A 3 inch root, and you tried to pull it with this machine? These are for trenching and light work at best. You can do more but it really depends on your soil type. And most certainly working within the machine limits.
I'm sure glad I bought a machine from Betsco. It looks similar to your machine, but painted yellow. I have used it a lot, with no major problem. Your machine looks much lighter build than mine. Much cheaper built. Good luck with your machine.
Hey mate I have a slightly older model of the same machine, the king pin was shredded by the time I got it, so had to weld flat machined rings above and below the main frame around the pin to solve the slop when you're pushing it up and down. It's all made harder by the fact they don't use standard size pins or bushings etc
I was less that 1 year old when i bought it from the owner that i personally know.dug 1 hole 2ft x 2ft,then pump shaft broke.it sat in his yard till i bought it. Not abused
Those look like orb fittngs on video. Not there to pull it out and check, so I can't actually tell. ORB -o-ring boss- fittings usually have a metal washer to prevent cutting the o-ring as the nut is tightened, allowing them to be positioned and then tightened, and the female side will have a chamfer for the oring to seat into. BSP is british standard pipe thread. My question is would you buy one again after your experiences with this one? Looking at buying one for removing a bazillion small (3"-9")stumps on a property (16 acres) we recently bought. I could have already owned one of these for the money I've spent on rental excavators. And still have tons of small trees and undesirable brush to make go away. I'm a heavy equipment mechanic with welding and machinist background and I think this would be a good platform that I could build on because it wouldn't empty any retirement accounts to own. What is your overall opinion of yours? Buy again or no?
Not oring boss. Its a rubber flat washer with an internal metal disc. A 1 time use seal. I worked with hydraulics for 20 years,never seen 1,3 local hyd shops never seen 1 either. Clostest thing to it is a bonded seal washer. But bonded seal washer is a metal disc with a rubber lip seal in the center....this is the opposite. Steel disc encapsulated in rubber.
@@nickpellegrin thanks for the reply. I'm undecided on the purchase at the moment. Just not sure these things will have the power to do what I need, which is a machine with enough power to clear and stump several acres of small trees.
The previous owner abused this machine before you bought it. Destroying the hydraulic pump should of been a warning to you, snapping the pump shaft is a sure sign of abusing the machine beyond it's limitations. Don't blame the machine for the ignorance of the operator.
The previous owner dug 1 small hole. The hydraulic pump mount wasnt built correctly. It misaligned the engine shaft with the pump shaft,causing a bind on the pump shaft.....csusing it to snap. Came from the factory that way,had nothing to do with previous owner. All this slop and wear is how its built. No abuse on this machine at the time of this video.
I stand by my original comment. I've spent the majority of my career as a machinist building parts for different equipment and building hydraulic pumps. I spent 32 yrs. as a Rig Maintenance Supervisor on offshore drilling rigs working on mechanical and hydraulic] issues. As a machinist I never witnessed parts being machined then welded, all of our parts were welded then put in a jig to be machined. What you're telling me know contradicts what you posted in a previous post about the previous owner trying to use a porthole digger with the wrong control valve. If the motor/pump coupling bracket was bent as you said then how was it ever connected to start with. All the damage I've seen to the trencher is from a twisting motion, not from a pulling motion as a trencher is designed to do. I couldn't find anywhere that Harbor Freight recommends attaching a post hole digging attachment to their machine. I'm not saying it can't be done but not recommended.
@@RobertCole-fl1to Aint here to arguee.......it was bought,assembled,less than 2 hours run time.....including trying to rig it for post hole digger. I know the huy personally thst i bought it from. I personally tried to replace the pump and found the mount to be off,sofar off that i couldnt get the bolts in the pump.....not sure how factory got it installed. I cut the welds,recentered then welded....problem solved. This machine wasnt abused when i got it.the slop is factory from northern tools china plan. What do i gain by lyin about this machine? I was fed the storyabout post hole digger,owner states it wasall working before napa hooked up the augger.....then nothing worked. Once i replaced the pump and found the off centered mount.....it all made sense. Pump shaft snapped because of a constant side load due to bad alignment on a $2 china pump mount. So if that important pump mount was that far outta of line......how do you think the machined tolerances on the pins and bushings are on this china machine?
@@nickpellegrin All of Harbor Freight's towable backhoe trencher's hydraulic systems are checked out for proper functioning prior to being shipped out to consumers. If you or the prior owner had bothered to read the instruction manual you wouldn't of experienced this problem. Anytime a consumer alters a piece of equipment from it's intended use it voids the warranty and releases the manufacturer from all liability. It was sold as a towable backhoe trencher, it was modified to be a towable post hold digger. Parts of the original were removed and replaced with parts not intended to be used on that equipment. Furnish the Harbor Freight stock number for a towable post hole digger or even the number for the post hole attachment. The fault for the equipment failure lies solely with the person that altered that equipment that was used not for its intended purpose. I'm not a big fan of most of Harbor Freight's products but I believe in fair treatment. I follow you posts on UA-cam but I believe on this you're trying to place the blame on Harbor Freight and it is solely on the altering and misuse of the equipment by the operator.
Mine had an out of alignment pump mount too. Brand new, filled fluids, started it, vibrated like crazy, and sheared the shaft. Nov 2021 production. NT replaced the pump and mount, so no foul there. Not had much else for problems. But they seem to have had a problem with pump mounts
It was 1 year old,2 hours total run time. Bushings were 30ths over sized average.all greesed,no wear. Asfar as bending the weak part of the boom,ill own up to being rough with it. All the slop was like that out the box.
A 3 inch root, and you tried to pull it with this machine? These are for trenching and light work at best. You can do more but it really depends on your soil type. And most certainly working within the machine limits.
I'm sure glad I bought a machine from Betsco. It looks similar to your machine, but painted yellow. I have used it a lot, with no major problem. Your machine looks much lighter build than mine. Much cheaper built. Good luck with your machine.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey mate I have a slightly older model of the same machine, the king pin was shredded by the time I got it, so had to weld flat machined rings above and below the main frame around the pin to solve the slop when you're pushing it up and down. It's all made harder by the fact they don't use standard size pins or bushings etc
Machine has been abused. It has it's limits.
I was less that 1 year old when i bought it from the owner that i personally know.dug 1 hole 2ft x 2ft,then pump shaft broke.it sat in his yard till i bought it.
Not abused
Those look like orb fittngs on video. Not there to pull it out and check, so I can't actually tell. ORB -o-ring boss- fittings usually have a metal washer to prevent cutting the o-ring as the nut is tightened, allowing them to be positioned and then tightened, and the female side will have a chamfer for the oring to seat into. BSP is british standard pipe thread.
My question is would you buy one again after your experiences with this one? Looking at buying one for removing a bazillion small (3"-9")stumps on a property (16 acres) we recently bought. I could have already owned one of these for the money I've spent on rental excavators. And still have tons of small trees and undesirable brush to make go away. I'm a heavy equipment mechanic with welding and machinist background and I think this would be a good platform that I could build on because it wouldn't empty any retirement accounts to own. What is your overall opinion of yours? Buy again or no?
Not oring boss.
Its a rubber flat washer with an internal metal disc.
A 1 time use seal.
I worked with hydraulics for 20 years,never seen 1,3 local hyd shops never seen 1 either.
Clostest thing to it is a bonded seal washer.
But bonded seal washer is a metal disc with a rubber lip seal in the center....this is the opposite.
Steel disc encapsulated in rubber.
And yes id buy again
@@nickpellegrin thanks for the reply. I'm undecided on the purchase at the moment. Just not sure these things will have the power to do what I need, which is a machine with enough power to clear and stump several acres of small trees.
@@TheBrushcutter
Its got more power than it can handle,i bent the boom a few times,tore the bucket.
But a used bavkhoe more capable for 4-6k
@@nickpellegrin I can see already that you and I are a lot alike. We gonna find out what our equipment will REALLY handle. 🤣
The previous owner abused this machine before you bought it. Destroying the hydraulic pump should of been a warning to you, snapping the pump shaft is a sure sign of abusing the machine beyond it's limitations. Don't blame the machine for the ignorance of the operator.
The previous owner dug 1 small hole.
The hydraulic pump mount wasnt built correctly.
It misaligned the engine shaft with the pump shaft,causing a bind on the pump shaft.....csusing it to snap.
Came from the factory that way,had nothing to do with previous owner.
All this slop and wear is how its built.
No abuse on this machine at the time of this video.
I stand by my original comment. I've spent the majority of my career as a machinist building parts for different equipment and building hydraulic pumps. I spent 32 yrs. as a Rig Maintenance Supervisor on offshore drilling rigs working on mechanical and hydraulic] issues. As a machinist I never witnessed parts being machined then welded, all of our parts were welded then put in a jig to be machined. What you're telling me know contradicts what you posted in a previous post about the previous owner trying to use a porthole digger with the wrong control valve. If the motor/pump coupling bracket was bent as you said then how was it ever connected to start with. All the damage I've seen to the trencher is from a twisting motion, not from a pulling motion as a trencher is designed to do. I couldn't find anywhere that Harbor Freight recommends attaching a post hole digging attachment to their machine. I'm not saying it can't be done but not recommended.
@@RobertCole-fl1to
Aint here to arguee.......it was bought,assembled,less than 2 hours run time.....including trying to rig it for post hole digger.
I know the huy personally thst i bought it from.
I personally tried to replace the pump and found the mount to be off,sofar off that i couldnt get the bolts in the pump.....not sure how factory got it installed.
I cut the welds,recentered then welded....problem solved.
This machine wasnt abused when i got it.the slop is factory from northern tools china plan.
What do i gain by lyin about this machine?
I was fed the storyabout post hole digger,owner states it wasall working before napa hooked up the augger.....then nothing worked.
Once i replaced the pump and found the off centered mount.....it all made sense.
Pump shaft snapped because of a constant side load due to bad alignment on a $2 china pump mount.
So if that important pump mount was that far outta of line......how do you think the machined tolerances on the pins and bushings are on this china machine?
@@nickpellegrin All of Harbor Freight's towable backhoe trencher's hydraulic systems are checked out for proper functioning prior to being shipped out to consumers. If you or the prior owner had bothered to read the instruction manual you wouldn't of experienced this problem. Anytime a consumer alters a piece of equipment from it's intended use it voids the warranty and releases the manufacturer from all liability. It was sold as a towable backhoe trencher, it was modified to be a towable post hold digger. Parts of the original were removed and replaced with parts not intended to be used on that equipment. Furnish the Harbor Freight stock number for a towable post hole digger or even the number for the post hole attachment. The fault for the equipment failure lies solely with the person that altered that equipment that was used not for its intended purpose. I'm not a big fan of most of Harbor Freight's products but I believe in fair treatment. I follow you posts on UA-cam but I believe on this you're trying to place the blame on Harbor Freight and it is solely on the altering and misuse of the equipment by the operator.
Mine had an out of alignment pump mount too. Brand new, filled fluids, started it, vibrated like crazy, and sheared the shaft. Nov 2021 production. NT replaced the pump and mount, so no foul there. Not had much else for problems. But they seem to have had a problem with pump mounts
wish you luck. This why you dont buy a cheap piece of junk. Any backhoe under 4k should be a warning to stay away.
Already fixed and reinforced
No grease in wheel bearings
@@michaelott1551 no they dont come greesed
I found out the hard way, towing on the road and the bearing froze, still love my machine and it does work great
Is there a list of what needs to be done before towing? I'd be really pissed if I bought one and it broke on the way home.
You abused it
It was 1 year old,2 hours total run time.
Bushings were 30ths over sized average.all greesed,no wear.
Asfar as bending the weak part of the boom,ill own up to being rough with it.
All the slop was like that out the box.