Just finished two costly days of fun with a rented backhoe!

[Frank Trinkle]

OK.. so at 52, I've never been at the controls of a backhoe in my life, but the last two days I've been digging away and by the end of the weekend, I could probably get a job with one! ('course it helps that I'm already a helicopter pilot and know how to use two hands, two feet, twist, pull, push, and pray!)

Main purpose was digging up azalea roots in my overgrown yard (Wayyyy too many of them) and preparing an area for a pergola, and another for an outdoor shed.

Now the score....
BAD:
1. I destroyed 5 of my irrigation PVC lines while digging
2. I cut the TV cable line in my back yard (Not to worry, I have DirectTV)
3. I accidentally knocked of a good sized chunk of my brick wall that forms my terrace.
4. Destroyed my low-voltage pathway lights
5. Accidentally dug up a couple of tree spotlights
6. The tracks pretty much destroyed my lawn
7. Found two wasps nests and one yellowjacket nest - (They were upset!)

GOOD:
1. I got the azaleas out that I wanted
2. ummm..... That's it!

So.. a $430 rental for the weekend will probably only cost me a couple of grand to repair the damage.... BUT at least I now know how to manipulate a backhoe!! :D

[Mark Norman]

Might have been a little more cost effective to pay a professional but not nearly as much fun Eh?

TTIWWOP!!!

[David Christopher]

Frank, I hope you fly better than that....LOL

[Belinda Barfield]

Frank, what David said. LOL

And, folks, he did it in 95 degree heat and somewhere around 60% humidity. That's something right there!

[Phil Thien]

Next time, use the chopper. :p

[Scott T Smith]

Hey Frank,

The next time that you need some holes dug I'll let you operate my backhoe.... if you'll let me operate your helicopter! :D

Scott

[curtis rosche]

they make a magiccal thing called a truck and a chain. just yank the suckers out. or, get some containers of gun powder.

[Jim Becker]

I absolutely LOVE my little backhoe on the Kubota. Truly a useful tool and fun to use...especially since I learned not to "baby" it!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Frank,

My sympathies! I did fine with the Bobcat I rented but now the ditching machine was a different matter!

I was installing my sprinkler system and rented a ditching machine.....a ditchwitch. I stopped for lunch. My neighbor was painting his house and as I walked outside I said "Hi" to him. I walked to the other side of the house....started up the ditching machine and FORGOT TO ENGAGE THE TRANSMISSION BEFORE I LOWERED THE BLADE TO THE GROUND! Well the ground was hard and when the large size chain saw blade hit the hardpacked earth, it caused the machine to jump forward about 3'. ...where it encountered the chainlink fence that surrounds my backyard. Now, that blade started climbing the fence cutting the links as it went. This happened faster than I could release the kill handle on the control handle of the machine!

Chain link is cheap and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to replace it. PDAMHIKT.:o

[Frank Trinkle]

I must add that the LOML is not exactly in my corner at the moment! She asked me if I was going to have the same problems with all the woodworking machinery in my man cave! LOL

Primary lesson learned... DIY is NOT always cheaper, but way more fun!:eek:

[Mark Norman]

So Frank, Where is the pics of the carnage? and You with pvc glue all over?:D;)

[Cary Falk]

Frank,
Don't feel too bad it happens to all of us. I was trying to help my neighbor put in a brick patio under his deck so it was easier to get into the basement when it was muddy. Apparently it was still too muddy when we were working on it. I wasn't driving at the time it got stuck but it sure was fun up till the time that the rental company had to bring in a back hoe in to pull it out.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC00679.jpg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

they make a magiccal thing called a truck and a chain. just yank the suckers out. or, get some containers of gun powder.


Uh Curtis.....trucks and chains WILL NOT GET THE JOB DONE IN A LOT OF CASES! and the amount of gun powder required would require some special licenses and permits.

Check out this photo of this front end loader trying to remove the rootball of the english walnut tree in my backyard so we could put in my shop. IIRC the guy told me his frontend loader weighed 16,000 lbs.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=7189&d=1084240792

[Chuck Saunders]

Hey Frank,

The next time that you need some holes dug I'll let you operate my backhoe.... if you'll let me operate your helicopter! :D

Scott
Keep in mind Scott, Backhoes don't fall out of the sky when you mess up

[glenn bradley]

Primary lesson learned... DIY is NOT always cheaper, but way more fun!:eek:

I have definitely used that approach before; "No, I don't know how to run one, but I sure want to and this is my excuse."

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Well Frank, next time will be better!

We loaned the farms backhoe to a irrigation company to fix some underground pipeline this spring. Somehow the geniuses missed the fact that they dug through an empty 10" water pipe to put in our 8" line. Everything went well, until the neighbor used his well...

[Dan Mages]

We need pics!! :D

[Chuck Isaacson]

Keep in mind Scott, Backhoes don't fall out of the sky when you mess up

As some one who has survived a helicopter crash, let me just say amen to that!!!!

[John Schreiber]

I remember driving a little Bobcat at the same time as I was taking flying lessons. I couldn't get my feet to learn the new patterns and I made all kinds of mess.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

A Terramite , a Kubota or a 5000 pound full size?

[Frank Trinkle]

Kubota with a small blade as well as the bucket. Dug almost TOO well!

[Dave Anderson NH]

Remember two words Frank.

DIG SAFE 1-800.......:D

[John Fricke]

At least you missed the primary power feed to your work shop.

[Mac McQuinn]

I just spent $1500 for local sewer cleaning company to come in and dig out 12' of basement foundation, install new drainage tile, waterproof walls, install new gravel, jet out existing drains, back fill and more. All of the digging was done with small Kabota excavator. Neat machine and it was almost worth the money to just watch the very skilled driver maneuver around my house....almost:rolleyes:

Mac

[Stephen Tashiro]

How heavy does heavy equipment get before they won't rent it to you unless you have special credentials? Bulldozers?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

How heavy does heavy equipment get before they won't rent it to you unless you have special credentials? Bulldozers?


No, you could rent one of those. They usually come with a hefty minimun use fee, like $250/hour, and you have to use it for 100 hours. I guess that would probably keep the weekend warriors away.

[Jim Mattheiss]

In the Spring of '06 I redid the retaining wall in the front of our house. On MOTHER'S DAY 2006 we took the old wall down and moved the rubble into the back yard. I managed to get the Kubota B21 stuck as shown.

The good thing about a backhoe is that you can sometimes lift yourself out of peril with the hoe and the outriggers.

I used to deliver rental equipment and a local tow truck operator confided in me that he made good money on the weekends when homeowners would rent a loader with a york rake and get themselves into trouble. Having the rake takes away the hoe and the outriggers. . .

W/R/T to 1-800-dig-safe. Here in NJ it became NJ One Call. I was on the phone with the local DPW folks about my concerns about a sewer line markout on my property and I said I had called Dig-SAFE already. He say's you called who? Oh - I meant NJ One Call. . . I guess that makes me an old timer (at 43).

Jim

[Kevin Arceneaux]

They rented me a Bobcat with an auger attachment at work to put in about 30 signposts. It was a ball. Did not hit anything. Kept trying for the closed circuit TV lines.

You couldn't walk it out from underneath the porch?