who has ran a trackloader w/ a hoe?

[stumpjumper83]

These guys were before my time, but they look cool. Not possitive on how effective the stabilizers are, but anyhow... Who has some seat time on these guys and how did they work?

http://www.machinerytrader.com/listings/detail.aspx?OHID=5984254&GUID=C4635B9A5F0F48019E823A11F9F0E36A

http://www.machinerytrader.com/listings/detail.aspx?OHID=6250580&GUID=C4635B9A5F0F48019E823A11F9F0E36A

[Eric]

That was actually the fist piece of equipment I ever ran. It was pretty cool. The hoe actually disconnected and you could just run the tractor.

[BIGBEN2004]

One nice thing is you don't need out riggers. Also that hoe would never be able to pick up the machine or drag it around.

[bobcat ron]

My dad got started with just a John Deere 350B loader in '86 and added a hoe to it in a year later wth the quick disconnect set up, he even made a crude canopy over the operator seats with some 2x2 steel tubing.

Those pics brought back some gooood memories.

[srs_mn]

I made a living with trackloader/backhoes for over twenty-five years before excavators appeared on the scene.
My last one, a John Deere 450C Loader with a 4in1 bucket on the front and a detachable backhoe on the back, was a pretty impressive machine! It wasn't the fastest machine in the country, but it would do almost everything there was to do. (I recently sold the machine and I wish I had it back!)
The backhoe stabilizers were necessary, and effective... they kept the machine up off the final drives while digging, and they worked exactly like they do on rubber tired backhoes to keep you from dragging yourself backwards. (The brakes don't automatically lock like they do on excavator tracks).
Don't get me wrong; todays machines are better - no argument there, but don't underestimate the old stuff either.
srs_mn

[EqmtRunr]

Farm I worked for had a JD 350 I ran it with the hoe and without.I gotta say that that hoe feels like it doubles the weight and the size, too light in the back with it off too clumsy with it on.:Banghead:beatsme Anyway its awesome machine,:cool2 the only track loader I've run so far and I was sad the day he sold it.:( I used it for digging out stumps pulling logs out of the woods and taking down an old barn, it was a good expierience.:drinkup

Stefan:usa

[Orchard Ex]

They were popular around our area until the excavators took over. They were always called trackhoes, so now I get confused when anyone uses that name for an excavator. My cousin has a JD 555 for the farm. It needs some tlc but it is a workhorse. The hoe is very strong for this size machine and echo srs_mn on the stabilizers.

[stumpjumper83]

switching / climbing from the hoe to the loader looks easier than the skidsteer backhoe combo's that replaced them.

[dirtwhore]

A buddy of mine's Grandpa has an old 450 like the one pictured. We used to go over to his house and skid logs with it on weekends. We had an old set of log tongs hooked to the bucket with a shackle. I would sit on the hoe and grapple the logs and he would run the tractor. Good times! The limbs smacking you in the face got a little old though! But we always had a cooler full of beer at the pickup to dull the pain!

[Greg]

Got a deere 450C with a hoe on it here. Only thing it is any good for is trenching in long fairly straight runs. The hoe makes it rear end heavy as h---. Got to have the bucket full for a counter weight when the hoe is on. It is a bit-- to load because there is so little clearance between the hoe and the ground. Can't say I am in love with the 450C by itself either. The only thing I like about it is that the hoe can be removed quickly and easily in a matter of minutes if for some reason we want the loader by itself.

[td25c]

The high lift&backhoe combanation was common in our area during the 1970s&80s.They were good units.

[insleyboy]

My friend still has a 450 dozer backhoe combination. It has the quick, "in that sense of the word" disconnect as well. The hydraulic lines were awfull large as I remember and the hoe had to be completly on the ground and leaned foreward on the boom so as to disconnect the lines. He used it a bunch in the seventies and made good money with the unit. The Case backhoes and such were really taking over about then but he had a very stable and accurate dozer as well as a hoe that could get pipe in the ground to about 12 foot max.

[OneWelder]

Somebody was using one for some work on the piping at the local Cumberland Farms about 2 to s yrs ago - It was a Deere 450 with a quick attach hoe
at one time these were common-but seldom see one now

[td25c]

Like alot of good ideas,they where ahead of there time.Take example of the skid loader market,it wasint until the late 1980's when everyone realised all the differant attachments you could hang on the front of them.I myself halve a john deere 8875 skid loader with back hoe,pallit forks,track's,winch spade .I love it,you halve alot of diversity with one tractor.

[Taylortractornu]

The first track loader I ran a friend of mine I had gone to work with a t a hydraulics shop had borrowed an old black cabbed 450 with a 4in1 and a hoe. He found out I was an operator and asked me about running it. he had tried running a rubbertired hoe and it but it was an old wet topsoil hill. he tried te 450 and couldnt make it do right. I never had runn a track loader but I had run dozers and loaders bit and owned my own old hoe at the same time. I got used to it and spent a day digging out stumps and fixing a drain. I left the trans in neuteral and pushed myself up. It was bulky at first but once I got used to the deeres shuttle it wasnt bad at all. When dad was younger he worked for a man in the 60's that owned a D6 Cat and a MF backhoe. dad went all over at17 with a low boy building house places and digging graves and footers. The old man ran a home supply/farm store and didnt know alot about dozers other than he had the nicest around. Dad was out one day clearing and came in and man had a TD6 track loader with a hoe on the back He was showing dad how it steered and got around and was cutting around swinging the tail. He had just put in a new AC window unit on his back office and had cut around dad said it got a fuull draw in on the AC unit in the window. He said the old man was POEed at him for laughing. I know WARE started making them in the 50's for Oliver as Hydra Trenchers. I have some pics somewhere of on the back of an old Oliver track loader in the back of an antique tractor yard. Made from pipe. Ware later made the hoes for Cat crawlers as well till 02 when they sold out.

[Bret4207]

Got a JD 1010 CLB, not the handiest thing in the world, but the price was right. My tracks are about shot, so the hoe never comes off. The second the squawking and squeaking starts I stop, lower the bucket and set the outriggers as low as I can. That gets the whole machine up off the ground. Run the tracks for a second and everything is back in line.

The hoe is okay, but as someone else said, straightline work like ditching is best for it. The bucket has never let me down, it's a beast as far as lift goes. If I could swing a set of tracks and fresh up the pins in the hoe it would be a better machine. The 1010 was always under powered and this one is no exception.

[dynahoescott]

:notworthyI , believe it or not, ran a cat 941b with a hoe attachment with a hammer on the george washinton bridge deck (upper level) for V Petrillo & son from union city in late 1986, on rental to j fletcher creamer. was using a 190 dynahoe then switched to the track loader for the narrowest part.:drinkup

[lgammon]

does anyone have any picks of a cat with a hoe on it???

[hvy 1ton]

Here is a few i dug up off the net. Didn't find any cool pics or cats, let alone pics of one working. Using a hammer off the back end sounds like a really good applications for one of these tracks.
450 traxcavator
56935
455 traxcavator
56936

56940

56937

56941

I wonder if there would be a way to smash a rear engined track loader and a sideshift hoe into a neat package; preferably to where the stabilizer wouldn't be needed. nother little project to play with i my head.

[JimInOz]

I found this brochure on ePay recently.Cat D4 with hoe.....

[heavylift]

I ran one in the early 80's ..... the two seats are a pain... I think it was at least 10 years old...... it wasn't real handy as far as I was concerned..

[deer3245]

My brother and I bought a jd 450c crawler loader with 4 in 1 bucket and, backhoe. I loved the machine. We both cleared our 3 acres, and landscaped with it. Yes the hoe made it clumbsy, but always did what needed to be done, but was only attatched when necessary. For the money, I have always found the crawler loaders a good bang for the buck.

[oldseabee]

When I was in the Navy Seabee's we had a 977 Cat with a 4 in 1 bucket and a backhoe.
Not sure what brand the hoe was but if I remember it would dig about 14 feet deep.
Pretty high price carrier for a backhoe though