So, I bought myself a backhoe loader, a Danish one called Hydrema V7F9 from 1979 based on a Volvo tractor.
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_ZPI1QIMQ99JH1596227357.jpg)
I have lots of small projects, each one needing some digging machine. The best solution seemed to be to buy a backhoe loader and the plan was to find one cheap enough that I can keep it afterwards. I found this one and the seller seemed serious so I bought it.
It did not start well, the brakes did not work when unloading, but the seller promised to pay all parts necessary if I fix it myself. The pump cylinders will probably have to changed.
Then it's time to start digging. Anyone here have any experience with these kind of machines?
Not really, no.
I drove a Bobcat when I was in Des Moines. :unsure: I'm sure it's the same. :)
I ran one for a summer.
Did you find it easy?
It's like a lot of things. Easy to learn, hard to learn to do well. I wasn't very quick.
And by hard, I mean it takes time.
It takes time indeed - in a few hours you can be sure you won't kill yourself if you think, but to do with any level of ease will take longer. As with any of these thing, a weeks worth of "chores" can help you get at least comfortable with it. Don't worry if each day you feel like you regressed a bit, it is both muscle memory and internalization of movements that you have to get.
It'll take a few weeks to service and fix it up, by then our farmer should have harvested and I can practice in the field. After that I plan to fix up some roads in the forest and by then I should have gotten practice enough to do some fiddlier stuff. That's the plan at least.
I only ever used the backhoe attachment for a tractor... and I did not use it well.
:lol:
Do you own a farm?
The concept of buying something like this is so far out of my reality....
My son and I know how to operate an excavator, thanks to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBE8JrByOf0
We also watch this several times a day, so we are pretty proficient at using a variety of heavy equipment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag8MYbzoCFw
My son has promised to buy me this one with the stump grinder attachment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKkgXyt54iQ :)
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on August 10, 2020, 05:00:26 PM
My son and I know how to operate an excavator, thanks to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBE8JrByOf0
We also watch this several times a day, so we are pretty proficient at using a variety of heavy equipment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag8MYbzoCFw
My son has promised to buy me this one with the stump grinder attachment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKkgXyt54iQ :)
Damn you. :glare:
I just spent 25 minutes watching those videos. :blush:
Over here these are generically know as 'JCBs' after the main manufacturer; no idea if they are the originator of the design.
This can't be happening.
Quote from: Monoriu on August 10, 2020, 08:14:47 PM
This can't be happening.
What? That one of us bought something expensive?
Quote from: Valmy on August 10, 2020, 10:16:09 PM
Quote from: Monoriu on August 10, 2020, 08:14:47 PM
This can't be happening.
What? That one of us bought something expensive?
Most languishites are rich, so buying something expensive is to be expected. But a backhoe loader is from outer space. I never would have imagined that someone would buy that. Never.
Quote from: Threviel on August 10, 2020, 03:09:32 PM
Then it's time to start digging. Anyone here have any experience with these kind of machines?
not as an operator, now as a mechanic, sorry. I've seen them all my youth, but nowadays the preference is to mini-excavators instead.
Quote from: Monoriu on August 11, 2020, 12:27:29 AM
Quote from: Valmy on August 10, 2020, 10:16:09 PM
Quote from: Monoriu on August 10, 2020, 08:14:47 PM
This can't be happening.
What? That one of us bought something expensive?
Most languishites are rich, so buying something expensive is to be expected. But a backhoe loader is from outer space. I never would have imagined that someone would buy that. Never.
they're not much use in HK, Manhattan or dowtown Toronto, I'll admit that. But outside the cities, there is a vast world to be explored... ;)
It wasn't very expensive, the equivalent of $8.000 or so. I expect to spend another 2k or so before I can use it.
We have a very small farm, 12 or so acres, 5 of them forest. there's a stream separating one field from the others where we live. There's an old cattle road by the stream that has been kept somewhat open. There's also two bridges, one rotten of wood that is currently used to go over on foot and lighter vehicles and an old small stone bridge that can't be accessed easily since everything around it is overgrown. The road cannot be accessed from our side before the harvest since you have to go over the field. We usually go around on he proper road.
In the lower lying parts around the stream there's also old barbed wire and lots of junk, it was used as a sort of junkyard in the 90'ies. There are also dams and stuff used for growing fish for the local fishing club.
I want to clean all of this up, it's very beautiful by the stream and I want to access it and use it, build a new bridge perhaps, lengthen the cattle road so that it reaches our other roads. I want to lengthen the read to the stone bridge and remove the dams. Perhaps drain some of the low lying lands.
Just above our house is the forest, we have a stone wall towards it. I want to clean up 10 or so meters above this, flatten it out and make it accessible, perhaps plant fruit trees and make a small orchard there. I also want to build a root cellar.
#lifegoals
That sounds beautiful. Very idyllic. Chateau d'Threviel.
Well, more like cottage Threviel, the house is not very stately.
Also, everything is overgrown and full of crap, so not very idyllic yet. Hope to make it so.
Hey Threviel, there is a lot that can go wrong.
Make sure you know what you are doing before you start working with it - especially the work you are planning to use it for. Not the sort of thing you really want to learn on the job without someone knowledgeable showing you the ropes (and hazards).
Well, I don't really have anyone close to teach me backhoe loader specifics, but I have married into a farmer family, so lots of tractor experience.
The plan is to take it very easy, I will probably spend the autumn servicing and getting to know the machine.
Is it really worth it to buy the equipment, rather than hiring somebody directly to do the job?
Well, maybe find someone if you can. My grandfather and father operated them. My grandfather built up a pretty good land clearing business on the side to help out other farmers. My dad also did land clearing around here from time to time. I operated one for a summer. My dad didn't let me near anything that might be dangerous, which he defined as anything with a fair degree of slope or near trees, large rocks or streams. Your land seems to be mostly in what my dad would have defined as the danger zone.
Quote from: Threviel on August 11, 2020, 04:39:16 AM
We have a very small farm, 12 or so acres, 5 of them forest. there's a stream separating one field from the others where we live. There's an old cattle road by the stream that has been kept somewhat open. There's also two bridges, one rotten of wood that is currently used to go over on foot and lighter vehicles and an old small stone bridge that can't be accessed easily since everything around it is overgrown. The road cannot be accessed from our side before the harvest since you have to go over the field. We usually go around on he proper road.
In the lower lying parts around the stream there's also old barbed wire and lots of junk, it was used as a sort of junkyard in the 90'ies. There are also dams and stuff used for growing fish for the local fishing club.
I want to clean all of this up, it's very beautiful by the stream and I want to access it and use it, build a new bridge perhaps, lengthen the cattle road so that it reaches our other roads. I want to lengthen the read to the stone bridge and remove the dams. Perhaps drain some of the low lying lands.
Just above our house is the forest, we have a stone wall towards it. I want to clean up 10 or so meters above this, flatten it out and make it accessible, perhaps plant fruit trees and make a small orchard there. I also want to build a root cellar.
That sounds positively delightful. :wub:
100k Swedish buys perhaps 20 days of payed services. After that it's a loss.
But it's also a toy, it'll be fun and when I'm done I have a good machine for lots of other uses.
CC, I am a somewhat experienced forest worker with chain saw and access to forest tractors. Trees I can handle.
I won't really be working in steep slopes either, the ground near the stream is nicely terraced and the stream itself very small. Just big enough to never go dry.
Thank you for caring.
It's not a toy and its not a tractor. People my grandfather and father knew were seriously injured using those things in unsafe ways. Hence my father's caution.
Quote from: Threviel on August 11, 2020, 04:29:23 PM
CC, I am a somewhat experienced forest worker with chain saw and access to forest tractors. Trees I can handle.
I won't really be working in steep slopes either, the ground near the stream is nicely terraced and the stream itself very small. Just big enough to never go dry.
Thank you for caring.
learn the basic safety before practice. it's a 3-4h class. Then practice on open field, clear level. Get the hang of the controls, 'til you develop the muscle memory. Then get to more complicated stuff, like loading a trailer, moving medium rocks, etc.
Once you've mastered the basics, you can move on to stuff like that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEXfIzKrYA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEXfIzKrYA)
:P
as for the operation, part of it handles like a tractor, when you go forward. The moment you turn your seat around, it's an excavator and it operates differently. Don't even try to use the excavator without the stabilizers. Also make sure there is no one else near you at all time, especially if you have kids, they tend to be curious about machines like these.
I notice that it doesn't have any outriggers. You should pay a lot of attention to the soil the wheels sit on, in that case. I'm not sure you could operate it far enough from centerline to pose a tipping risk, but that's something that would worry me if I were to try to operate it.
Edit: I take that back. There look to be outriggers on the back (just not like the outriggers I have seen - they are black pads).
Quote from: grumbler on August 11, 2020, 06:30:32 PM
I notice that it doesn't have any outriggers. You should pay a lot of attention to the soil the wheels sit on, in that case. I'm not sure you could operate it far enough from centerline to pose a tipping risk, but that's something that would worry me if I were to try to operate it.
It's a good point, I assumed that was part of the "to do" list. A good example of getting a experienced eye to give it a look over and the provide some advice on how to operate it.
Just make sure you know where any power lines, water pipes etc. run before you start digging. ;)
It has outriggers and they have no problem what so ever lifting the machine. It is more or less feature complete, on the todo list is fixing the brakes, fixing the turning off button and fixing so the gas pedal goes back. in a longer perspective fixing up the electronics and the hydraulics. the machine has been standing still outside for a few years as I understand it.
Also, I have been around these machines, as the guy in the hole doing guy in the hole stuff. I plan on following vipers advice with practicing before doing stupid stuff.
Here's another picture (not a fake as far as I know) of the same kind of machine:
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/20639_traktor1_1.jpg)
mispost
Quote from: viper37 on August 11, 2020, 05:15:44 PM
Don't even try to use the excavator without the stabilizers.
Well you won't try that twice.
Another thing is that these machines are probably more dangerous to the people around them than the guy inside them. I will not be using this machine in a professional manner, at most my father in law and brother in law will be around and we are quite used to working with dangerous machines together.
My dad spent decades working road construction including quite a bit of time on such machines. I can run something by him if you have any specific questions. He still enjoys watching Youtube videos of equipment at work even though he's been retired for years now. The Roku I got my parents remains probably the best gift I ever got them. :lol:
My first project is approaching. I've been working this winter to clear a bit of wood near my house intending for it to become an orchard and a playground for the kids.
I've felled the trees and transported them away, right now I'm in the process of clearing away all the branches lying around to get at the earth.
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_21ZSIX1UJ6E8G1612274132.jpg)
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_2C0JF5FZ75J4O1612274131.jpg)
We even had a bit of winter
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_WKZFBTNEMYQC1612274132.jpg)
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_WRYA4XSURATG1612274133.jpg)
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_HPP1DLDM9IIA1612274133.jpg)
The ground is still frozen so last Sunday I took the opportunity to drive the machine out. When the ground thaws it will be wet and difficult to drive it to the workplace, but the old forest itself should be quite manageable. There's still a large pile of branches to carry away and after that I well set a fire and burn away all the small wooden bits lying around.
(https://www.maskinisten.net/userpix/428080_2W3XAW4ZLBSW01615314866.jpg)
Then it's time to learn how to dig.
Cool. :)
Evert gave you any trouble?
Quote from: The Brain on March 12, 2021, 07:40:46 AM
The storm Evert hit large parts of Sweden yesterday.
Did not know that it had a name. No, it was no problem, barely an inconvenience.
Remember to bury the bodies deep enough.
Very cool. I am very envious. Were you able to sell the trees?
Quote from: crazy canuck on March 12, 2021, 04:11:27 PM
Very cool. I am very envious. Were you able to sell the trees?
I've laid up 10+m3 for timber and 10+m3 of birch to use for paper and we will get something like 1500-2000€ for it. They still haven't picked it up and I wont know in detail until it's measured.