An 8N with Loader and Backhoe????

lastcowboy32

Well-known Member
This is intriguing to me.

Is this actually functional, or mostly a curiosity?

Has anybody used a rig like this?

https://syracuse.craigslist.org/grd/d/ford-8n-backhoe/6502618607.html
 
I have a Sherman backhoe on a 641. The manual for the backhoe
lists mounting brackets for 9n,2n, and 8n tractors.
 

I'm curious; because what I want a loader for on our small farm is manure pile removal. We use a lot (I mean A LOT) of long hay/straw bedding. So the pile is really, really hard on a loader tractor, even with forks.

But... an inexpensive backhoe...maybe even if I welded some "forks" on the backhoe... I bet that would remove our manure pile much more easily, with the benefit of not packing the spreader with these great big, rolled up, six foot long, impenetrable rolls of material that you get with a loader.
 
I have a '52 8N with frontend loader and Pippen backhoe attachment.

Even with the hoe attachment, the front end was not meant to dig into or lift heavy materials. I use the front loader to 'push' dirt back in drainage ditches after line has been placed. Of course the tractor has a Sherman. Best money I think I spent when I bought it in 1989. $3,500. She has paid for herself many times over. I installed approx. 20,000LF of drain line on the farm.
 
You can dig a lot of holes with something like that......just not very fast. Gotta remember that it beats a shovel but is far short of a Ford 755a.

Although you can do some serious digging with the loader on a purpose built TLB (tractor/loader/backhoe) they really are intended to be used to move lose material. The hoe is the digging power.


Depends on what you need the hoe for. If it's just to play with lite work by all means get it. If you have serious work to do either hire it done or get decent sized equipment before you attack the job. The reason I sat hire the work done is that unless you are an experienced operator most likely you will spend far more doing it yourself than you will the other way.

Rick
 
When I was a teen my father bought a Wagner loader and a Sherman backhoe for our '51 8N. For some
ditching work they did what we needed but then the tractor was not available for our farming. The
backhoe was removed and sat behind the barn for years until I sold it after my father passed.
The loader we could mount and dismount as needed using a tripod and chainfall. I got good enough to get
the loader off in about 1/2 hour and my best time putting it on was about 3/4 hour. (The same loader is
currently mounted on my '52 8N. The '51 8N is just a pretty face in the barn)
Is this rig a needed tool or a wanted toy? Why I ask. In 1984 I rented a commercial backhoe/loader for
a week-end. $400. I was digging a trench 5'deep 400' long in clay for a water line from the city supply
to my future house. We played a bit. I let each of my 3 teen kids try their hand. 2 full days!
I asked the contractor who had set my septic tanks and field how long it would have taken him and how
much. He said, "4 hours and $400". WOW!
Over the years, I have longingly looked at similar rigs. Reality check said I had no real use for one
and I would get all kinds of requests to loan it out or do someone else's projects.
 
(quoted from post at 18:53:21 03/01/18) When I was a teen my father bought a Wagner loader and a Sherman backhoe for our '51 8N. For some
ditching work they did what we needed but then the tractor was not available for our farming. The
backhoe was removed and sat behind the barn for years until I sold it after my father passed.
The loader we could mount and dismount as needed using a tripod and chainfall. I got good enough to get
the loader off in about 1/2 hour and my best time putting it on was about 3/4 hour. (The same loader is
currently mounted on my '52 8N. The '51 8N is just a pretty face in the barn)
Is this rig a needed tool or a wanted toy? Why I ask. In 1984 I rented a commercial backhoe/loader for
a week-end. $400. I was digging a trench 5'deep 400' long in clay for a water line from the city supply
to my future house. We played a bit. I let each of my 3 teen kids try their hand. 2 full days!
I asked the contractor who had set my septic tanks and field how long it would have taken him and how
much. He said, "4 hours and $400". WOW!
Over the years, I have longingly looked at similar rigs. Reality check said I had no real use for one
and I would get all kinds of requests to loan it out or do someone else's projects.

I tell everyone who ask about mine 100 an hour plus fuel. Don't really care if they get mad.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 20:31:38 03/01/18)
I'm curious; because what I want a loader for on our small farm is manure pile removal. We use a lot (I mean A LOT) of long hay/straw bedding. So the pile is really, really hard on a loader tractor, even with forks.

But... an inexpensive backhoe...maybe even if I welded some "forks" on the backhoe... I bet that would remove our manure pile much more easily, with the benefit of not packing the spreader with these great big, rolled up, six foot long, impenetrable rolls of material that you get with a loader.

Maybe you should change the type of bedding you use. I've forked out a lot of calf pens to know what you are up against. You should look for a straw chopper for putting down the bedding. This is a machine you put straw bales in the top. It then chops the straw into shorter pieces and blows it out the side. These were used in dairy barns for laying out bedding for the cows to lay in during the winter.

Here's an example of one of these machines.

https://eauclaire.craigslist.org/grd/d/bedding-chopper/6507171719.html
 
That one looks like it's been rode hard! The bent cylinder rods is a dead giveaway,I think you can get a beefier model for just a little more money,my dad had a
John Deere with a backhoe in the late 50's that he used to put in a lot of septic systems and it was much sturdier than the Ford model.
 
(quoted from post at 10:53:30 03/01/18) This is intriguing to me.

Is this actually functional, or mostly a curiosity?

Has anybody used a rig like this?

https://syracuse.craigslist.org/grd/d/ford-8n-backhoe/6502618607.html

Thanks for the responses. There was a lot of good info in there about ease of setup and removal and such.

It wouldn't be a toy; but I wouldn't be commercially installing septics with it either.

Still comparing notes about my options here.

Thanks.
 

I know the limitations; but I also recently rebuilt my old 9N, so I'm familiar with this family of tractors. I guess that was the other "draw" for me. I feel comfortable knowing that, even if the engine blows... I'm maybe 800 to 1000 dollars and some time away from having it rebuilt.
 
The big thing with an old hoe like that is you have to work slow. I have a JCB 3CIII TLB. No way, no how is that hoe on the N going to measure up. That's not saying it can't do the work. Just that it's going to take more time. Some jobs it just isn't going to do like digging rocks that are 5 foot across out or farm fields. That's at the upper limits of my TLB. But trenching and stuff like that? Sure. Can be done. I remember guys plowing hundreds of acres with one of 2 tractors pulling 2 12 inch bottoms. No, they couldn't keep up with a tractor pulling 5 16 inch bottoms but they got the job done.

Rick
 
Rick-oldtanker, you're right about charging.
I dairy farm and also have a Case 480 TLB.
Very handy machine to have. Of course,
people know I have it, so I do some side
jobs and I charge $100/hr. Nobody complained
to my face yet...lol. Most are glad to get
the work done. Most understand that
equipment doesn't run free.
L. Fure, you must live near me? That's my
neighbor's straw chopper on Craigslist.

BJ-WI
 
(quoted from post at 03:52:19 03/03/18) Rick-oldtanker, you're right about charging.
I dairy farm and also have a Case 480 TLB.
Very handy machine to have. Of course,
people know I have it, so I do some side
jobs and I charge $100/hr. Nobody complained
to my face yet...lol. Most are glad to get
the work done. Most understand that
equipment doesn't run free.
L. Fure, you must live near me? That's my
neighbor's straw chopper on Craigslist.

BJ-WI

I'm about four hours from Cadott depending on which route I use to get there. I posted that add as an example of what a bedding chopper looked like.
 

Last Cowboy, what you need is a chain flail type spreader like the Starline. We had sheep and used straw and hay for bedding. The Starline chops those slabs up just as nice as can be, and after one good rain you can't see the manure any more. Mine is a fairly large one and it is for sale very reasonable.
 
(quoted from post at 10:35:55 03/03/18)
Last Cowboy, what you need is a chain flail type spreader like the Starline. We had sheep and used straw and hay for bedding. The Starline chops those slabs up just as nice as can be, and after one good rain you can't see the manure any more. Mine is a fairly large one and it is for sale very reasonable.

Hmmmm.... do you have a model number?

I may be in the market for a reasonably priced spreader. I'm in Central NY, though. It would be a trip to haul from NH, that's for sure.
 
(quoted from post at 14:51:02 03/05/18)
(quoted from post at 10:35:55 03/03/18)
Last Cowboy, what you need is a chain flail type spreader like the Starline. We had sheep and used straw and hay for bedding. The Starline chops those slabs up just as nice as can be, and after one good rain you can't see the manure any more. Mine is a fairly large one and it is for sale very reasonable.

Hmmmm.... do you have a model number?

I may be in the market for a reasonably priced spreader. I'm in Central NY, though. It would be a trip to haul from NH, that's for sure.

I will Look for a model number.
 
(quoted from post at 14:51:02 03/05/18)
(quoted from post at 10:35:55 03/03/18)
Last Cowboy, what you need is a chain flail type spreader like the Starline. We had sheep and used straw and hay for bedding. The Starline chops those slabs up just as nice as can be, and after one good rain you can't see the manure any more. Mine is a fairly large one and it is for sale very reasonable.

Hmmmm.... do you have a model number?

I may be in the market for a reasonably priced spreader. I'm in Central NY, though. It would be a trip to haul from NH, that's for sure.

I couldn't find a model number, but it is 12 ft long by 4'4" in diam.
 
(quoted from post at 15:38:15 03/08/18)
(quoted from post at 12:26:34 03/08/18) My private email is [email protected]

Maybe you could send a pic or two and a price?

Thanks

OK, I will take some pics tomorrow.

I didn't see an email...but I'm also guilty of missing them, as I go down through and delete all of the SPAM from... The Red Cross... wanting blood, all three of the colleges I went to...wanting donations... any place that I ever bought anything online from emailing about their latest offer...
 
(quoted from post at 11:35:51 03/12/18)
(quoted from post at 15:38:15 03/08/18)
(quoted from post at 12:26:34 03/08/18) My private email is [email protected]

Maybe you could send a pic or two and a price?

Thanks

OK, I will take some pics tomorrow.

I didn't see an email...but I'm also guilty of missing them, as I go down through and delete all of the SPAM from... The Red Cross... wanting blood, all three of the colleges I went to...wanting donations... any place that I ever bought anything online from emailing about their latest offer...

Cowboy, I emailed you some pics.
 

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