So many Case threads. Either really popular, or unreliable?

[Truck Shop]

Cheap, cheap, cheap and cheap.

 

[Willie B]

I think one thing with Case hoes is they were one of the first to make backhoes . So lots of shops used them . As time progressed lots of case hoes were running and as new guys came about they learned on them and passed that on . With that they are good machines . 580e I think is one of the best backhoe ever made .

In my day we had IH 260 or 580 case for dealer support . We picked IH because we preferred the product line in our area .

Last time I ran a Case I was called out to run a Case and I think it was a K series I crossed my hands from left to right so my wrists were in an X .
That was called a pattern changer.

My sons have run nothing but SAE controls. I've mostly used SAE, a bit of ISO, A bit of three lever/foot swing.
We did a job 60 miles from home, too far to justify hauling a backhoe, or renting a mini. Owner, a widow, said I have a Kubota mini backhoe, use it.
Greased it up, checked oil & Seth began to dig. I could have sold a video. Recently deceased owner preferred Cat controls, had the dealer switch them. He soon gave up, let me dig.
I sure prefer SAE control pattern! My case backhoe has a toggle switch to change pattern.

 

[KSSS]

I was never much of a backhoe guy, but bought one because I needed one machine that could do everything, excavate, backfill and compact in one machine for work farther from home than I wanted to mobilize for all the time. Bought a 590SN, with 1200 hours on it from a CAT dealer (ziegler) in Mn. Apparently Titan Equipment pissed off one of their customers and he traded in like 4 590's. I love that hoe! Did some work for a customer that had a 420F2 on a big job and we used the two machines side by side. I liked the front bucket on the CAT but the back end of the CASE is much better, in my opinion. Its fast and precise and damn that thing can lift. Everyone operator that has run that BH comes away impressed with it. Very dependable and very capable. Not perfect for sure, but that BH made a believer out of me.

It is interesting, BH sales had been sliding for years, until there wasn't enough labor available to run a mini ex and loader. Now the sales have been increasing.

 

[Willie B]

The comparison has been made many years, a backhoe is a Swiss Army Knife of earthmoving machines. That is close to true. I can't argue, an excavator of equal weight digs faster. The excavator is not self propelled in that it can travel 20 or faster MPH down a highway. Excavator then needs a truck & trailer if moving on the highway. Excavator is nearly helpless when material must be moved, backhoe is reasonably efficient.

If the job is ground prep for a new hospital, or a new super highway, you won't see many backhoes. If the job is installing a generator beside a home, a backhoe is the best choice.

 

[Welder Dave]

Case we're one of the first to have an integrated backhoe loader and not an attachment hoe for an Ag tractor. They had the first TLB with a factory warranty in the US. Massey Ferguson were also very early in backhoe loaders after having purchased Davis and Midwestern. MF UK claimed to have the first TLB. Both Case and MF were around 1957 if I recall. Case won a design award from Lincoln for the welded design of their backhoe loaders. JD we're a little later. JCB had an early TLB but it was only a prototype and not a production model.

 

[Willie B]

Earliest backhoe I saw was a 1964? Case 530 Construction King. Guy made his living with it decades.

Prior to that, were a truck mounted hydraulic excavator on a military 6x6, a Farmall M with a flimsy backhoe & trip bucket loader, a very few cable shovels. I don't believe I've ever seen a working steam shovel.
In a rural area, big earthmoving was the domain of bulldozers until these.

The first integrated backhoes seem pretty feeble now, but compared to digging by hand they were amazing.

 

[92U 3406]

I'm not an operator but it seems that having to reposition a backhoe while on a project would be a pain compared to an excavator.

 

[CM1995]

I'm not an operator but it seems that having to reposition a backhoe while on a project would be a pain compared to an excavator.

It can be but if you need to dig a trench, move the spoils across the site and then backfill with stone from a stockpile the backhoe really shines. They have their place.

Personally I prefer a mini and a CTL but you need 2 operators.

 

[Willie B]

I'm not an operator but it seems that having to reposition a backhoe while on a project would be a pain compared to an excavator.

Dedicated digger pound for pound, an excavator is faster than a backhoe.
An excavator spends much of its time on a trailer. I give two examples:

I own land three miles away. I can drive the backhoe in air conditioned comfort in 10 minutes. I can't hook the trailer to the truck in 10 minutes, never mind load & chain it down. Unloading takes another 45 minutes. I would have to walk the excavator 1/2 mile, as the last hill is too steep for the unloaded truck towing trailer. I'd have to park truck & trailer at a turn out at the main highway, then worry about theft of chains.

One project I did 10 miles from home. The task was simple, customer wanted a hole 15 x 15 x 5' deep, wanted the walls straight, ideally wider at bottom if soil would cooperate. He wanted a flat bottom suitable to pour concrete without forms. It'd be a base for a wind turbine. All the spoils from the hole were to be piled on top of a loading dock 100 yards away. I used the truck only to tow the trailer. Seven and a half hours from my door to my door again I was done. That included setting up a laser & flattening the bottom dead level by hand.

Customer grumbled about the bill, he prefers to rent machines from a company 1.5 hours away. His rentals would be a mini excavator, and a compact track loader. Ignoring loading and unloading time, he would spend 12 hours on the highway, burn 42 gallons of diesel fuel. put 640 miles on his truck & trailer. He doesn't operate machines, his employees will try anything, but even they don't pretend to be operators.
The mini he rents, he can transport behind his F350 won't reach the opposite side of this hole. This means an inexperienced operator tries to dig a flat sided hole he can't see.
My old backhoe I had at the time reaches 23 feet. I can see where I dig on the other side of a 15' hole.
I was also able to move the spoils from the site with one machine. My backhoe/loader carries 1.3 cubic yard, moves faster than a compact track loader. I removed the spoils MUCH faster than a CTL could with 1/2 yard bucket. I can reach higher to dump than a CTL, except a very rare high lift model.

I believe he would have stretched this project into a week. His employee wouldn't dig the hole to his exacting specifications in a part day. He would pay two day rental for the mini. ight thereby combine two transport trips, return the excavator, pick up the CTL.

 

[AzIron]

You just need to get used to it there is not much difference when you go pound for pound with a 308 or 85 against a 420 or 310 sl

What is different is I can do everything with one machine and move across a job in no time with a backhoe

Most backhoe operators can run an excavator decent enough most excavator operators lack the creativity to utilize a backhoe past about 40 percent of its ability you can climb a backhoe into places that an excavator may not go with out building a road across what ever the backhoe jumped they are awesome machines but take a good experienced backhoe operator to unlock its real potential

 

[Deere500a]

∆the above Case four grab the boom and Dipper with one hand & work the loader with the other and go hopping/pulling. 4/1,4wd & digmor right hands is an excellent tractor. Stuck using a Cat 279 & 306 wanting a backhoe wide open job no obstructions

 

[Willie B]

∆the above Case four grab the boom and Dipper with one hand & work the loader with the other and go hopping/pulling. 4/1,4wd & digmor right hands is an excellent tractor. Stuck using a Cat 279 & 306 wanting a backhoe wide open job no obstructions

The area I live is almost all hillside. A recent project we did, homeowner borrowed a 4 ton Kubota mini EX. The job included a large propane tank on a hillside. Mini was small, & reach was small. I was able to dig the 5 x 12 x 5' deep hole only by beginning on one end working backward. Placing the spoils up the hill from the hole forced me to stop a few times to move the pile.
The machine was sitting way off level & I found it unpleasant to dig. It also bobbed around like it was a rubber duck in a bathtub.
Finishing the end of the hole, I had to do blind as I couldn't see over the edge of the hole.

Pile of sand was in the driveway 150 feet away, the tank 10-1/2 feet long weighed 1500? LBS. I drove my backhoe up that morning feeling it'd be handy.
Size of the hole mean't reaching near 10' to the center of the hole to set the tank. The little mini would tip over reaching that far.

Tank was backfilled with sand. Would have taken hours moving it up the hill with the mini, loader did it in minutes.

Where the mini was sweet was backfilling the trench for the gas line. It had a four way blade. I could shave dirt off the grass leaving very little dirt to rake off.

We hauled away 12 cubic yards of spoils. Would be a ridiculous job for an excavator, no big deal for backhoe.

 

[Deere500a]

First week first time on a cat 420F doing Site work installing drain pipe/di. Having to trench alongside the concrete pad got to the spot between the fire pipe stand and a pull box couldn't use the outriggers it was stable even fully extended 2' bucket off to the one side if it was a Case would be trying to flop around weight of the hoe they are special/different feel