Typical Backhoe lifetime

[ForsytheBros.]

We own a fairly well maintained(in my opinion) John Deere 2WD 310G w/ approx.950 hrs on it.

My question: based on user experiences with various heavy equipment (particularly backhoes), what have you found to be a typical machine life before having to perform major repairs (engine, trans. , hydr. pumps, etc.) I realize that this is a very loaded question, but i've heard some rule of thumb #'s of approx. 100hrs x horsepower, etc. What has been the experience of some of the users out there? I'm trying to build my knowledge base as we don't have years of experience to rely on!

thanks

[tylermckee]

5000 hours on our 580L and its now starting to blow a lot of hoses, its getting a little sloppy, just got it out of the shop because a valve in the trans broke, cost $2,500. Still got lots of life left, but its also still got lots of little stuff thats going to break. Lots of lost time in the field. The $60 hose may not seem like much but the 2 hours that it may take a guy or two to change it, time that could have been spent using the machine, will.

[JDOFMEMI]

I agree that 5,000 hrs is a pretty good pruduction life for a backhoe. With care, it may give much more than that, and even then, it is still a good machine, just not as reliable with more and more small failures. I have had 2 Case 580's go over 8,000 with no major failures, but a growing # of small things after 5,000 or so.
It mostly depends on the use and the care it gets.

[ForsytheBros.]

Thanks you guys for the valuable replies! Very handy for estimation of cost/hr over the long haul!

[dayexco]

we'll run our excavators to a min of 8500 hrs. our front end loaders 12-14k hrs. very seldom have major failure, just have to take care of maintenance

[mflah87]

My Case 580s have gone to 9600 hours without major work and I parked it because I didn't want to push it. I also had a Komatsu PC400 go to 12,000 hours before I traded it in, and that was no major repairs didn't tocuht he motor at all.

[ForsytheBros.]

Amazing track records in my opinion. Hours like those appear to really do well for the company bottom line! Follow up: How religiously do you guys stick to the maintenance schedule? Do you pull machines out of the field for oil and fluid changes on the exact hour or if a machine runs over the scheduled interval, say 30 or 50 hours, before changes, do you call that good enough?

thanks

[mflah87]

i do mine either right on the dot when its due or before just to be safe. Everyday I have the operators throw a few pumps of grease in the machine. On my hammers I have autolubes because to me thats an insurance policy. It also saves on grease to.

[rino1494]

We have a old 580D. Not sure how many hrs are on it, because there have been a couple hr meters in it. It is prettly sloppy and needs paint. The only major repair that we had was we rebuilt the rear. Other than that, it has been a good backhoe.

[tuney443]

I too run Deere.With a good PM schedule and decent care,that 310 should go app.10K hours before major components start failing.As for being exact,I don't sweat it--as close tothe timetable as possible.Common sense--if I'm in sandy stuff,I might grease the bucket area a few times during the day.

[thejdman04]

Company I currently work for really doesn no oil changes, ad ad needed. Fix upon catastrophic failure. We have ahd very mixed luck w/this program. (not im not advising it jsut telling you what we do, I do what im told and when the boss says fix it or do some maintenance thats what i do). Weve had machines blow up at 1,000 hours (motors) and some Just keep on running. We usually run it to the point of failure and then usally its when the truck/machines in use so its a huge rush to patch it and get it back down the road. I dont personally believe in hobbing something. 1/2 the time we spend 2 hours cobbling a 10 dollar part thats in stock at napa but the boss is too cheap(when it cost him 2 hours labor to cobble it and its still not right so it costs him more money) but hes too cheap to actually spend money and give it out.

[Grader4me]

Company I currently work for really doesn no oil changes, ad ad needed. Fix upon catastrophic failure. We have ahd very mixed luck w/this program. (not im not advising it jsut telling you what we do, I do what im told and when the boss says fix it or do some maintenance thats what i do). Weve had machines blow up at 1,000 hours (motors) and some Just keep on running. We usually run it to the point of failure and then usally its when the truck/machines in use so its a huge rush to patch it and get it back down the road.

Sad that a company would treat their equipment like that. Must be hard on the operator knowing that the equipment is being abused, and not being able to do anything about it. Part of being a good operator is taking care of your machine.

[thejdman04]

Sad that a company would treat their equipment like that. Must be hard on the operator knowing that the equipment is being abused, and not being able to do anything about it. Part of being a good operator is taking care of your machine.

Where do you come from Hard on the operator knowing the equipment is being abused and not doing anything about it theya re the ones doing it Most of our operators suck. No I didnt say all of them suck we have a few good ones and im sure there are good ones on this site. Most of our operators wont open the hood check the oil or anything, or even grease their machines because thats a maintenance issue. Most of our boys dont want overtime or are on salary so come 330 the run the machine up to the line (most of the time park them together if reasonable) and shut them off hop in their trucks and they are off. Or they show up 5 min late hop in fire it up wide open and get to work before the boss shows up so they look productive(he wants them going by 7am and heaven forbid they get there at 650 grease it while its warming up and still have htem moving by 7 when the boss shows up. OR my boss is kind of anal about machines idling so when they take their break or lunch usally the roach coach pulls up and they again in a huge hurry its lunch time instad of sitting w/thier machines for 5 min(the boss woudl say ok about that if somone was around them incase they blew an oil line etc somone could shut them down instead of them seizing up) they shut them down right away and go to lunch. The boss doesnt want anythign left running unless somones in the cab. (also liability in some subdivisions if a kid hopped on and started playing. Most operators something fails becuase of their stupidity or fault dont care, go into the lunch room and wait til thier machine is fixed or sit int he air conditioned cab while you bust our butt trying to put the track back on. Most operators wont even help you "not their job". Some are great if theres a problem they hop out of their machine help you anyway they can know how get the machine back up but most wont, either sit in the service truck or the cab and

[OzDozer]

The life of a hoe is dependent on the style of useage (light duty, intermittent operation, moderate temperatures, soft soils? .. or heavy duty, double-shift operation, high ambient temps, rocky ground?) .. the operator .. the level of maintenance .. and the breed of hoe.

You can have a hoe falling to pieces at 2000 hrs with rough operators, lack of grease and oil changes, and rocky ground.

On the other hand, you could get 10,000 hrs out of a hoe with careful operation, good maintenance, and easy working conditions.

Most O/O's take care of their hoes, and get long life from them .. the worst would have to be rental hoes. They suffer from the "I don't care - it's not mine", mentality .. are often operated by knuckle draggers who don't have a feel for anything mechanical .. and who consider jobs like greasing, a job for someone else - not them.

As general rule of thumb - with satisfactory maintenance, and care in operation .. 5000 hrs is considered average life for major components of a hoe, on heavy duty work .. 7500 hrs would be average for moderate duty work .. and 10,000 hrs is achievable, on light duty operation.

[CascadeScaper]

Jdman,

Changing the oil and fluids in any piece isn't the responsibility of the operator. It's failure on both parts in your company, operators aren't greasing and the company won't change the oil? Not sure how they can even stay afloat with that kind of practice. Poor managment.