Are back hoe loaders out of fashion?

[Devil's advocate]

New Holland B110C Backhoe Loader | Russell's

New Holland B110C Backhoe Loader, year 2021, 1540 hours, Powershuttle, Manual Controls, Street Pads, Hammer Circuit, Bolt on Blade on Front Bucket, Object Handling Kit with Lifting Hook, Hyd Side Shift, Hyd Quick Hitch, Vredestein 340/80R18 & 480/80R26 Industrial Tyres.

russells.uk.com

If that was a tractor with a loader would be more than that.

So looks cheap to me (for contractor who wants one, not a farmer like me)

The mini diggers transported by truck or on farm work tractor drawn trailer seem much more common than back hoe loaders now,

My heart says a little 2cx would be real handy here, my head says running costs too high, contractor or self drive hire cheaper.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Still see the odd one about with a sheargrab on. Handy things. Not the same as a slew but possibly more useful in some respects.

You can get smaller versions, don't JCB do one on tracks which is sort of not much bigger than skid steer size?

 

[Farmer Roy]

Not so much on farms here, but backhoes like that are still very popular here in construction etc

at Council, we a number of fairly new CAT backhoes. Very useful machines & fast on the road

 

[Lincs Lass]

Never see a back hoe on a building site nowadays.
It's 360s in various sizes and telehandlers.
Couple of owner operators locally but the big civils don't use them

 

[clbarclay]

One size rarely fits all that well.

A dedicated loader will out load and a dedicated digger will out dig. Backhoes seem to fit a niche where you don't want to have multiple machines.

I don't fancy going back to ditching with a back hoe, though one plus point is they can get round the farm much quicker than an excavator for doing odd jobs. Trying to use the pallet forks on a bachoe is one experience I don't wish to repeat, though most of them have 4 in 1 buckets now so you can at least see through them and quick hitches on the loader are probably more common than one piece buckets.

 

[Nithsdale]

We've a 3cx here. Yes tracked machines are better in many respects but they have a few pretty big drawbacks. You can't just nip along the road and do a 5min job... you need more other machines to work with them - tractor, low loader trailer or Telehandler to shift load...

Brother keeps saying we should change for a tracked digger, but I refuse - 3cx is so versatile. Digger wouldn't get used half as much.

 

[kiwi pom]

Good machines, need the right operator though, they tend to be a machine everyone thinks they can drive.
Bit old school perhaps but I think they have a place on a farm as a back up loader/estate maintenance machine.

 

[Wellytrack]

@Kevtherev

 

[hendrebc]

You can get a very good one for £20k. A usable one good enough for occasional farm work for £10k or even less.
No one wants them anymore. I think there will be one here soon though it's a lot of very versatile machine for the money. Everyone says a tracked machine is better, and they are right, but you can't use it as a spare loader to feed bales out very easily.

 

[Wesley]

They have their place & will never go out of fashion. I know they’ve had a play with a jcb hydradig around here but rarely see anything other than a backhoe doing council roadwork jobs, ditching, clearing things up etc. They’ve moved on a lot since the early ones with controls like you were stirring a pudding basin.

 

[Hilly]

I put 12k hrs on 3cx , i wouldnt rush to have another ….. i prefer 360 and tele handler.

 

[Lincsman]

I have one, does everything loading and digging wise, no telehandler here.

Main issue is no one has the skills or ticket to drive one anymore.

 

[goldeneagle]

The reach and manoeuvrability of telehandlers made them less effective in the late .90s for a lot to see. Up until then a lot of livestock farms always had one.

getting the best out of them requires experience as positioning and having think about how to execute job is critical to getting a quality job done within a decent timeframe.

Yex they have limitations but there is no hassle with transport for a small job.
For large digouts or ditching they are not effective but would sooner have a wheeled digger owned and hire in a track machine when needed.
Track machines are great but you need about 3 different sizes depending on what you are doing.
We have a wheeled digger and a 16 tonne slew and hire in an 8 tonne for ditching as required which fits our needs. Delivery charges for big machines soon make it cheaper to own than hire for a week here and there in my experience plus they chew through some work at ease, however not the most compact footprint.

 

[Wesley]

For large digouts or ditching they are not effective

Not too much wrong with the newest machines for ditching. But not exactly in many farmers budget. Joysticks on armrests, crab steer & pretty sure some of the latest JCB’s can be driven from the joystick. Only real drawback is wheels v tracks in the wet.

 

[hendrebc]

I put 12k hrs on 3cx , i wouldnt rush to have another ….. i prefer 360 and tele handler.

I think most people would prefer a 360 and telehandler but it would be a lot of extra money for both.
It's always going to be a compromise to have both machines to do 2 jobs.

 

[ford4000]

Got a New holland one here for the last 20 years, main job is moving muck but it's also handy for the bit of ditching or digging work that we do especially as this farm is made up of bits of land here and there.
Having a bit of a job getting a ram fixed at the moment. Can't get seals you have to buy the silver rod part of the ram complete as the seals are part of that apparently

 

[Landrover]

Ive always fancied a 2cx to mount a post knocker on the back in place of the backhoe, with some decent tyres on it would be a versatile machine I thought ! Doubt I'll have have the time to do it tho !

 

[nick...]

I really miss a backhoe having had my last in 09 and not had a call for one since.I do alot of 360 work though.I'm sure there are very few decent 180 ops about these days aswell and if I still ran one I'd want £70plus per hour too.they can be expensive to run compared with 360 machines aswell.my first new machine,my avatar,used to cost £1.5 hour for tyres and that was in 2001 when I was on £17.00hour.
nick...

 

[How much]

I Think the title sums it up well "Out of Fashion" but they are not by any means incapable they are a jack of all trades but very capable of doings most stuff We have a 3CX compact that is basically 2cx It has joystick control for the rear digger, 4 wheel steer and very comfortable with but also has the optional long boom and dipper so will reach about the same as 3cx its a great tool with quick attach forks as well very versatile , it not an excavator but it does not pretend to be but its equally as handy if not more so than an excavator .

 

[Devil's advocate]

I Think the title sums it up well "Out of Fashion" but they are not by any means incapable they are a jack of all trades but very capable of doings most stuff We have a 3CX compact that is basically 2cx It has joystick control for the rear digger, 4 wheel steer and very comfortable with but also has the optional long boom and dipper so will reach about the same as 3cx its a great tool with quick attach forks as well very versatile , it not an excavator but it does not pretend to be but its equally as handy if not more so than an excavator .

I didn't really notice till I made a call to local owner driver to do a job, he was too behind to come due to the wet summer last year.

Will a lot have been exported they just seem to have disappeared, little 360's on trailers everywhere.