# Backhoe hours



## BillyRgn (Jan 28, 2004)

So I have kind of been looking at used backhoes off and on for snowand have a question for the guys with experience owning them. I'm looking at John deeres seeing my area is flooded with them and it seems as if there is good parts availability. I am looking at 310 and 410's and a 4in1 bucket and extended a hoe would be great because it would open up possibilitys in the summer. So I guess my big question is how many hours is to many on a machine for it not to be reliable anymore ? I see some machine with over 8000 hrs for sale. I wouldn't put a ton of hours on it but I deffinatly want something that is going to always start and not break every time I use it. Would I be able to find something decent in the 20,000 dollar range ? Any thoughts and suggestions are aprèciated


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## Plow More (May 26, 2009)

I dont have much experience in owning them but my old man has an excavation business and we have had and old 410d with 6k hrs on it and it burnt a little oil but wasnt ever not reliable. John Deere has some good hoes


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## Cover Guy (Sep 30, 2009)

My 310 d had almost 7000 hrs on it when I sold it 4 years ago and it's still around and working great machines if its been taking care of I wouldn't be scared good luck


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

Right out of high-school I got a job operating hoes and loader for a excavation company. The owner had one machine that he bought new, a JD310d and when I started it had 14,000 hours on it. He said the only thing that they had done in the motor was 2 injectors and adjust the valves. It only burn about 3 quarts every 100 hours. And ALWAYS started. For the 8-9 months I worked there we ran that machine 5-6 days a week with no issues. Great machine!!


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## tuney443 (Jun 25, 2006)

Been running and owning nothing but Deere the last 28 years of my 38 years in the excavating biz.IMHO,they are the very best TLB out there,bar none.Yes Billy,$20K will get you in the seat of a fairly nice rig--I'm thinking in the order of 310-410-510 C's,D's or E's,anything above an E will usually fetch more money.I would try and find one from an owner-operator that has really cared for and has a WRITTEN DOWN PM scheduled list of what was done,when,and at how many hours.I wouldn't get one with more than 8K hours because it's likely going to be sloppy unless it was fairly freshened up with new pins and bushings.I see some nice ones on Craigslist and in my local Pennysaver from time to time.Also check Bargain News based in Ct. Good luck and feel free to PM me anytime.


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