newer backhoe

I have a older 580K case. 2wd extendahoe. plow snow, dig some stumps etc.

Somebody here local has a 580SK 4wd, 4 in 1 bucket, xtra straight bucket, new rubber, mechanical thumb,cab w/ door missing. new filters in the box for around 19G,.
Thinking about selling mine and upgrading.

The SK was one of the best machines Case made, the SK was a very popular machine with owner drivers, I looked after lots of them here in London UK doing utility work usually for the gas, water and electrical supplies companies digging up the roads and the 580SK stood up very well using breakers and digging the trenches, no fancy computers, good machine to road as backhoes go, shift gears on the move, on the 4x4 the pivots on the front axle could be an issue should the grease be neglected so have a look at the pivots (king pins), a 580SK 4x4 going right is nearly as good as a tracked machine with the front bucket, anyone that had one that I knew always praised them so I can say no more than that.
AJ

I agree with AJ in them being good,, but here both the "K" and "SK" was under powered compared to a "SE" or "L" or later units,, I much prefer a 580B/580C/580D or 580E even compared to a model "K" here in our oil and gas fields the "K" units held up fine just lacked the normal POWER we always had from CASE units, you are used to what you have and have not used any other model so I would say you will be 100% happy with the upgrade to the "SK" you cant go wrong with the number backhoe in the world, CASE gained that place with the introduction of the Three-ten/three-twenty in 1956 and have never lost sales/ and resale value since,, we sold thousands of them new from 1966 through 1976, a 4-in-one bucket is a handy thing to have as well

What do you mean by more power ? My old 580 ck will spin tires when loading from a pile do you mean more hydraulic force when digging ?

i always thought the super l was the best one

No what I mean is when they released the "K" it was a detuned model and had less power all around, my 580CK I use rd gear for most front loader apps,, like you say plenty of torque/power,, and of course I have two lower gears for less speed and even more power,, a "K" has the same option there, so yes you can s"spin the tires easy" the "K's" are just not as responsive as we was used to,, from the E and all models before it. I guess it was just a let down for me and thousands of others, still a very tough and durable machine in its own right,, they just fell short in places. I have ran ever model of Case TLBs made starting in 1956 through the current offering made today,, the "K" is my least liked model,, one is still ahead of our 580CK as they are 40 plus years ahead, as each new model was built to be a step up from the previous,, like the 580B was over the 580CK,, these two models main difference was not in engine HP but in their backhoe designs,, the "B" introduced the over-center backhoe boom tot he world,, roading one compared to a 580CK is night and day difference, the 580C used the same backhoe but introduced a unit frame in this sized machine, like the big brother the 680 had done years before along with more power all around,, my point to all this is the "K" while it gave us again a even more updated backhoe boom it fell short on many levels of production, as running one when compared to the 580SE it replaced it acted sluggish in loading/roading ect,, if you had run the 580E then climbed in a 580K you would know what I mean,, much easier to feel the difference than to explain it, while the "K" was still the top of the TLB world when introduced compared to any other brand it was a bit short for those of us used to a big step up,, it fell a bit short there compared to the model it replaced. hope that explains it a bit,, being able to spin the tires means almost nothing to what I am saying as every one CASE made has that ability but it has little to do with all around Performance I am speaking of as spinning tires is not productive