What size excavator for my farm - appreciate some advice

[CMCDT]

Hi Guys,

New here and to earth moving equipment. I am looking for an excavator for my farm and would like you guys to weigh in on my questions.
I am not too concerned with Make (brand) at this stage as I need to first narrow down my selection to size. I will list what I want to do and then my questions.

I want to
Clear fence line (large and small trees)
Drive in fence posts
Dig ponds (approximately 3 to 5
Install trails in my 30 acres of forest but digging drainage ditches and building up the trail with the material
Remove large logs from harvested trees for milling and firewood
Install culvert
Move rocks

Things I am weighing up.
Either way - I will sell the excavator once I have completed the tasks I want to get done.
I have been considering either a used 6 ton (eg: Cat 305) or a used 13 to 20 ton (an older excavator in the same price range) or even larger...?
I realize the larger would get the work done quicker, however there is more damage to land and day to day running costs are higher (more hungry for fuel)
The maintenance would potentially be less on a smaller ex as it would be newer, have less hours but less power too.
The resale-ability - which has a bigger market (ie sell and payoff any remaining load etc)
Which hod their value better?

If you guys could weigh in with some advice would really appreciate it. Especially if you have owned machines in both size ranges
Regards
Cordell

 

[CatToy]

I had a very similar agenda a few years ago. I rented a few pieces of equipment to test what work work. I shopped for over a year and ended up getting a LB 330 (40 ton) excavator with thumb, Cat D4H dozer, a Cat 933 track loader and a single axle dump. If you are serious about clearing large trees or moving any amount of dirt, you need something bigger than a 6 ton excavator and you will be surprised how much you will use a dump truck.

Fast forward to now, I sold everything over past year but the dump truck, just could not part with it. I wanted to keep the excavator but it was overkill for anything else I had planned. I was able to get about 90% of my initial investment back which is much much less than several quotes I received to do the work and I got to do my way and have all the fun.

Just my $.01

I do own smaller equipment, I have a 5 ton Bobcat excavator, Bobcat T770 track loader and a L45 TLB, I could have used them to do the job but it would have taken a lot more time and these are used in a small excavation business to keep my son employed.

 

[farmerlund]

I would go with the larger size. A JD160, Cat 315, komatsu 160 something in that size range is a good farm machine. I have had a couple in the 200-210 range and would not really want to go any smaller for the work I do.

Be sure to get a thumb. hydraulic is the nicest but a ridged thumb works fine to.

 

[mxsledder]

I've done a ton of land clearing over the years. For what your doing I think a 200 size machine would do you a good job. A 330 would be great but you certainly don't need to go that big.

 

[old-iron-habit]

If you do not have to haul it around the larger excavaters are normally selling quite a bit cheaper than the medium sized ones. They get expensive to move so that brings the cost down.

 

[kevin37b]

I would buy , or rent at least a 20 ton machine . You will burn the same amount of fuel either way , little versus big . Do you have any experience doing this type of work ? We see this type of ? everyday . If you need to ask , I think you need to talk to someone local .

 

[Welder Dave]

Do you only have 30 acres total? I think a 100-160 size excavator with steel tracks and a front blade would fit the bill. A thumb would be a big help as well. The bigger question is what kind of budget you have? A low price machine may need expensive repairs.

 

[lsquared]

I have a JD 160D, with thumb, and use it for clearing large and small trees, de-limbing and of course moving dirt. For me, this seems to be about the right size. I also have a JD 333D CTL with a grapple, tree puller and a few other goodies. I use the tree puller to remove the smaller brush and to go back after the excavator and tracked loader, JD 655C, and pull the remaining roots. This has significantly reduced the number of sprouts in later years.

Good luck.

 

[Plebeian]

Might be an idea to talk to people in your area. Go to an excavator driver training class if you have not driven an excavator a lot before.

Budget will dictate your machine choice options, it costs money to transport machinery long distances so you need to have an idea of how far awy it is sensible to source a machine from.

Tree size - over 100 feet tall and 4 foot wide stump etc? Usually better to have a protected cab.
Are the tree valuable? How much would a logging crew pay to remove them to give you money to buy a pond building excavator with?
Who is the best dealer/ brand support in your area that charges ok for parts and repair costs?

 

[cuttin edge]

What kind of ground do you have? If you think a 305 is big enough, and your land is not too wet, I would look at a good size 4 wheel drive backhoe. A back hoe is better for traveling, and it can be a great addition to a farm, mind you if the area you want to work is in a bog, tracks would be a must, but a good backhoe can be handy

 

[blacktopper]

We have a cat 305E2 and when it comes to trees we go get the JD310K. Id say the backhoe is the way to go for most of what you want to do.
Try out a mini ex and backhoe both before you buy.

 

[bindian]

I have a CAT E70. It is a rebadged Mitsubishi MS 070. Also have a 65hp Mahindra with backhoe. The backhoe runs circles around the excavator, but only digs and dumps 90 degrees apart. The CAT is the real digger and the Mahindra is the general purpose machine. The CAT weighs in at 15,200 pounds and has 24 inch steel tracks. It doesn't strain with the 4 foot wide cleanout bucket full either! It doesn't have a blade, which would make it nicer. I prefer it over the backhoe for taking out trees.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Grady]

A 4 wheel drive backhoe sounds like a good machine for your place and one that you would probably always have a use for. A rented or temporary purchase of an excavator for some serious digging if your ponds or ? are going to be bigger than the backhoe can dig.

 

[Tontosgold]

For our farm I bought a 2nd hand Hyundai 17 ton with 9000 hrs and have been very happy with it. It handles surprisingly large rocks and any size tree, just dig around the roots and push it over. If a rock is too large to move I dig a deep hole adjacent then undermine it until it slides in then cover with soil. The machine has cleared about 10 acres of jungle. My original plan was same as yours, to sell the machine after completing all the jobs, however it finds too many uses around the farm and now I can't imagine being without it. We turn the bucket around and use it as a cherry-picker and it functions as a crane also. Hyundai is a popular brand here in Australia and parts are cheap and easy to source. The 17 ton size has been ideal for my situation, I wouldn't want anything smaller, likewise a larger machine would limit the areas I could access as well as cost more to transport.