Just Joined... Looking for help with questions on buying a backhoe...

HI Everyone, its great to have found this forum... :)

I need to be schooled on this used Kubota B21 Backhoe loader I want to buy, the dealer says Kubota never really puts a year on their units, so he is guessing it's a 1999, is this true? I'll guess so not to have a model year left over sitting in the show room??

Anyway it has 1491 hours on it and I can have it sitting in my driveway for $14900 bottom line....  over all it looks to be in great shape... oil is leaking from the large thick flat plate under the machine just about between the rear tires, it looks like the oil leak is comming thru the threads on the small little bolts that hold on the cover, looks like a transmission cover? I come from many years of working on cars, so even tho I'm mechanically inclined I know nothing about these units... and the front loader bucket has a bent up leading vertical edge which is no big deal....

So do you think this machine is worth it? I know New England is the price gouging capital of the world, so I'm not sure if its worth looking out of state?

But most importantly does anybody know how strong this B21 Kubota backhoe works? will I have a problem digging with it and moving fairly large rocks? and I can't find the digging force of the back hoe, I did read on this forum someone said the Kubota L39 has a 5800 pound digging force, I think that was it, so I wonder what this B21 has for the digging force...

I've been looking all over here in New England at used backhoes and its all garbage, not worth even talking about, and the owners wonder why they can't sell them for the crazy prices they ask, they are in the paper every week.... :)  I

thanks for your help... Joe

 seems like a high price to me although I can be wrong, Bent buckets and oil leaking isn't a very good sign of being well kept by previous owner,, Where in New England are you? I happen to be on the CT/Ma state lines,, Had a young lady come over the other day, same questions basically as you have. SHe too, never ran or owned a machine before, In her case, where a backhoe is mandatory, I talked her into a M59 Kubota..

I live in Ansonia CT., thats New Haven area.....  Do you sell backhoes?  I'm willing to travel out pretty far to find a good running unit, but I need to find someone thats willing to ship it home for me at a decent price because the shipping is what off sets the good price not making it worth searching far.

I've been taking a lot of time when I'm looking over a backhoe, because its not like when I bring home cars and can work on them that are so much easier to deal with. I know once I get a unit home I can't do too much with it to fix things because everthing is heavy, plus I can't drive it to the garage, so I'm being very causious with what I'm buying taking a lot of time looking it over and making it run for a long time, this is how I found out some units especally this one 83 JD 410 I looked at, first it looked perfect and I really thought I was going to buy it, but after I made it run for a long while and drove it all around. I would have jumped off the bridge if I had bought it for $8500 and got home to find out it needed $6500 to repair the hydraulics, just in parts (long story).

....  and a few people seemed to get a little sad when I start pointing out major things wrong, like a backhoe arm was cracked just about all the way thru, and low engine oil pressure... backhoe arms with huge lond stress cracks near the bottom, the list is long with all the major things wrong with what I'm looking at... It getting to the point I feel like buying new...

I hear what you mean about the owner not taking care of the Kubota. but it did check out to be very good, and the dealer was not a scum bag, very up front, but I did notice the few oil filters on the Kubota had dirt on them making me think they may never have been changed and the unit has 1491 hours on it... plus with it being painted I didn't like that because being he couldn't tell me the year it might be pretty old, and I agree with you its too high.

 I am not a dealer but the owner of a Kubota TLB. The lady in question has never been near a machine in her life,, The locals where she lives, around Norwich CT, are trying to sell her the moon. She simply asked if she could come here inwhich, I took the time to show her everything I know about machines and backhoes in particular.. Even had her operate mine for a few minutes.,. For what her particular needs are, where her property is, and the unique situation in which she can only use that property, I suggested a brand new Kubota M59 model for her... Used machines today, cost within several hundred of brand new.. Interest rates are still fairly low, which means it is cheaper and easier to buy new than used that has no warranty and unless it was operated next door to you, you have no idea how it was run,.

That was good of you to help that Lady.... I would have done the same thing.... I think we are a dying bread....

I was going to ask if you have ever used the Kubota B21 backhoe like the one I'm looking at, then I just seen the TLB you have seems to be the same thing as ther B21, but I'm not sure if they are fitted with different size arms and buckets???

 What digging power do they have? the unit I'm looking at has on the front bucket TL 421, and the rear arm says B21 & BT 751... and I think its the front loader arms that have TL 2156 on them.... so I know nothing about this and guess this is what this B21 Kubota tractor was outfitted with....

I looked at the TLB on the web site, it looks like it can handle everything I need to do, but the B21 I was looking at looks smaller... but it does look like a nice machine that can handle large rocks and things like that in this New England heavy rocky rooted soil....  I was reading some forums and I seen the Kubota on the larger size backhoe have three hydraulic pumps giving it some nice digging power, I was not able to find out if the older B21 I'm looking at have the same set up? or all Kubota backhoe models have this 3 pump set up.....

I wish I knew if the B21 can handle very heavy large rocks in the loader bucket, because I can't really use it then for the entire job of building my new garage if it can't.....

Now I'm not the type to be doing dumb and dangerous things with any machine, so I'd always make sure I know the limits of any machine I use, thats why I'm very happy I found this forum..... But to give you an idea what I have is maybe 3 or 4 huge solid large rocks I can probably pick up and move around that will most likely sit in the loader bucket by touching only the front and back edge of the bucket because they are that big and heavy, then I have around 7 or 8 large heavy rocks that I can move one at a time, where each large heavy rock will fit all the way into the B21 loader bucket taking up all the room in the bucket, but they are very heavy and I worried if its too heavy for the B21? So I don't know if the B21 can handle moving these rocks around? So this is what I need to learn because I'd never try something very stupid like lifting over the weight limit, which is what I don't know because I'm so ignorant to what them large rocks would weigh??

These are the large left over rocks from the old garage building I tore down 20 years ago, it was a very old building and the foundation was built using rocks with no cement, it was falling...... so there is still a small partial wall thats still up, its holding back a little part of the soil because the old garage was built into a steep hillside, so you were able to walk out of the large walk-in attic in the back of the old garage building because the ground was up that high before I tore it down, the back of the old building where the attic floor was matched the 2nd floor elevation, and then the soil use to slope down fast to the 1st floor grade elevation when going around to the front of the old garage that was up, so a partial part of the back wall was left standing to this day to hold back the soil, its a small dry rock wall still standing (no cement was use) so its about 5 feet high and 25 feet long, and it has them few very large heavy rocks still built into the wall thats left over.....

So thats my main thing I'm worried about, I hate to spend all this money on a mini backhoe like the Kubota B21 and I can't move these rocks around, where a Case 380 can do like three of these large rocks at a time.... :) ....

Well anyway there is my long winded story on what I'm doing..... any help and info is always greatly appreciated, thank you.... Joe

 No I have never used the smaller Kubota TLB's. The 21 or new 26, the older 35 or new replacement 39, none of which I have operated. I did almost 30 years straight, in the winter seasons running Deere 710/510 models  a bunch of excavators, and untold hours with loaders, mostly 544 and 744's. I've moved some pretty substantial rocks with my 48, and caught them with the bucket and skidded them along... Knowing they were jsut too big for the loader specs,, skidding them along works actually quite well. If I know or think it beyond the 48's specs, I will try something like skidding, If this doesn't work, then find a bigger machine. This 48 has to last me until I find a financial way to replace it with the new 59. I don't see this happening any time soon. From what I am reading of your needs, I wouldn't even be looking at that 21,.. Way beyond it's capabilities. Look for something like my 48, which are nose diving in value because of the new 59 that came out. I think you can get a very nice 48 now in the higher 20's without too much problem. Or, get that well used Case 580 and get the job done much quicker, possibly selling the 580 right after your done with the job.

I was thinking the same thing like you say to push the larger rocks, I figured to build a sled and drag them over to a pit....

I'm trying to sell my self on the small B21... but your right, I know I need a larger backhoe.... then again this project is getting very hard to do because as I vision it I keep finding road blocks, because my yard is small once I have my foundation wall up it will be close to a stone wall, and this is where I'll need to drive the backhoe down out of the way when I come out from backfilling the back garage wall, so a large backhoe may not fit between the stone wall and my new slab wall, (no other way out) so I should look for a unit between the small B21 and a large Case.... I think Kubota makes a nice one thats strong....

I figured its a lot of work to be pulling around large rocks on a sled, but at least I can do the job, then what I'm worried about is when I'm digging down the 48 inches to pour my footings if I come across a large rock the little B21 backhoe bucket can't grab hold of or even lift it, I might be able to dig a hole next to it to roll it out of the way, but then maybe I won't be able to do that... so why take a chance spending all that money...

I did find a nice large 1988 Ford 555B backhoe, he was asking 13K.. it needed tires all around and three pistons were leaking pretty bad, and a ridged hydraulic line under it was leaking that looked like it just needed to be tightened... so I'll guess tires would have been maybe $2500 to $3000? and $600 for each piston... so I'd be into this machine for around $18000. I think that may have been an okay price, but now I see its too big for me unless I figure out another way to back fill my back garage wall, and look into where the Ford dealers are because someone told me there are no Ford dealers where I am and you have to travel far away to get parts, unless you order them on line if you don't need to talk to someone in person....

I'm in no hurry, I have a feeling this economy will not get get better in a long while, so I need to find a unit that I can resell for a good price so I can move it.... thanks for your help... Joe

 You could also look for a small trackhoe/mini-ex to do your digging work, then sell it and get a tractor that fits your finished property. Compact TLB's are not really struggling with the economey right now, they've not come down at all. Mini-Ex's are much more plentiful as housing and construction are probably the hardest hit.