First of all, the only experience I've had was with a re-purposed JD backhoe (probably from a JD 310?) that I used on the back of my JD 4010. It was a 3-pt hookup, but included a frame due to its original 4-pt mount, which made the unit sit farther back than normal, which made lifting it a strain on the 3-pt hydraulics. BUT.....it was a beast!
If I had it to do again, I'd just buy (or build?) a self-contained, towable backhoe. However, that depends on your needs:
1. how deep might you need to dig?
2. what kinds of soil might you run across? (heavy clay will be harder to dig)
3. how large a bucket? You can use a lighter-but-longer arm if you're willing to also use a much smaller bucket.
Northern Tool used to sell what looked like a nice little backhoe with Honda engine, but I see it has been discontinued. Do a web search for "towable backhoe" and look at the results. Some units are set up so that you can use the arm to move the unit, while other models have hydraulic motors in 2 wheels with other 2 wheels being swivel.
For small, occasional use, I'd go this route. Would also free up the tractor-loader so that two people could work at the same time, or each machine could be in different areas.
If I were to build a unit from scratch, I'd likely build 2 arms; one lighter-but-longer for digging deeper, and one short-but-stout for digging small stumps, etc.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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