510 backhoe but was a handy attachment much better than a shovel and digging iron or post hole digger.

 

[D2Cat]

Ed, good to see someone with a hands on experience report in. There's about 20 post of why not's. It all depends on the use, frequency and operator skills as to what to use for any specific project. It may be a glorified shovel, but it gets the job done that you needed done. That makes it a useful tool.

I have a 40 HP Ditch Witch with a hoe on one end and digging chain on the other and a 6 way backfill blade. I usually don't comment on threads about hoes because I just don't care what folks want to argue about how good/bad they are.

 

[edritchey]

Ed, good to see someone with a hands on experience report in. There's about 20 post of why not's. It all depends on the use, frequency and operator skills as to what to use for any specific project. It may be a glorified shovel, but it gets the job done that you needed done. That makes it a useful tool.

I have a 40 HP Ditch Witch with a hoe on one end and digging chain on the other and a 6 way backfill blade. I usually don't comment on threads about hoes because I just don't care what folks want to argue about how good/bad they are.

I hear you and feel the same way for the most part. I picked that quick attach hoe up used for 400 bucks and used it on my B & MX without and problems but that said I wasn't trying to dig out stumps either.

 

[BC2]

4 in 1 buckets are very common in NZ, mostly because we don't really have grapples in a size for a small tractor (small market, long way from anywhere), and Kubota don't option their tractors with quick attach here (or even offer it at all....apparently because NZers are too cheap to buy it).

They're nothing like a grapple.

If your price for a 4 in 1 is similar to the price for a SSQA adaptor, plus standard bucket, plus grapple, then that'd be way way better. Standard bucket is more durable and lighter. Grapple can do more, rotate to more angles, grab stuff better.

I don't recommend you do this with your grapple, but EA apparently think it's a reasonable thing to do.

I'm surprised they show pushing that tree over because I think they specifically say somewhere else on their site not to do that. Maybe I saw that somewhere else, but I think it was on their site. I know they don't want you doing it with the standard grapple with the long bottom tines, but I think pushing it with the upper tines of either the standard long tine or short tine root rake grapple is not a good idea. Also, picking up something that is not balanced and sticks way out to the sides (e.g. picking up a whole tree without having it almost perfectly balanced) is a sure way to twist the loader arms.

Here is one solution I'm thinking about instead of getting either a 4 in 1 or a fronthoe:

1. Plan ahead and rent something for trenching or major digging projects. I already have a cheapie Tractor Supply 3pt blade with a manual way to change the angle for spreading gravel and light grading of dirt roads. I just have to figure out something to make it work with the Kubota Quick Hitch because it is an older blade I had for my previous tractor, so it's not exactly QH compatible. My newer Kubota came with the skid steer attach up front and a 72" light duty bucket.

2. Get an EA Wicked Tooth Bar for the standard bucket, which might let me do a little shallow digging and provide a replaceable wear bar. It will also strengthen the bucket a little.

3. Get an EA 54" root grapple (with the long bottom tines & two top clamps). I would get the 54" instead of the bigger ones because that might help me avoid picking up stuff that is way out of balance by reminding me to cut big stuff a little shorter with the chainsaw instead of trying to pick up a whole tree. The 54" sticks out only about 5" on either side of the skid steer attachment system, so the moment arm for twisting the loader arms in a worst case scenario is pretty short and as long as you don't hang a 750 lb massive tree trunk 10' off to the side of the grapple, you are unlikely to mess up the loader.

This arrangement means that if I have a lot of small stuff that falls through the grapple, I'll have to either resort to getting it with a wheelbarrow and rake or switch to the bucket to get it. It will also be a little more difficult to get that last little bit of a gravel pile with the standard bucket to move it, but I guess that's ok & maybe if I can get a little better with my bucket operations, I can get that last little bit without getting off the tractor to shovel it into the bucket by hand!

 

[Foxrunfarms]

I'm a landscape foreman and a few times we rented a bx26×× that has a rear back hoe on to dig underground tile/tubing for down spouts. It beats doing it by hand but it is sLoOoOw. A little tractor, little hydraulic pump, if you try to boom out, swing and curl the bucket at the same time like a full size backhoe you'll be crawling and fighting for power . I never ran a front mount one but as mentioned I'd think it's a lot of stress on the loader arms and axel. Just my 2 cents.

 

[torch]

Cheap....HF....Toys !

I don't know about that. I don't have one, I've never even used one, but there's lots of happy owners on youtube, etc. . I certainly wouldn't want to dig out a foundation with one, but for occasional small jobs around a homestead where renting an excavator is overkill (and the process of renting one would take longer than digging the hole by hand!), it might be a reasonable option.

 

[Vigo]

A towable digger makes a lot more sense than a fronthoe on a tractor loader, in most situations i can imagine.

I think a stump bucket makes more sense than a fronthoe on a tractor loader in a lot of cases too.

A skid steer is really what makes a fronthoe a workable idea if other better options are not in the budget for said skid steer operator/employer. The maneuverability and visibility difference on a tractor loader would take it from 'just ok' to 'terrible' most of the time. But, terrible from the operator's seat of a big cool machine is a different kind of terrible from digging anything by hand!!

The one thing about a fronthoe that makes them not a 'definite no' from me is that light duty ones are actually pretty cheap. They are very simple things, as edritchey's pic illustrates well. If you can get a cheap one and already have the remote to run the bucket cylinder, you will probably like it over not having it at all. It's more a question of, if something better is in the budget should you just do that instead, and do you have the caution and mechanical empathy to avoid damaging your loader with it?