Heavy Equipment

[David006]

Hi guys: I am certainly a beginner in the farming field so to speak so:

I am researching the purchase of a probably "used "backhoe/digger).

It seems to me that they are a potentially very versatile machine..have lots of applications from road grading to pool/or lake excavation etc. :

My question is : with the wealth of experienced guys out there what would you recommend..

my applications include excavation thru brush cutting plus maybe 240v generation on occasion..

Has anyone any experience and/or advice re what machine has the most versatile plug and play bolt on goodies.

Seems to me with the hydraulics one should be able to add many advantageous farming gizmos.

I should point out that we are on a rubber farm which has some serious gradients and would necessitate a caterpillar based unit.

Thanks for any and all advice..

regards

david

[xen]

Coming from a landscaping background i would go for a "Bob-Cat" skid steer loader but there a a few drawbacks with them but they are possibly the safest on sloping ground if u are an experienced operator. They are expensive and i have never seen any working in LOS but they are available.

You are going to have to do a lot of research on the price ,and availability of these gizmos that u desire. A backhoe attacment for a Bob Cat will set u back almost 2/3's the price of the Bob-Cat itself.

You can buy the covential tractor with a 3-way or 4-way bucket and a back-hoe attathment but to me unless u have a lot of operating space and and on near level ground they are still clumbsy machines but are they are much cheaper to buy second hand.

That is just a brief rundown on some considerations .

[VocalNeal]

If you can find a very cheap one OK as it is fun to tinker. If your use is only occasional, rent.

I recently priced a full sized excavator for construction I was told 28,000 per day.

Wheeled tractors are not recommended for gradients of more than 20%

However there are very small tracked ones available if your jobs are small. But I would caution against using them on slopes if you have no experience.

One the positive side it sounds like a fun project if money is not the driving force. My father once bought a drag line excavator to dredge some ponds, tinkered with it for a few years and then sold it for more than he paid.

[Foreverford]

If you can find a very cheap one OK as it is fun to tinker. If your use is only occasional, rent.

I recently priced a full sized excavator for construction I was told 28,000 per day.

Wheeled tractors are not recommended for gradients of more than 20%

However there are very small tracked ones available if your jobs are small. But I would caution against using them on slopes if you have no experience.

One the positive side it sounds like a fun project if money is not the driving force. My father once bought a drag line excavator to dredge some ponds, tinkered with it for a few years and then sold it for more than he paid.

Hi David.Try and find someone in the area and watch them operate the equipment you might wish to purchase. I believe when you say cattapillar base you mean a track laying piece of equipment. A backhoe usually refers to a wheel tractor with a loader bucket on the front and an articulating arm on the back for digging. In Thailand what people call a "backhoe" is usually an "excavator". It has a track laying form of transport with an articulating digging arm that can be rotated 360 degrees.

I would have to recommend that you should be EXTREMELY cautious as a first time operator to even attempt to rent and operate any type of equipment on a slope. If you want to try out some type of equipment your best bet would be to hire someone to operate their machine (that is similar to the one you may be interested in) on your property and see how he is able to use it and if any difficulties are encountered.

Generally it is much more cost effective to pay someone to operate machinery when you need it than it is to purchase and fix and maintain a used piece of equipment. That being said, there is always the desire to own and operate your own tractor that seems to drive many first time farmers to invest in a piece of equipment. AGAIN be extremely cautious operating any equipment on any kind of slope as it is amazing how easy it is to have a roll over on nearly level ground. Unfortunately i have almost done it a time or two and I guess I was lucky. Luck should never be a factor when operating as skill and experience should be the determining factors.

If you were going to be using this equipment on level ground i would try to recommend a few different types of things for you and tell you to give it a try, but with you being a first time operator I have to definitely try to make you understand that what you want to do is extremely dangerous due to the slope that you would be working on. Good luck and I'll think you will find that if you look around it is very inexpensive to have people work for you with their equipment. Let them teach you what you need to know by watching them work for you. Choke Dee

[Maizefarmer]

I'd like to reiterate what others have said regards safety of farm machinery, Tractors and earth moving equipment - especialy on slopes. 'Nuff said.

Your best choice here for bush clearance is going to be a Caterpiller type earth mover - with a front blade. Doesn;t have to be big - a 100hp machine will be plenty enough torque to deal with most situations, but the other reason why I suggest a low/medium powered machine is all about maintenence and running cost.

The purchase of a Caterpillar is hard to justify, unless you are working it full time. They are a fairly expensive investment (even used), cost quite a bit to maintain and use loads of fuel.

For a one off project, nope - I personally don;t think it worth it.

If you are in an area where there isn't much in the way of earth moving gear it may be worth investing in one and then hiring it out when you are not using it - with a driver - don't hire out to folk who supply their own driver, you'll have nothing but endless headaches when it comes to maintenence (ask me - I know)!! Try stick to 3.00metre - 3.20meter max width - makes moving them around on public roads (short distances - you're not going to be moving any sized metal tracked earth mover more than a few km's at very most in any event).

What's the other option(?) - and on balance my perferred option:

A large sized tractor (150hp - 200hp - or even more if you want) with a hydraulic operated front blade/bucket. Add dual wheels, ensure it has 4WD and a decent H/L ratio transfer box, optional diff lock, a good set of rubber ..... and it can offer much what a Caterpllier can when it comes to general bush clearence duties. A large tractor will have some additional advantages as well: it'll be much easier to move from site to site, will cost less to run and maintain, spare parts will always be no more than the next large town away from you (in respect of Ford/NH tractors at least ). Mounting an auxilary alternator for AC or DC electrical power take off is no prob's - I run a 230Amp 24volt alternator off a removable bracket mounted on my Ford/NH 8970, which I use as a mobile welder - yes, straight from the alternator (good for 2" thick steel if required!), and I have a frame mounted 8KVA gennie which I can load up to the rear (or front) 3 point- and I guess you could do the same on a Cat earth mover if it had a rear 3point.

On balance, when you take all things into consideration (e.g. maintenence, fuel consumption, not having to rely on a low bed truck/trailer combi to move around, depreciation, initial capital outlay, rent out/earning potential ...blah blah, blah blah...), unless the need was specificaly for a Cat type earthmover, the versatality offered by a large tractor would tempt me to this, as opposed to a tracked Cat.

[mixedbreed]

Hello David006,

I am assuming you are looking for something along the lines of the attachment. (hopefully it’s attached) It is a relatively small machine at 6 tons. (paid 580,000) The family at the time I bought it, thought I was crazy, now they wonder how they got along without it. As well as using it on our farm, we do outside work with it, this then entails a transporter, with the costs associated along with it. With it being an older secondhand machine, surprisingly, the costs so far, have not been very high, but as the family found out this year on the 2 rice harvester machines which suddenly needed new tracks, the undercarriage can be very expensive. For the big water storage pond construction, we contracted the digging out. This machine was just to small, it has been used for an extensive klong system we put in for the rice paddies, as well as making all the rice paddies larger so we can best utilize the rice harvesters, it was the costs for this work that justified purchasing our own machine. All our land is either rice paddy or undulating land previously used for sugarcane and now we have it in Ruzzi grass to feed our cows. So there is no problems with the machine falling over. We have done almost all the work that can be done by itself, the remaining work now will require hauling soil, I am considering whether to buy 2 small dump trucks. For the first work we will contract a couple of trucks and do the math’s as to whether it is reasonable to buy or just continue contracting.

[VocalNeal]

This is a small one I alluded to.

[Gary A]

I have a small 30 HP Yanmar four wheel drive tractor with a dozer blade. We recently cut down two large bamboo clumps. I played with the Yanmar trying to get the roots out and decided to hire my wife's nephew. He rents a 6610 Ford tractor. My amazement towards those old Fords continues to increase. I cannot believe the abuse those tractors take. The clutch MUST be absolutely bulletproof. A couple of hours of ramming, banging and popping the clutch took out both clumps. The little Yanmar is good for cleaning up the mess.

[c64]

I have a small 30 HP Yanmar four wheel drive tractor with a dozer blade. We recently cut down two large bamboo clumps. I played with the Yanmar trying to get the roots out and decided to hire my wife's nephew. He rents a 6610 Ford tractor. My amazement towards those old Fords continues to increase. I cannot believe the abuse those tractors take. The clutch MUST be absolutely bulletproof. A couple of hours of ramming, banging and popping the clutch took out both clumps. The little Yanmar is good for cleaning up the mess.

Hehehe

They are more or less bulletproof.

When growing up back home we had this smallish farm. As workhorse we just had Ford tractors (3000, 4000, 4600 county). It's easier to break the guy behind the wheel than the tractor.

The tractors didn't see much service during as long as we had them. Changed/refilled some oil when needed. After 28 years/6700 hours the 3000 leaked so much oil from the engine that we were satisfied with it (empty when it was due for an oil change - just changed the filter and refilled the oil). Only had two major things happening with it. The hydraulic pump (our fault) and the clutch (heavy use all the time).

Hats off for them. If I need to buy a tractor sometime in my life, it will still be a Ford

[David006]

Thanks to all for the great info ...

After consideration maybe I WILL just rent an operated unit..did lots of that before when building our house and digging wells etc not so expensive..800-1400/hr. It seemed the hired units always had problems ..lol ...hydraulics and cooling systems among them..probably cos of all the rock we have..

thanks again guys

david

[frilys]

Hi guys,

My name is Sandhy from Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm having a business in heavy equipments trading and rental in Indonesia and i'm interested in looking for heavy equipments in Thailand (especially excavators, dozers & cranes). Does anyone have some suggestions or clues of where to find the seller?

[c64]

Hi guys,

My name is Sandhy from Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm having a business in heavy equipments trading and rental in Indonesia and i'm interested in looking for heavy equipments in Thailand (especially excavators, dozers & cranes). Does anyone have some suggestions or clues of where to find the seller?

Hi there frilys.

jssr.co.th is a good place to start if you are looking for construction equipment. It's a large auction site for all kinds of equipment.

Regards

[frilys]

Hi guys,

My name is Sandhy from Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm having a business in heavy equipments trading and rental in Indonesia and i'm interested in looking for heavy equipments in Thailand (especially excavators, dozers & cranes). Does anyone have some suggestions or clues of where to find the seller?

Hi there frilys.

jssr.co.th is a good place to start if you are looking for construction equipment. It's a large auction site for all kinds of equipment.

Regards

Hi, thanks for the info.