infernozx
Member Extrodinare
- Joined
- May 21, 2020
- Member Number
- 1081
- Messages
- 32
We bought a house last year, its a bit of a fixer upeer. 1992 build, that is well done, but hasn't been updated. We live in an area now that easily supports 1-1.2 million dollar houses, and we purchased at around $600k, so it seemd like a decent deal. We've done a couple of whole house reno's before, and so this one seemed like a decent one to work on.
That's the preamble.
Since moving in, weve discovered that there's 3 big projects we would like to address outside the house.
1) The driveway is really small. We live on the side of the hill, and have a retaining wall to keep the high-side neighbours house in his land. Out low side doesnt have a wall, and as such is a steep hill that goes down to the neighbours driveway. We loose about 40ft of useable space here because of the slope. Our current driveway is 3 car at best. We figure we can build out a wall, re-grade, and get another 3-4 car spots.
2) The retaining wall between us and the road, is falling down. It was improperly built, and sagged on day one. It's build of giant 1300lb concrete blocks, that have lifting wire on them. We need to pull them out, fix the base, and put them back.
3) We have 1/4 acre of yard, that's steep. Really steep. Think vinyard steep. A heavy rain can cause some errosion. It has NEVER been developed. It wasn't given any kind of path, switchback, or even seeded. So it's an absolute mess.
Originally we were going to rent machines. I figured 2-3 days with a $300/day rental for the driveway project. 2-3 days at $400/day for the retaining wall, and then maybe 10 days+ of a $400/day machine for the back yard.
That got me thinking... I wonder if I could get a machine, hold it for 2-3 years while working through these projects, and then sell it on without losing more then say $5000 in maint/depreciation..
Sounds great right? Sure, but I've never owned a diesel engine, let alone a pice of equipment.
Now I'm pretty handy with fixes. I have a mill/lathe, can fix most circuit boards I find broken, I can tear down and fix a cherry picker/hydraulic jack. So There's really nothing fixing wise that I consider off limits. (did my parents AC yesterday which was neat.) I can weld, cut, and fab. Not bragging, just trying to get across that most repairs and mods don't really scare me.
So we've been looking around locally, and what I'd really like is something that will lift my 1300lbs blocks, but also not be too big that I can't move it on my trailer in a pinch. (im not moving it 100 or 200 miles, just maybe 10 min down the road).
The trailer is 7500lbs max, and I think its good for a 6000lbs max load on it. I would be ok to cheat that up a tiny bit just to get the machine down to my brothers/parents house... If the machine is more then a few min away, I'd be ok paying to get it delivered, but that kind of factors into the cost.
We've found a few things fairly locally. A JD400. It's $15000, and looks rough and old. It's about an hour away. Also new tires. But I think the resale would be shit.
THere's a Case 580 SuperK ExtendaHoe, $19,900 That one is really promising looking. It's a 1994, and has new tires as well. I'm concerned that It's too big. I don't have much space to store something like that. I can't trailer it, but I could just drive it down the road. It looks pretty clean. This resale seems like it would be easier?
The third one is a Bobcat 329. It's $25,000, which seems cheap for a miniex, it looks pretty clean, but I'm concerned that it won't be as versitile as I'm looking for. It's about an hour away too, and is probably about as big as I'd want to trailer home. Resale on this seems like it would be ok?
The fourth would be a hell of a drive. 8 hours each way, and would be for a Hitachi EX12. It runs but has a bad water pump or rad. Seems like an easy fix, unless Im missing something. I feel like this machine might be a bit too small though.
So irate4x4. Am I nuts? Do I just rent and suck it up? Is the backhoe a better all round machine then the mini? What's more reliable. If I kill something expensive before selling on, my whole plan goes to shit. I'd honestly prefer to get something cheap like $3500, and that way it's less risk in the pot, if it dies, its cheap to write off. Can a backhoe be used in steep terrain? can I build myself a route down into the steep yard as I go?
oh, and I live in the suburbs, not on a farm.. otherwise I'd probably already have one.
That's the preamble.
Since moving in, weve discovered that there's 3 big projects we would like to address outside the house.
1) The driveway is really small. We live on the side of the hill, and have a retaining wall to keep the high-side neighbours house in his land. Out low side doesnt have a wall, and as such is a steep hill that goes down to the neighbours driveway. We loose about 40ft of useable space here because of the slope. Our current driveway is 3 car at best. We figure we can build out a wall, re-grade, and get another 3-4 car spots.
2) The retaining wall between us and the road, is falling down. It was improperly built, and sagged on day one. It's build of giant 1300lb concrete blocks, that have lifting wire on them. We need to pull them out, fix the base, and put them back.
3) We have 1/4 acre of yard, that's steep. Really steep. Think vinyard steep. A heavy rain can cause some errosion. It has NEVER been developed. It wasn't given any kind of path, switchback, or even seeded. So it's an absolute mess.
Originally we were going to rent machines. I figured 2-3 days with a $300/day rental for the driveway project. 2-3 days at $400/day for the retaining wall, and then maybe 10 days+ of a $400/day machine for the back yard.
That got me thinking... I wonder if I could get a machine, hold it for 2-3 years while working through these projects, and then sell it on without losing more then say $5000 in maint/depreciation..
Sounds great right? Sure, but I've never owned a diesel engine, let alone a pice of equipment.
Now I'm pretty handy with fixes. I have a mill/lathe, can fix most circuit boards I find broken, I can tear down and fix a cherry picker/hydraulic jack. So There's really nothing fixing wise that I consider off limits. (did my parents AC yesterday which was neat.) I can weld, cut, and fab. Not bragging, just trying to get across that most repairs and mods don't really scare me.
So we've been looking around locally, and what I'd really like is something that will lift my 1300lbs blocks, but also not be too big that I can't move it on my trailer in a pinch. (im not moving it 100 or 200 miles, just maybe 10 min down the road).
The trailer is 7500lbs max, and I think its good for a 6000lbs max load on it. I would be ok to cheat that up a tiny bit just to get the machine down to my brothers/parents house... If the machine is more then a few min away, I'd be ok paying to get it delivered, but that kind of factors into the cost.
We've found a few things fairly locally. A JD400. It's $15000, and looks rough and old. It's about an hour away. Also new tires. But I think the resale would be shit.
THere's a Case 580 SuperK ExtendaHoe, $19,900 That one is really promising looking. It's a 1994, and has new tires as well. I'm concerned that It's too big. I don't have much space to store something like that. I can't trailer it, but I could just drive it down the road. It looks pretty clean. This resale seems like it would be easier?
The third one is a Bobcat 329. It's $25,000, which seems cheap for a miniex, it looks pretty clean, but I'm concerned that it won't be as versitile as I'm looking for. It's about an hour away too, and is probably about as big as I'd want to trailer home. Resale on this seems like it would be ok?
The fourth would be a hell of a drive. 8 hours each way, and would be for a Hitachi EX12. It runs but has a bad water pump or rad. Seems like an easy fix, unless Im missing something. I feel like this machine might be a bit too small though.
So irate4x4. Am I nuts? Do I just rent and suck it up? Is the backhoe a better all round machine then the mini? What's more reliable. If I kill something expensive before selling on, my whole plan goes to shit. I'd honestly prefer to get something cheap like $3500, and that way it's less risk in the pot, if it dies, its cheap to write off. Can a backhoe be used in steep terrain? can I build myself a route down into the steep yard as I go?
oh, and I live in the suburbs, not on a farm.. otherwise I'd probably already have one.