You did the right thing, I would have (as was suggested below) offered myself and the machine, for a minimal rate (family discount) or similar, but turning over a rubber tire backhoe that has to be transported to a site 25 miles away, I'd have to have some serious trust in that person, skilled careful operator, as well as the hauler. Personally, I've got lots of experience with rubber tire backhoes, and loaning same would really worry me. For starters, the darned things are not friendly to tag trailers, so loading on any beaver tail kind of trailer would be my first concern, I had one sideways on the ramp once, awful feeling too. Then there is the site, did they call the "One Call" before you dig, Insurance etc., then whatever else could happen from an inexperienced operator, all of these are "tippy" though I have to say the latest model I have ran, being a 420 D CAT, was certainly tolerant of ground deviations, but I've had close calls, ( no did not have it teetering, but it let me know I was not too far off !) and I'm no stranger to these by any means, keeps you in check, and boy would I have had mud on my face nonetheless. It is hard to get a machine from a rental house because most of them require 1 Million dollar policy, so you would have to be a contractor with a policy in place, though the rental outfit I dealt with did not, they had another way to provide coverage, you screw up its going to cost you. There is a lot to consider, will they grease it, check fluids, not abuse it, no way I could loan one out.
It's a bit different when people know you are experienced, know the limitations, use care, grease, check fluids and treat it as if it were your own, I've had loaners before, dozer and backhoe, but the people who offered know me, and the level of appreciation, besides return favors. Farmer I work with has a permit for someone to dump clean fill, he leaves the dozer to push off, and for field repair work, can't tell you how much that was appreciated, no we did not run tons of hours on it, was greased daily, and tracks clean after use, and always full of fuel, worked out great, had one stubborn rock in the field the loader just could not get, that '02 550 JD dozer has strong hydraulics for a six way blade, made short work of it, that and getting a huge log out of the way of the fill line, owner was glad to help, and trusted us with its care, you don't see situations like that often. Powerline company had contractors working on the easement, I took the fill from the towers they drilled holes for, 6 weeks on weekends I had use of a 420 D CAT, and boy did I solve some drainage problems, push the fill off, even set up my pole barn site and installed the posts, at the end when the rental outfit came to pick it up, cab was clean and wiped down, looked like my car, every fitting was greased, and it was full of fuel, the foreman could have been at risk for allowing me the privilege, but had no concern at all, there are exceptions that work out fine, but your situation does not sound like one of them.
Here's that loaner one weekend setting 18'-0" posts.
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Today's Featured Article - Hydraulics - Cylinder Anatomy - by Curtis von Fange. Let’s make one more addition to our series on hydraulics. I’ve noticed a few questions in the comment section that could pertain to hydraulic cylinders so I thought we could take a short look at this real workhorse of the circuit. Cylinders are the reason for the hydraulic circuit. They take the fluid power delivered from the pump and magically change it into mechanical power. There are many types of cylinders that one might run across on a farm scenario. Each one could take a chapter in
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