Backhoe Attachment Safety Tips
Armed with the right attachment, compact utility tractors can tackle lots of different projects. Whether you’re a farmer, large land owner or even a contractor, these machines offer enough toughness and power to perform commercial work and a variety of attachments to diversify your operations. One particularly useful attachment is a backhoe.
Adding a backhoe attachment to a compact utility tractor adds versatility for the operator. With a backhoe attachment, an operator can easily perform material-moving jobs, like transplanting a tree or moving a large rock, and excavation activities such as trenching a water line or digging a pit.
Backhoe Safety Tips:
1. Stay steady.
First and foremost, never use a backhoe if a loader isn’t installed on the tractor for counterbalance. Second, when using the backhoe, ensure that the loader bucket and stabilizers touch the ground for steadiness. In other words, use the loader bucket and the two stabilizers as the three touch points with the ground for stability purposes. By doing so, you transfer weight to the backhoe and provide the most stable platform for digging operations.
2. Stay grounded.
It’s important to note that backhoes for utility tractors are not designed to operate like a construction backhoe, where many times you see the tractor wheels coming off the ground. Utility tractors and backhoes are not fully subframed and structurally rigid products like their construction counterparts. Performing digging applications with all four wheels fully suspended in the air on a utility tractor is not recommended to maintain safety. This could lead to premature failure of the tractor or backhoe components.
3. Stay aware.
Backhoe use is for the operator only. So for safety, make sure no one is standing close to the machine or the operator station when in use. Check your surroundings and what’s in the ground — like power and water lines — before operating, so you’re not at risk of damaging anything.
Team Tractor and Equipment - #1 Tractor Dealer in Arizona. We sell and service most major brands of tractors including Yanmar, Kubota, John Deere, TYM, Mahindra, Kioti, Case, New Holland, Massey Ferguson, Ford, Deutz, Case IH, Farmall, International Harvester, Branson Tractors, LS, Shibura, Claas Tractor, McCormick Tractors, Valtra, Solis, YTO, Montana, Nortrac,