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QUESTION:Well, the time is rapidly drawing nigh when I'm going to have to
get a *small* "garden tractor" (read less than $4k) to whack the weeds
among the gopher holes. Trouble is these diminutive tractors never seem
to have a PTO and seldom have anything passing for a 3-point hitch. And I
can't find a company that sells a tractor, that also includes what I
consider useful accessories, like a small backhoe and/or post hole digger.
I'd settle for a d-i-y kit or even plans for a backhoe if I could find them,
but no such luck. Anyone got suggestions?
ANSWER: The little Kubotas look like models but they aren't. The cost of
hydraulics scales poorly for small machines - if anything some aspects are
more complicated and the price reflects that.
I bought an older mid-size Bobcat skid-steer 10 years ago for $3000 and if
anything it's worth more now. The standard bucket is a good pile mover and
is large enough to move small machinery (roughly 5' x 2' flat bottom). I
made an adapter for forklift forks and have used them to rip the earth for
digging with some success, in addition to moving pallets and other items too
large for the bucket. It lifts and carries a half ton with good control,
and a full ton with less control. It has aux hydraulics for a backhoe or
auger but I have not used that. It does tear up a lawn, it is more
suitable for rough-site work.
There's a fellow in Bellingham who sells a simple backhoe attachment on
Ebay
I'll agree with the judgement of Kubota; everything I've seen so far
with that name on it has been good stuff.
I don't know about that backhoe attachment on ebay though.. Skidsteers
are meant to lift more than push down, and if you've got some extra
counterweight you're going to be all day getting a hole started with
that thing; it's going to pick up the front wheels and you're going to
be spinning in back trying to work against the bucket, I think you'd
end up spending more time using the thing to push yourself out of your
ruts than digging with the bucket. Maybe you could put a frost tooth
on the back of the bucket to break the sod, but I'd not touch that
thing even then- picture how many times you're going to be pinwheeling
to dump the bucket by the time you've got 4' deep and you can see that
you're going to be getting stuck when in less than perfect conditions,
and it don't have the advantages of a real backhoe when you're stuck,
you can only push or pull in line with the machine.. I wouldn't have
it for two minutes.
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