Posted by MeAnthony on June 25, 2012 at 15:33:23 from (204.106.253.41):
Ok, so here's my problem: I've got to do a bunch of work at my mom's house, big old barn from 1880's finally fell down several years ago. She's certain she can smell the rot and mold from the house and that she's gonna get sick from it. At the very least, it's a huge mess and I'd like to make it go away simply on that basis for her. My plan would be to dig a hole, burn it a little at a time, bury the trash when done. Couple things I'd like to save. Like the track than ran down the center of the roof, with the little trolley for bringing in the hay. Don't recall ever seeing the big hooks, but the track and trolley are still there. I'm sure there are specific names for these but I don't know them.
She also has a small shed by her garden, about 200' from the house, would be very helpful for her if I could run water and electric out there for her. Right now she's carrying water from the house to the garden, because the hydrant is buried in the now collapsed barn.
Additionally, my neighbor lady has some minor leakage from her drain field. She got the house from her dad; he told her that whoever put in the drain field didn't put enough peastone over the lines, that it needs to have the dirt removed and more stone put down, etc.
Neither my mom nor my neighbor is what you'd call wealthy. Mom is in her late 60's, retired, minor health issues, fixed income, etc. My neighbor is a single mom, two kids, substitute teacher and obviously won't be teaching for a few months. It does look like she'll be able to pick up some part time work, but I'm guessing that'll not do much other than keep the cupboards from being bare. Simply put, neither can afford to hire someone to do their work.
As for me, I work 50 hours a week, single dad, two younger kids of my own to take care of at home, spare time during the week if scarce. So I can only help on weekends, and fully expect each project to take more than one weekend. I'm guessing that renting a backhoe several times to finish both of these would cost nearly as much as buying an old but functional backhoe. I don't need something pretty, just functional and dependable. Although I'm sure dependability is inversely proportional to price. I can deal with a few leaks, sloppy joints, etc. for this.
Now that I've hopefully explained my need for an old backhoe, here are my questions:
Are the tractors with add-on backhoes durable enough for this kind of work? I found an IH 300U with a Henry backhoe(about 4 1/2 hours away from me, in OH) for $2500/BO. Seems like a reasonable price, but will it perform well for this kind of work? I know nothing about Henry backhoes. Pretty sure I don't want to try hanging a 3-pt backhoe on my 9N though.
Is it reasonable to think that I can find a late '70s or early '80s Ford or Massey Ferguson, still operable, for $2500 - $3000? I'm using these numbers because I would have to sell my IH Lo-Boy 154 to pull this off anyway. It's a nice tractor, but I don't really need it, and that's what they seem to be going for in my area(south central Michigan). From what I've seen, John Deere, and most Case, units are definitely out of my reach. Although I did find a Case 580B open station on EBay, only a couple days left, price was around $1100. But that dude's in southeast PA, about 10 hours away from me.
Bottom line is, I'd really like to help my mom and neighbor out. If I have to sell or trade the Lo-Boy to do it, so be it. Is this a feasible plan? Or am I grasping at shadows? Anyone have better ideas or suggestions?
Sorry for the long-winded post, opinions and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
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