On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 18:54:14 GMT, Ecnerwal
wrote:

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.
Thanks to everyone so far for the replies. All the opinions are
valuable and what I was looking for. I have spent a lot of time
looking for a backhoe to fit on the 9N but all have been so overpriced
that it was laughable. I have also looked at buying a small hoe.
Haven't found one yet that I liked for the price. I could buy a big
machine but I don't want one. I guess it all depends on the final use.
And, I like to build things. No matter what I build it seems like
there is always a used one that I could buy cheaper and fix than to
spend time making my own.
ERS