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QUESTION:I've seen a mini-backhoe (Northern Hydraulics Trencherman) for sale.
Since my wife and I are on a very tight budget and think this might
help keep costs down for an [hopefully] upcoming renovation on our
house, we are considering buying it. I've taken some pictures of it:
http://mybrain.org/pics/AtHome/2002-01-30-Backhoe
A friend of mine says that since it has been sitting for about a year,
that I should clean out the hydraulics. His recommended procedure:
-drain the existing hydraulic fluid. exercise the cylinders by hand
to get all fluid out of the system.
-fill with new/clean fluid, and then drain that to flush out the
system.
-finally, replace the filter and fill again with clean/new fluid.
Questions:
Should the hydraulics system be flushed at all, or is this just
overkill?
What are the dangers of running with old fluid, or running with fluid
that has sat for over a year?
Does this procedure for flushing sound right?
Any recommendations on inexpensive sources for hydraulic fluid,
filters and parts?
What is a good price to pay for something like the Trencherman
micro-backhoe?
Does anyone have a really inexpensive (free? :-)
loader/backhoe/tractor that is in good working condition for sale or
trade?
ANSWER: If you are ONLY going to use it for a home renovation, why not hire
someone with a real backhoe for the task or even rent a backhoe for that
time period? A real backhoe can probably do the work 5 times as fast as
the micro backhoe. I have contemplated buying a backhoe for my tractor
(about $5000), but I realize that for the misc. jobs I do, it is cheaper
in the long run to hire it out - once I take into account the initial
investment, interest, maintenance, storage and speed of execution.
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