Replies to post #280 on Cars, etc. (GEARHEAD)

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

My gawd, that is so redneck

I prefer the label "affluent hick", thank you. <g>

Why on earth do you own a dump truck?

Two reasons:

1. I'm trying to do a bit of dirt-moving work on the side because I like playing in the dirt.

2. It's just terribly handy around here.

See, I'm on 40 acres, and there are places on it (especially the ponds) where I need clay, and other places (lawn, etc) where I need topsoil.

Of course, the clay is where I need topsoil and the topsoil is where I need clay.

I bought a backhoe a couple of years ago and it's the most useful toy I've got, but it can only move dirt about 1 cubic yard at a time.

The dumptruck moves it about 10 yards at a time. Pretty handy for picking up gravel, too. The quarry is only a few miles from me and the dumptrucks charge $4 per ton for delivery. I can haul about 13 tons at a time with the dumptruck, so I save around $50 per load of gravel.

What did you pay for it?

Surprisingly little, considering I looked for 3 years before finding just the truck I wanted. $4750. Plus about $1k in tires and brake actuators, and I still need to spend about $500 rebuilding the tranny and replacing or repairing a couple of fuel injectors. It's got all my requirements:

1. Cheap, because it'll get abused.
2. Big diesel engine. (555 cu. in.)
3. Twin-screw. Necessary for pulling heavy loads up steep hills (like up from the lake) without ripping the axles out.
4. Just the right size for what I'll use it for.

Oh, and the backhoe was $32k when I bought it. It was 5 years old at the time. Those things are always expensive, but it was also the result of about a year-long search, and I just happened to find it practically in my back yard. The specifics on that one are:

1. 94 Case 580 SuperK (Super means turbo-diesel)
2. Full cab with heat, AC, and stereo
3. 4WD
4. Extendahoe. The "dipper" part of the backhoe extends out so you can dig a hole about 14 feet deep, though nobody needs to dig 14 feet deep. What's handy about it is you can reach a lot further so you don't have to move the machine as often.

I would've rather had a Cat 416, as I had been renting one for several months before I bought the Case, but the Cat is much more expensive. They wanted $55k for the one I was renting.

Here's the backhoe...