Early 70s Ford 4500 Backhoe

Good afternoon.

I'm in the process of looking for my first backhoe. I found an old 4500 diesel for sale, but I wonder if I should stay clear of it or not. What concerns me is the fact that the hour meter no longer works. It says 3910, but who knows when that went out... 1985?? Who knows. They're asking 8,000 for it. I have no idea if this is a good deal or not. I see other ford backhoes over 12k, but those are the 555 model.

To me, it doesn't look that bad in shape for a tractor that's almost 50 years old. It does have a cab, and the seller claims it doesn't need any work.

What is a fair price for something like this? what should I look for?

A little bit about myself. I just bought some land, and I need clear out about 2 acres of land so I can build. I just bought a small 33hp Kubota and was planning of buying the hoe attachment for it, but then I started thinking maybe I could buy an older backhoe for close to the same price as the hoe attachment.

Thanks.

He is asking but what will he take? If indecent shape it will bury the Kubota with hoe attachment.

You might want to consider renting an excavator to do the clearing. They are so much faster to work with.

Mark

He didn't give me an answer on the phone. I guess I wouldn't either if someone hasn't looked at it yet. He lowered the price from 9k to 8k last week.

Condition is far more important than price. A decent 4500 will be a digging, loading fool. A worn out or neglected one will bleed you dry.

As others have said a 4500 is a 'digger'. Mine will out dig newer, larger Fords I have operated but it comes at a "price". All that power comes from higher pressure hydraulics and
as such the arms, of both the loader and hoe are subject to cracks. Mine has patches all over. Seems they solved it by just lowering the pressure (and the ability to dig). What
hoe; (755, 754, or 753 I think are the choices). Also Power Shift or manual transmission?

What should I look for to see if it was neglected or not? Looking at the pictures the body looks fine for the age. From what I could see the bucket doesn't look beat to hell like some I have seen. Obviously I need to look for cracks or to see if there was any repair work done to the loader and hoe.

I'm green when it come to tractors.. I wrench on cars, trucks, boats, ATVs and motorcycles so I think I could fix any minor problems I could run into.

Thanks

Power reversing transmission needs to engage crisply and drive well in both directions when at operating temperature. Be skeptical of a tractor with
dirty or cream colored oils, especially in the engine or transmission. Black engine oil is to be expected of course.
4500's most commonly have the 755 hoe.

Additional condition items to look at. Check the steering, get a full bucket of material and turn from lock to lock while moving at slow speed. Raise front wheels off the ground with loader bucket and grab front tires at top and bottom and try to shake. Many old 4500's have worn out kingpins and bushings and are difficult to steer. The power steering system is hidden inside the front bolster and is difficult to work on.
Does it have a differential lock on rear axle? Small pedal under your right heel. Locks rear wheels together to prevent one wheel from digging a hole while the other doesn't turn.

They were good machines and the tractors
themselves are pretty simple. But they are
pretty long in tooth now. Think long and
hard about whether you want to delve in to
such an old machine that has complex
hydraulic systems for which some parts are
no longer available and the parts that Are
available are very expensive - to say
nothing of possible heavy welding and
machine shop work.
I suggest you get a couple of bids from
local contractors that have large tracked
excavators. What they can do in a few hours
will amaze you.
I had a guy come in with a tracked
excavator and clear around a small swamp
that was completely over grown with brush
and small and midsized trees.
He also brought a big tracked skidsteer
with a grapple on the bucket and another
guy to run that.
In about 4 hours they had the place
completely cleared and all the trees,
stumps and brush piled into 2 huge piles
which I left till the next year and burned.
He also tore down an old metal shed that
was full of junk, dug a hole and buried it
all and put in an 8" plastic culvert across
a low spot (I had the culvert) and dug 3
truckloads of dirt from a bank about 500'
away on my property and filled over the
culvert.
He said the cost would be $1000 if I paid
by check or $800 if by cash.
I paid by cash.
Believe me, I would love to have an old
Ford TLB to mess around with. But some
things are better off left to the big boys
if you want to get them DONE.

(quoted from post at 08:57:14 12/12/20)
I suggest you get a couple of bids from
local contractors that have large tracked
excavators. What they can do in a few hours
will amaze you.
I had a guy come in with a tracked
excavator and clear around a small swamp
that was completely over grown with brush
and small and midsized trees.
He also brought a big tracked skidsteer
with a grapple on the bucket and another
guy to run that.
In about 4 hours they had the place
completely cleared and all the trees,
stumps and brush piled into 2 huge piles
which I left till the next year and burned.
He also tore down an old metal shed that
was full of junk, dug a hole and buried it
all and put in an 8" plastic culvert across
a low spot (I had the culvert) and dug 3
truckloads of dirt from a bank about 500'
away on my property and filled over the
culvert.
He said the cost would be $1000 if I paid
by check or $800 if by cash.
I paid by cash.
Believe me, I would love to have an old
Ford TLB to mess around with. But some
things are better off left to the big boys
if you want to get them DONE.

Click to expand...

I was quoted at least 10k starting to cut and clear the build site (2 acres). So I pretty much thought to myself why not do it myself and if everything goes smooth it paid for my toy that I can use for future projects...