In article ,
Eric R Snow wrote:

I know this is stupid.

A much better use of your time and money would be fixing up an older
backhoe, trackhoe or excavator. You know this is stupid, so act on that
knowledge, put the plans up for sale, recoup what you can, and count
your losses before you waste more money and time making an undersized,
underpowered, undercapable machine. If you "only have a little digging
to do" you'll be far better off (money and timewise) to hire it done, or
get out a shovel and start digging. If you have enough digging to do
that you need a backhoe of your own to do it, this isn't it.

I'd guess that if you advertised in a local paper that you could
probably find two or three similar things (caddigger is another name of
a similar thing) which dissapointed users have given up hope of selling,
that you could get cheap. Or you might find some by calling junkyards,
where I suspect they end up with some regularity.

If you just want a project, there are more useful (or fun) projects.

I own a 50HP 13-foot hoe. Most days it's just barely big enough, and
some days it's too small. I give thanks daily that I never found a
"small" backhoe at a remotely affordable price when I went looking for
one. I've also wished that I had found a 15 foot hoe instead of this
one, but I generally find a way to get the job done with it.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by