5 Disadvantages Of Using A Backhoe

The backhoe loader, or backhoe for short, has been pulling double duty on construction sites for nearly eighty years. Rigid dipper shovels had been in use since 1835, but in 1947, a couple of engineers got the brainwave to hook a hydraulic swing-frame digger onto a Ford tractor. This design decision allowed the digging arm to swing sideways without the entire machine turning along with it. JCB took that idea one step further by fitting a hydraulic backhoe and a loader onto the same tractor, effectively developing what the construction world has come to know as a backhoe loader.

The backhoe loader's staying power since its invention makes sense; The front bucket handles materials, the rear arm digs and trenches, and the whole rig — massive as it is — can move across a jobsite at around 25mph. That combination of speed and utility is hard to beat, which is why they can be expensive; Harbor Freight's towable backhoe, for example, retails around $3,000. However, the engineering isn't perfect. Its versatility brings a catch, as highlighted by JCB's own product manager: "A backhoe is always a compromise. It is not the best mini excavator. It is not the best loader."

That's a sensible acknowledgement of the machine's limitations — a tool built to do five things won't perform as well as a specialized one. In the case of the backhoe loader, it struggles visibly when a job requires several inches of digging depth or high-volume loading, but there's more. Here are five such stumbling blocks.

Any machine equipped with a bucket arm should be able to finish a grade and spread material evenly. The backhoe can do the job to an extent, but the front loader's limitations become obvious as a task gets more complex. Online chatter about the backhoe's performance in grading tasks speculates that the front end, which is designed specifically for loading and carrying, causes the machine to waller too much to hold a consistent grade.

That also applies to the back-dragging technique, where a loaded bucket is used to move material while the tractor moves backward — it simply can't match a standard grader for accuracy. While graders can adjust the blade's position to make V- and flat-bottom ditches and high-bank cuts, backhoes are rigid. Of course, if there's no alternative, you can make do with any type of equipment, even a simple shovel and wheelbarrow. However, for complex grading projects where time is of the essence, a standard grader is more suited to your needs than a backhoe.

It's not entirely online chatter either; Equipment World echoed this sentiment after interviewing product managers at JCB, Case, New Holland, and Caterpillar. It also conducted independent research that lends credence to the theory that backhoes are not very effective for grading and spreading materials.

Since the backhoe is associated with the word "loader," you'd be forgiven for assuming its prowess in this area. Yes, the backhoe's front bucket can scoop, lift, and haul material. However, when compared to a dedicated, high-volume wheel loader, there's an obvious performance gap. Heavy equipment manufacturers like CAT agree that loaders are "hands down the most efficient machines for lifting large quantities of practically anything" — whether that's soil, gravel, or anything in between.

This is mainly due to the difference in bucket sizes. A large backhoe's front bucket usually holds less than two cubic yards, while wheel loaders can contain up to 19 cubic yards on larger models. As such, a single cycle of this machine can move about 10 times what a backhoe can do. In a time-sensitive continuous loading operation, that performance chasm can be the difference in meeting your targets on time.

The bucket size is just one piece of the puzzle. A wheel loader also has a frame that allows it to make tight pivot cuts in and out of stockpiles. The V-pattern loading, which requires good maneuverability, is considered an efficient cycle for loading trucks from a stockpile. The backhoe just lacks the features and dexterity to load as efficiently as a wheel loader.

For standard residential trenching and utility work, the backhoe's arm does its job without any issues. However, its effectiveness is called into question when a project involves harder materials, increased depth, or any task that requires the sustained digging force of a full excavator. And yes, while they might look similar, a backhoe and an excavator are different machines.

Most backhoe loaders max out at 12 to 16 feet, with a select few models capable of reaching 20 feet in ideal conditions. Compared to most excavators, such as the Kobelco SK350LC-10 medium excavator, which can reach up to 24 feet, those numbers are not the most impressive. Full-sized tracked excavators can dig up to 30 feet with their standard arms, and that number can extend past 40 feet with a long-arm configuration.

Additionally, in terms of raw digging power, excavators generate far more breakout force than a backhoe. That's due to design choices; an excavator usually has a superior hydraulic system and cylinder sizes. Even the excavator's sheer mass, which acts as a counterweight to whatever the arm is pulling against, means the bucket's tip can exert more force. The backhoe, on the other hand, needs stabilizers to perform the same function, which limits its ability to generate as much counterforce as an excavator.

A full-size backhoe weighs between 12,000 and 20,000 pounds and needs a fair bit of swing room for a rear arm to operate. In contrast, mini excavators can be as light as 1,600 pounds with widths narrow enough to fit through a house's gate. This size difference makes backhoes less suitable for working in tight spaces such as residential lots.

Size isn't the only limiting factor, though. Degrees of freedom are essential in tight spaces, and the excavator has the upper hand over the backhoe by being able to spin 360 degrees. Many compact excavators use a zero-tail-swing design to keep their rears within their footprint as the arm rotates, allowing a construction worker to easily dig right up against a wall or fence without the tail end swinging into it. Backhoes, on the other hand, are capped at around 200 degrees of rear swing. That means the tractor will need to be repositioned to access acute angles.

That's not to say that skilled operators cannot work with a backhoe in confined areas, but it will take quite some time and patience to reposition the machine every time and complete the job.

A backhoe is more complex to operate than most of the machines it competes with, and that complexity means less precision during the job. For a digging job, mini excavators are generally easier for beginners. They use simple joystick controls and have fewer functions compared to backhoes, which feature multiple moving parts and have many control systems.

Backhoe loaders generally require more experience to be used efficiently. At the same time, using a backhoe for tasks like large-scale excavation and grading requires more effort on the operator's part. Therefore, before deciding to invest in a backhoe for your next project — or renting one, which is significantly cheaper — you should consider the time necessary to learn how to use one well. If you're thinking of using one for professional work, you'd have to add training cost to that equation, too.