New Member from Upstate NY (Glens Falls area)

Hello everyone,

I found this site as part of my web searches about excavators. Like many others who have posted in the past, I have a farm I am retiring to with many jobs to do a few decades of little upkeep (i.e. clean out a pond, dig some ditches for water pipe, clear out some trees). It looks like an excavator would be the machine to do this work.
I don't know anything about excavators, but quite familiar with farm tractors.
I am starting my search for something cheap, reliable, with parts availability, and most like likely old (i.e. pre-computer days)
I am sure I will have many questions and will be reaching out to the experts on this site for help.
Thanks for the help, and I look forward to interacting with you on the site.

Hello!
welcome.

Welcome to HEF, ecnortan !!!

Welcome aboard!! Beautiful country up there!!

ecnorton2001 said:

Hello everyone,

I found this site as part of my web searches about excavators. Like many others who have posted in the past, I have a farm I am retiring to with many jobs to do a few decades of little upkeep (i.e. clean out a pond, dig some ditches for water pipe, clear out some trees). It looks like an excavator would be the machine to do this work.
I don't know anything about excavators, but quite familiar with farm tractors.
I am starting my search for something cheap, reliable, with parts availability, and most like likely old (i.e. pre-computer days)
I am sure I will have many questions and will be reaching out to the experts on this site for help.
Thanks for the help, and I look forward to interacting with you on the site.

Click to expand...

Welcome but if you want a excavator that you can get parts for it best not have the logo in your profile picture on it.

Welcome from a fellow New Yorker!

Welcome to the Forums!

Tyler d4c said:

Welcome but if you want a excavator that you can get parts for it best not have the logo in your profile picture on it.

Click to expand...

Agreed, could probably get parts for the IH engine in an International excavator but not much else.

Thanks everyone for the welcome!

I've only seen one IH excavator in my lifetime sitting at a farm, it looked to be from the early 70s and pretty tired. IH construction equipment, except for the dozers, wasn't popular here in Dutchess County.

Used to see quite a few International dozers around, but not anymore. Of course, the Tenneco/Case buyout was about 40 years ago now, and heyday of IH dozers is 50 or more. I have never seen an Internatational excavator. IH was probably cutting corners with their industrial equipment toward the end as they were losing money. Even with tractors, they were falling behind in technology compared to Deere.

Welcome ecnorton2001, from a little south of you near Ballston Spa!!

Welcome to the land of Miscreant OLD Yellow Iron!! As far as parts availability and structured repair question answers look to the advertised machines around where you are and who is running what machines pretty regular, would be a good bet as to a buy line.

Welcome, glad you found us

Reliable, available parts.....Not IH. I've always been a fan of OLD IH tractors, In the 1950s & 1960s, specially in the 1970s the IH tractor dealer was 1/2 mile away.
These days I have a Cub in pieces I keep promising myself I'll reassemble. Engine has been rebuilt.
I have an M, a B275, & a 385. In the shed is another M owned by my son.
Excavators are very rare built by IH, but you know that.
I've never owned an excavator, I consider them less versatile than a backhoe. I have owned 5 backhoes. Backhoes are in my opinion more versatile & much more mobile. I own land 3 miles from home. I can drive there in a backhoe in minutes, It'd take longer to hook the truck to the trailer.

I'm all confused about NY. My son lives in Rock City Falls, not far from Saratoga.

I get confused about NY towns. My son lives in Rock City Falls, several miles from you.

Excavators have pretty well taken markets from TLBs and Tracked or wheeled loaders here, can sit in a spot for time durations and still move materials, good operators cut grade with them pretty easily, trench cleaner deeper. Move a great deal More materials less repositions.
While yes do require more effort to move site to site.

ecnorton2001 said:

Used to see quite a few International dozers around, but not anymore. Of course, the Tenneco/Case buyout was about 40 years ago now, and heyday of IH dozers is 50 or more. I have never seen an Internatational excavator. IH was probably cutting corners with their industrial equipment toward the end as they were losing money. Even with tractors, they were falling behind in technology compared to Deere.

Click to expand...

My neighbor:

A customer builds wind turbines. Towers are shipped from China, everything else is in house.
He has had bad experiences renting excavators & compact track loaders locally, so he rents from Albany NY 65 miles away.
To dig a hole & carry away the dirt, he makes 4 round trips to Albany. Then he pays employees to run these two machines.
Occasionally, he pays me to excavate instead.
One chore, he wanted a 15' square hole 5' deep suitable to pour concrete directly in. It took me 7.5 hours, including trucking to do it with the backhoe. I'd have finished sooner if not for an hour or more with laser level getting the bottom absolutely flat. Spoils were piled 500 feet away, 41 yards.

He grumbled about the $750 I charged. I countered with: "$350. for the excavator, $350. for the CTL. $300. for fuel including four round trips to Albany. Four hours round trip with truck & gooseneck, that's 16 hours just highway work before the digging begins. What does it cost to pay two employees to operate these machines?"

He begrudgingly agreed.

I plow snow with mine, move rocks, gravel, topsoil & wood. It's my man lift when pruning fruit trees. I confess this latest is computer equipped, so I refrain from using the front bucket as a welding booth.

Another factor, EVERYTHING here is sidehill. Mini excavators don't level themselves. I particularly don't like that, sitting sideways swinging cockeyed to level.

We did a small excavation early winter. The customer had just bought an 8 ton Kubota, which we used. It was parked at the end of his mile long driveway. It took longer to walk it up to the house than to dig the hole.