Most useful "big machine"?

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out what would be the single most useful "big machine" type purchase would be for my situation i.e. excavator, skid steer, etc. It would have to be used, I'm sure, unless like a mini excavator that seem fairly inexpensive new but maybe sketchy.

My situation: It's just me, a mid-40s woman, on 5 hilly and rocky acres in Missouri. Currently in a trailer, but wanting to build a small house or cabin or something (still considering options), and also definitely need to dig out a root cellar / storm shelter. Lots of heavy personal items to move around, lots of downed trees to clear out & potentially use but definitely will need moved, etc.

Basically I'm in the beginning stages and still don't have much direction...if I had my druthers, I'd live in a cave or dig tunnels and become an official mole person, haha!

Sorry if this is too vague or the wrong spot. I'm just a bit adrift and this seemed like as good a place as any to start.

Thanks in advance! Even if you tell me to eff off.

Welcome to the forum.

I am sorry that I don't know much about heavy equipment.

We have a tractor and dear hubby dreams of owning something big.

What are your dreams for the next step on your 5 acres?  Is it to build a cabin or build a road?

Why do you dream of owning a big machine?

Sometimes its best to earn the money and hire a machine and operator.
They are usually much faster.
I used one recently and was not happy with the bloke, he charged my the coffee drinking time!!
But that is unusual.
I have been trying to rebuilt a bobcat slowly and was offered an excavator for a fair purchase price.
I can use it as a crane, to shift benches, logs etc, post hole borer, digger and slow spreader.
I will get a bobcat for the longer jobs.

I am with John, hire out the work. Payments, depreciation are alligators for most.

I am in agreement with John D … but from a different angle.  Some large pieces of machinery have a reputation for people being seriously injured on them. While you can learn to operate machinery … both my wife and I did; it can be expensive and dangerous. It is not the fault of the machinery, …just the inexperience of the user. In my area Bobcats have done some amazing damage in barns in the hands of the wrong person.  I have encountered an experienced person who smashed his foot with a Bobcat by catching it between a steel post and the machine.  Backhoes are known for flipping because the user forgets to use the safety equipment.   I had an uncle have a bulldozer roll on him because he didn’t watch the Incline of a muddy hill in relation to the tracks.   Finally, if one breaks down, how will you get it repaired…and what will be the cost?

I own a small tractor with a front end loader.  It has come in handy. But I seriously doubt if the money I put into it is justified.

John F Dean wrote:......
I own a small tractor with a front end loader.  It has come in handy. But I seriously doubt if the money I put into it is justified.

I will agree with many others here regarding really large equipment, what they tend to be used for, and the skill that typically is needed to use them wisely, safely, and efficiently.  That said, like many, we have a tractor....well, not technically true....we have 3 tractors.  It appeals to my sentiment that I have access to at least two of everything that I consider important or useful.   All are within that 20 - 35 horsepower range and they are a good substitute for a lot of what skidsteers and excavators can do if you have time and patience.   But again, some work is best done with that larger equipment and hiring it out may be the best course of action.

John F D....I must admit that I feel the money spent on tractors is the best money I've spent outside of the homestead.  Interestingly, even as the homestead will appreciate due to the size and location, the house itself is probably not worth $20k....those were the words of the real estate agent when we purchased and I think it's gone downhill from there!  Two of the tractors were bought new and were not cheap, but each year that goes by with minimal maintenance and continued operation, I feel the cost-per-year gets ever more justified.  If you compare your tractor in terms of both what it *can* do as well as what it *has* done for you along with the resale you could get for it to your car, your computer(s) and other equipment, you might be surprised at how justifiable it is.  And remember how we discussed the savings in doctor's bills due to reduced wear and tear on your body?  Since my wife uses these tractors as much if not more across the year than I do, it's not just a benefit to me alone.   The third tractor, a small used grey-market Yanmar, has a 3-speed PTO that allows one to run certain equipment at higher speed without maxing out the rpm on the engine....a tricky balance between fuel use, engine wear, and equipment operation to be sure, but great to have the option.  Finally, although you noted doubting if the money spent was justifiable, was not the education received on using, modifying, and maintaining the machine some sort of vague 'financial kick-back' that was unanticipated?  It's taken a while for me to realize how much I've learned about 'the way things work' just out of necessity of getting familiar with and fixing the equipment and appliances on the property.  

Back to OP:  If you end up getting a tractor and are on hilly country, get something with wider wheel spacing for stability.  Familiarity with front loaders and attachments are just something you learn on the job with use.  Good luck!

to answer your question I guess it depends what your wanting and needing to do.Are you thinking of new equipment or previously owned. The old tractors like ford 8N , 2000, 3000, 4000 series can do a lot of work, have all kinds of 3 point attachments and were built to be very durable and last a long time if cared for and are much lest costly used than a new machine. A 25 hp diesel 4wd tractor with 3 point hitch can be very useful for homesteading. but be mindful that a loader with bucket on many farming tractors are not designed for heavy digging of rocks and dirt.  A 5 to 8 ton mini excavator with an angle able  plow blade and hydraulic thumb can be invaluable for digging  building, road making, lifting and has a fairly low center of gravity and is much less likely of getting in trouble in hilly and uneven terrain compared to a loader/backhoe.
If money were no object the ideal lineup for building a homestead from undeveloped hilly land for me anyway would be a tractor like I described, a mini excavator with blade and thumb and a tracked skid steer and maybe an old dump truck for moving materials around the property.

I am not sure that "big" machines are necessarily on homesteads now. At one time I would have believed that, but now they make very capable smaller machines. A machines I have, and think it fits better than a tractor is a tracked mini-skid-steer. I am not sure where the cut-off is. Probably 5-10 acres, as any more than that and a homesteader would want a tractor since they travel faster, but how capable this little machine is.

It picks 800 pounds, yet fits through gates and standard doorways, it turns on a dime with counter-rotation, has plenty of traction, lifts, hauls and digs.  It gets a lot done, not because it is big, but because it is fast. Standing up on it to operate it, you see ALL of the bucket so no surprises, you see what its doing instantly and can fix it immediately if you are not getting what you want. Need to move something, just step off it and do it. It also has some 1800 different attachments for it, from mowers to grapples, to backhoes to graders. The machines is also stupid-simple in design and cheap to fix with parts found anywhere for it. And brand new it is $7000. BRAND NEW!

It's not a tractor, but tractors now start at $18,000... bare tractor. A homesteader for the same price could buy this machine and a whole lot of attachments and be able to do more than a tractor for the same price. They really are changing the homestead tractor market because of that.

Do you have experience operating any type of equipment?
Perhaps renting a few types for tasks to see what is most useful for you.

I couldn’t imagine life at my rural property without my 763 bobcat skid steer.
The property is dual use, small self storage business at one end couple houses and my “homesteading activities“ on the other end.
The bobcat was originally bought for snow removal but quickly became indispensable for gravel road repair and modifications.
Attachments are very expensive for the skid steer in relation to three point hitch type attachments.
I’ve built stormwater retention ponds, graded building sites, use postal auger for 600+ feet of chain-link fencing and for planting holes for grapes.
Not great for digging a hole when I plant a  tree. Hole ends up being 5 foot wide, but at least I don’t have to dig it by hand.
For developing raw property, I agree with the poster that recommended an excavator with an angle blade. If you go that route, recommend you get an experienced operator to show you the tricks of the trade for getting the most out of a machine like that. Requires a lot of hand eye coordination.
Equipment is a force multiplier; all day tasks are condensed into an hour that doesn’t result in a sore back.
Keep us posted on your progress.

I bought an old (1970s) backhoe for my property on advice from this forum and I love it but (and I think it’s a big but) I get a kick out of working on these things. I also am very bad at planning in advance to know how long to rent an excavator, and know myself- if I rent it for a day I will work too late on that day and risk the machine or myself when I get too tired and haven’t finished the task I rented it for. Owning mine is much more relaxing for me, even if it’s been sitting with a seized transmission for the last 6 months.

If you’re thinking of buying an old big machine, I’d recommend watching some Farmcraft 101 on YouTube, and maybe a little bit of Diesel Creek on YouTube to see if working on it sounds like fun rather than like an obligation, because obligation is poison.

If you don’t think you’d get a kick out of working on it, I’m gonna strongly agree with everyone else- do not buy one of these new, do not buy a cheap mini backhoe from alibaba for $4995, do not buy an old one and hope/pray/expect that nothing will go wrong. Lease what you feel comfortable operating, hire out what you don’t.

I have the cutest little tractor and a bunch of attachments. It's a 4x4 18hp diesel and looks like a beefy riding lawn mower. My neighbour has a much bigger tractor plus an old excavator. His machines are far more powerful and capable than mine, but 95% of the time that there is a job to do, it's my little tractor that saves the day. I can get into small spaces, steer within millimeters of obstacles and haul over one ton in my dumping trailer. I can't dig a pond, but that's not something you do more than once or twice. I lifted the neighbour's 8x12ft shed with my rear forks and moved it perfectly into its desired position, something his big tractor could never do. In the winter, I have a front-mount snowblower for clearing our private road.

Every machine is a compromise of some sort.  

A 25 hp tractor with bucket and grapple would be handy for your area. You can use the power take-off to run a chipper for all the brush to turn into mulch and compost. That said, storage is an issue and it’s usually better starting out to hire the initial clearing/ road building with professionals running heavy equipment. A small tractor is very helpful if you own acres, as it can perform many necessary tasks efficiently.

I started with a small used Cub Cadet tractor with bucket.
There were a few repairs necessary over the first couple years and it did a good job.
And we realized it wasn't big enough for many of our needs.

BUT, a couple summers with it gave me time to do several things:
 1) learn how to use a tractor and front end loader;
 2) understand how such a machine feels underneath you;
 3) what it can do, what it can't do, what it SHOULDN'T do;
 4) WHERE i could use it.

I upgraded to a New Holland 35HP diesel compact tractor and here's why:
 1) it was available in town and could be serviced locally;
 2) it had enough power to do at least 80% of what I needed to do;
 3) it fit between all the trees on the property, so I didn't have to remove any more trees for property access;
 4) it had a standard front quick attach mounting system for a variety of tools (several added over its lifetime, so far);
 5) it had PTO;
 6) it was just off a 1 yr lease at a nursery. They moved mulch and pallets of plants. The wear and tear amounted to some paint chips missing;
 7) purchase price was less than 1/2 of the estimate for the gravel driveway I wanted to add;
  My wife said I could get it!!

Attachments:
 - Front End Loader
 - Front Pallet Forks
 - Front Brush Grapple
 - Rear Brush Chipper - sold 'cuz without hydraulic feed it wouldn't chip evergreens
 - need to add Rear Grader Blade or York Rake

I do wish I could justify an excavator.
But I can rent one locally for under $1k per weekend - and that's delivered within 50 miles.
I don't think that all my neighbors combined could come up with enough projects to warrant the price of a good used mini-ex.
And don't bother with a backhoe attachment for the compact tractor.  The excavator rental will be cheaper, do more work in less time and
 won't hang off the back end of your tractor making it 15 feet longer (remember that part about where you can use it?).

And don't forget to factor in the weight of the machine if you think you might want to move it.

In a short time, you'll also realize you won't get as much seat time as you expect - after your Dad finds out how much fun it is to operate!

My two cents worth.

Good luck.

Randy Butler wrote:I don't think that all my neighbors combined could come up with enough projects to warrant the price of a good used mini-ex.

I wonder how easy it would be to pay for it by working casually as a part-time excavator around your county. I haven't done any real research, but it's a thing I've thought about when trying to justify buying one. :-)

If I wasn't already retired and I had interest in a side income, I would agree.

But it took me a couple years experience on the small tractor, and another couple to be really comfortable on the current one.
Not to say there haven't been a few times that the butt cheeks clenched hard as the rear wheels came off the ground
If you haven't done that yet, you will - and it will be memorable!

But as anyone who is retired knows, there seem to be fewer hours in the day and the "to-do" list never gets any shorter!

If disposable income was not a concern, yup, a small excavator would definitely be my next "toy."

Whatever you get, have fun with it!