Exavator or backhoe?? Hmmm

I'm currently in the progress of building my small business up from land mangment and brush clearing n building fences. Wanting to expand to install waterline for the propose of livestock Waters concrete tire and plastic ones. I live in central Missouri where there alot of rocks along with red clay. I have a deere 333E ctl for back fills etc. I was thinking and exavators is more effient than a back hoe in digging and possibly of tearing out old fence rows n cleanin trees n stumps ou . I had the 100 hp or 8 to 10 ton sizes in mind. I'm curious what the professional think. I have ran exavators for demolition n not digging abs case 580 super M is the only backhoe I've ever ran n I wasn't to impressed for the fair market of hour vs production ratio makin it fair to my customers scince they are farmers and ranchers

For what it's worth I am removing fence lines and/or maintaining them to no end. We also have hills, rocks, clay sand and muck. Sometimes all on one field!

I own a 22 ton and an 8 ton excavator, backhoe, wheel loader, 85hp skid steer, and a 12 ton dozer. Unless I'm taking out a long line or there is a lot of old growth, 8 out of 10 times the backhoe is on the job. Reasons range from only having to move one machine to not having enough help to run multiple machines on a non paying job. In my case I rarely travel more than 10 miles to a field so it's easy to climb on the hoe and drive it to the job. Speed with a backhoe on a fence line will rival anything you list esp. when you think of pushing up the pile. As a farmer I don't have the lowboy or Landoll on my tractor so transportation is a consideration. For me licencing for the truck is also something to think about since I only run the semis 3 months out of the year.

Pushing brush with a skid steer gets me too close and personal with limbs that want to come in the cab. An 8 ton excavator will do a lot until you get into elm trees or box elder, then it's time for the big equipment. If you get into a job with old woven fence and iron posts just get ready. The old fence will wrap around a track before you know it and cut the only hydraulic hose on the undercarriage. Rusted off or broken posts will find the biggest and newest tire you have on the machine.

The one tool you really need to consider is a root rake. Sticks or roots that happen into a combine will often lodge in the rock trap and lite the machine up.

I failed to mention I do have a huge tree shear for the rubber track loader n was gonna made an adapter plate to attach it to the hoe. I do agree with you everything you have mentioned

I don't know your shears capacity but I have one that will cut about a 14" limb. In my opinion a skid steer is no place to mount one of those things (just waaaaay too close to the action). I looked into getting a bobtach plate welded up to put on my 8 ton excavator. Seems like a really good idea but started running into too many roadblocks. In short, two good welders convinced me give the idea up. (I still really want to try it though.) For now the shear is being used on a small 85 hp Deere utility tractor. I can still get 12' high limbs and I'm sitting back a little more than in the skid steer.

Shears from manafacture specs 16" clear cut. Hdyra clip. That attachment is dang tuff son of a gun in know I've cutted 20.inch ceder in one cut before but on harder tree like oak or thorn hedge gotta bite here n there. I've cutted several decent sized trees with it layed em over n pinch the trunk quater to half way In n carry them trees around. Where are you located. I'm sure I can whip an attachment plat up. The company I got my shears from makes exavators mounts too. M&M engineering coffeyville ks hydra clip

The biggest single thing I took from what you stated in regards to the fence rows and taking out the old fence rows and stumps etc., is that you are basically doing focused clearing operations. From someone that just recently cleared about 4 acres of property for my house build, I can tell you that for tearing out old fence rows and stumps an excavator is way more efficient. I owned a backhoe and worked it for several months trying to get my land cleared and in 4 days with an excavator I did what I could not accomplish in 4 months with the backhoe.

Now, part of this was due to the stability of the excavator and low ground pressure on the tracks in soft soil and root mat as opposed to the 4 pressure points on a backhoe. I now own both and will be putting them both to work very soon clearing the other 16 acres on the property and getting everything developed.

You will definitely want a thumb on that excavator, and a hydraulic one will be preferred, much more versatile. Efficiency on an excavator with a thumb is far superior to a backhoe in that you can dig, quicly track, use the thumb to grab and move things (piles of old fence) and you can track them to a new spot to pile up. The advantage to a backhoe is in the bucket material handling. If that is not a priority, and considering you already have a CTL, then I think the excavator would be next for your growth.

Thank you. Both of you guys have very good points.

Both have their place I guess. Backhoe is dual function, you can walk from job to job, I find it handy to be able to use your out riggers to level your bucket. We had 110 with a hydraulic thumb it was handy. Excavators; especially a zero swing are good for tight spots. You can work soft ground. 360 degrees of swing. No boom and bucket stuck in your face. We have 4 rubber backhoes, and they go everyday, but there are times when you need a hoe or at least a mini. Mind you the excavators are in high demand as well. At one point they considered buying a bobcat excavator attachment for my Maulden grader.

definitely want a track hoe with thumb and a grapple for good demo times

It seems these days a larger CTL and a decent size excavator like a 312 or PC 128 go hand and hand. I'm still a little old school where as a backhoe and a track loader go hand and hand. Larger dozers like a D6R size , to me seem to expensive to operate on ag related jobs and based light residential customer base. Later on you might want a small track loader like a 605 Deere or even 953 , I believe that and the excavator could do about any job out there. The u/c would last a lot longer , seems like the CTL is hard on tracks.

Wow, lots of good information on this thread. Thank you guys!

Dickjr. said:

It seems these days a larger CTL and a decent size excavator like a 312 or PC 128 go hand and hand. I'm still a little old school where as a backhoe and a track loader go hand and hand. Larger dozers like a D6R size , to me seem to expensive to operate on ag related jobs and based light residential customer base. Later on you might want a small track loader like a 605 Deere or even 953 , I believe that and the excavator could do about any job out there. The u/c would last a lot longer , seems like the CTL is hard on tracks.

Click to expand...

The ctl is very hard on tracks especially mine n the terrain I run it in. I have plans to get a 963 when. I get some land bought. Currently saving up for that

cuttin edge said:

Both have their place I guess. Backhoe is dual function, you can walk from job to job, I find it handy to be able to use your out riggers to level your bucket. We had 110 with a hydraulic thumb it was handy. Excavators; especially a zero swing are good for tight spots. You can work soft ground. 360 degrees of swing. No boom and bucket stuck in your face. We have 4 rubber backhoes, and they go everyday, but there are times when you need a hoe or at least a mini. Mind you the excavators are in high demand as well. At one point they considered buying a bobcat excavator attachment for my Maulden grader.

Click to expand...

How tuff n productive are the mini? I plan to dig bout 5 /6 ft deep. With the 580 super M is only could do bout 50 to 75 ft an hour with a 24 inch bucket in red clay n it was a lil wet that month. Later in the summer during a drought I only could do 25 to 50 ft an hr n it was hard red dried up clay

I am only speaking on my view of the excavator vs the rubber tire. My application would differ from yours as I don't dig basements, I make roads and driveways ready for asphalt. For years if we needed a mini, we rented it. Eventually they bought one. I can't see a mini being much good to you. Put the wrong guy on it, and you can see how expensive those tracks are. If I am not on the big grader I run a Maulden maintainer grader. We mostly have a rubber tire backhoe with us for dig outs, but sometimes you need an excavator. Right tool for the right job I guess. Sometimes it's nice if you can afford them all