Can The $3,000 Harbor Freight Backhoe Lift Enough To Be Useful? Lets Find Out!

[@marchingmoto]

Check out my Dads Channel here! m.youtube.com/@Lonecamper65

[@RespectEd-j9h]

I was curious as to whether your family was supportive of your You tube project. Didn't expect to find out that Papa Bear is a competitor !! He definitely has a good cinematic eye. Hope he doesn't mind being called "Dalton's Daddy".....probably proud !!

[@ms.alyce_uh-Lees_keeptryn]

Your Dad's KZbin Channel is Awesome 🎉

[@Lonecamper65]

Harbor freight should thank you , and I Thank you for the mention on your channel son! Great work as usual.

[@bthomson]

Hi! Dalton's dad! Good kid you got there! Enjoy your new channel!

[@davidharris241]

You’re a BEAST picking up those rocks. Great, fun video. I hope a Harbor Freight exec sees this. I can’t imagine them seeing it and not wanting to make a deal with you! Your video/editing/filming skills are getting better every day. Your channel is gonna be huge at this rate!

[@davidharris241]

P.s. I’ll check out your dad’s channel.

[@marchingmoto]

Thank you! I’m glad to be improving!

[@dodgeme1986truck]

A great upgrade for use off road is a set of 22x11-10 4ply high load atv tire on 10x10 4on4 pattern trailer wheels... Loaded with liquid ballast although you would need your stock tires for road use... This will greatly reduce sinking in soft or muddy terrain, and the ballast adds stability as well as helps max load capacity

[@Larry-325]

I agree 700-750 safe working limit depending on the terrain. Does more than I thought it would!👍👍

[@davidharris241]

450,000 views, that’s crazy! Congratulations!

[@marchingmoto]

495,000 now

[@davidharris241]

@@marchingmoto woo hoo!

[@jeanballard7685]

Happy for you.Well deserved

[@shakes7333]

These really are a good machine for what they are. I put a weight rack on the back of my neighbors which really increased the usability of it. It has plenty of power just a little light in the chassis. I guess I should mention, he has hard ground and that hes not really lifting anything to heavy (so he says lol)

[@timdainty724]

Look up Red Rock / Trencherman towable backhoe. A couple things you might try?

[@BritalianEC1]

Geez, I guess we now know how much you can bench press.

[@josephlitzinger3710]

Hi Dalton, I subscribed to your dad's (Mark's) channel. I hope he changes his channel's name too. I would like to see your dad and mom interact together when camping. That would be great! I love your content whether it is on your house or something else. I learn new things daily, looking forward to more of your content and your dad's. Cheers! ~Joseph from Northern California.

[@marchingmoto]

Thanks so much! Really glad to hear from you. I’m working on getting more out soon! Got some interesting things coming

[@Jo.H.]

Hi Dalton, great test. Harbor freight need to sponsor you. I will check out your dad’s channel

[@dodgeme1986truck]

It will pick up 1/2ton+ tight to the machine with sandbags on the wheel axle stubs... It will limit by one of 3parts pressure relief valve, one of the pivot pins breaking or a cylinder breaking and it's usually the pressure relief valve

[@RW1LD]

IMO, you don't need to test the weight strength... but SHOW what its capable of. Dig a drain trench, dig up a big tree stump, lift a big rock onto a trailer to move it, See how deep you can go and stand in the hole (as if you had to dig to a deep sewer / water supply line, our #1 use of small excavators), Some guys like to move wood with a thumb, idk what can be done to move wood with this one. (like logs from ground onto a splitter). How easily can it be moved up a hill, Lawn tractoror ATV can tow it? Can you clear a trail with it? ... just... throw a bunch of little projects, we'll watch!

[@paristo]

You raise good suggestions. Showing the work usually done with it is great way to show it in practice. Not that this weight lifting was excellent to think. As it gives idea of what you can do with just boom itself. But the bucket actuation is strongest one, not the whole boom. The bucket has largest leverage and that is what you use to lift or detach heavy/large objects from the ground. You use bucket as the lever. But going to close 420 kg lifting at boom so far away, limited by the counter-weight, is impressive. Having the vehicle attached to example car or having just about 50 kg counter-weight on the trailer end, it would have raised that full load up. But why to do it? As it is risking seriously the metal fatiquing or those cheap hydraulic cylinders, make hydraulic hose break etc. It is pretty safe to say, that if your own mass does not work as counter balance, you have reached the equipment limits. I don't care if it can lift 450 kg, or can do anywhere > 300 kg to get it up to air at straight boom. As I don't almost ever be doing such a lifting for it. If I come up with 450 kg boulder, I will roll it on ground, or maybe shift it someway, its weight being on the ground. And to transport > 300 kg load by some means, is already past the purpose of this digger. We buy this small digger because of its accessibility to areas, its mobility, its strength to dig into heavy soil and capability do deep trenching etc. And it does all that well. But it is very difficult to visualize it in your mind, why showing those things is the thing that will sell the idea to buy it.

[@goldfieldgary]

A thumb attachment is an extremely useful item! I live in an area with a lot of large rocks and I use one on my backhoe attachment frequently.

[@RW1LD]

@goldfieldgary Thumbs, then you get the real country folk who weld up wood splitter thumbs. Literally picking up over a trailer and pinching logs in half.

[@goldfieldgary]

@@RW1LD If I lived within 100 miles of any trees, I'd get one!

[@dangoodall-williams4200]

I agree with others. The test is sufficient. I would like to see Harbor Freight sponsor you. You mention them often in addition to this equipment. Anyway, interesting test. Oh, be careful lifting those rocks! Hernias happen for a reason.

[@marchingmoto]

It’d be nice if they would for sure!

[@grumpyoldman7948]

Great information for anyone interested in this machine.

[@beastlystallion]

I only wish I needed one of these! Great information!

[@paradoxworkshop4659]

HF AND Troy Lee?!? Subbed!

[@marchingmoto]

@@paradoxworkshop4659 thanks! Glad to have you!

[@ItsMarkyD66]

I think people will get a good idea if it will suit their needs from this video, no need to destroy it.

[@slimjim2584]

I suggest you stack those rocks on the outside of your retaining walls as stairs so you have steps to go up and down the different levels instead of vaulting them or going around to the ramps. If you can make them look nice, they are good for the property value for later sale. Make sure to spray bedliner on the tops of them for grip for when they get wet.

[@marchingmoto]

@@slimjim2584 i have a ton of rocks up in the field i have planned for some projects. That wall needed steps bad for sure

[@funnyside6]

Great idea for content! I was looking for more demo of the inside of the house, but this was what I needed!

[@kathrinekerns8398]

Wow I thought it would fail, but, the hydraulic was awesome. It did struggle at the 900lbs. Awsome equipment that will do what you need it to do. And, to you my friend, please protect your back and be cautious about how much you yourself lift and carry. You are strong but I thought I was watching a Ironman competition. ❤️🤗🤗❤️

[@dodgeme1986truck]

The hydraulics barely even were registering the load... If you throttle to where it should be run (3/4-full throttle) that machine will pick up alot more weight at the machine problem is you will start to exceed frame material strength(outriggers in particular) and have tipping issues(ballast in some 22x11-10 4ply high load atv tires on 10x10 4on4 pattern trailer wheels will greatly reduce tipping and sinking issues (in soft or muddy terrain)

[@marcellaenglish-ockletree5967]

Awesome test, good to know 👍🏻

[@sandyhansen]

Wow. They need to sponsor you! 😁

[@bthomson]

Could you use those two big rocks as some kind of decoration? A rock garden ( maybe with more peppers?😎), or a sculpture? They are pretty amazing rocks!

[@marchingmoto]

@@bthomson haha there are tons of them in my yard

[@Captain-Max]

Way back a thousand yrs or so when I was in my 20s, I was the person who certified the limits of powerline bucket trucks for a manufacturer. They had to be stable at 150% of their rated capacity at their longest reach. Not their highest reach but the longest distance away from the machine, which, in your case, the main boom would be horizontal to the ground. Also, the testing weight was never more than an inch off the ground for safery sake. A chain or strap running from the bucket down to the load. When catastrophic failure occurs, it's usually instantaneous. It is a very dangerous situation, even on little Chinese trenchers, with likely no accurate OSHA certification. Please be careful, and I highly recommend that you call this test good enough.

[@marchingmoto]

@@Captain-Max i wanted to do a max reach distance test also but i was just too tired after moving all the weight and rocks the first time haha

[@vmarc4682]

Excellent advice.

[@ciphercode2298]

Ive got a stream in my back yard that floods several times a year. Every year it washes in sediment and more rocks raising the level of the floor making the flooding worse each time. I usually wait until the weather settles down in the early fall and spend a couple weekends throwin rocks and cleaning away the creek bank. Theres also an old concrete pad that someone built years ago that spans the creek and its sinkin on one side,so im probably gonna remove it and use the pieces to help retain the soil along the bank. I think something like this could be very handy and alot cheaper than hiring it out. Thanks fir demonstrating its capabilities and limitations.

[@Lift.Our.Voices]

Great demonstration. Love your videos.

[@marchingmoto]

Thank you!

[@fhuber7507]

Add 500 lbs at the back and it can lift a lot. Balance is the issue.

[@fhuber7507]

By the way... You'll rip the boom apart before the hydraulics will stop lifting.

[@calholli]

@@fhuber7507 Most likely it will bog the engine down before the boom breaks.. but I haven't looked real close to the brackets-- maybe there's a weak point.

[@dodgeme1986truck]

Pins break first... I have been to the limits (found them pulling out 700lb boulders from a near frozen field while digging an auxiliary drainage due to spring flooding from a frozen culvert) next failure point is the piece between the outrigger legs and the main chassis (The 90°bend piece that turns the foot towards the ground). Final point is the pressure regulator bypass valve it tends to get jammed with debris at random due to the lack of pressure side filter/or pump inlet screen which sticks the valve in the open position.

[@jimmyc8951]

As far as strength goes, you're pretty strong carrying 247 pound rocks.

[@marchingmoto]

@@jimmyc8951 haha that one built my confidence back up i was feeling bad about how heavy that 227 pound rock felt

[@WisconsiNater]

I've lifted a huge basketed tree that weighed just shy of a ton a few inches up to pull the trailer out from under. Didn't hesitate at all even swung it a bit before lowering. Only thing limiting me was my anchor and fear it would give way and catapult me. I think the steel will fail before the hydraulics.

[@marchingmoto]

@@WisconsiNater i think so too. Those hydraulics are crazy strong

[@ChrisLee66]

He just picked up a 250lb rock and walks it to a scale. I don't think he'll have any problem working the foundation of his house.

[@benniedonald]

Enjoyed the video don't bust a hydraulic line. I am convinced you and this excavator. Can do the work you're hired. 😅😅😅😅

[@ketojo]

Harbor Freight needs to pay you! Great video.

[@marchingmoto]

That would be nice! Haha thanks!

[@frankintx699]

The weight was enough to convince me not to break the machine!

[@prairiefork]

Quite an overhead press workout with the HF backhoe, Dalton. I think I would stop with this exercise, the only thing left is for a mechanical integrity failure from metal stress/fatigue (and possibly catastrophic, both equipment and personal injury) and to prove what, abuse of equipment? As you stated, doubtful you will be picking up much other than what fits in the bucket, perhaps using it to offload or move a heavy object. I've known guys who could tear up a 200 pound anvil or an Allison transmission and they are out there in the youtube peanut gallery egging you on have nothing to loose. I'd rather see more content related to positive aspects of the renovation project, just my opinion. PS: because of my career guess I've seen firsthand more than one mechanical integrity failure with equipment that ended with a bad outcome, so no sense of adventure or nerve.

[@JaneiroRoad-mm5zv]

Handles more than i thought it would.

[@marchingmoto]

Oh me too haha

[@calholli]

The tractor did too

[@thedoctor2102]

See how far you can go before tears itself apart.

[@rickseibel2069]

Impressive!

[@Poppy_love59]

Where is this thing made because this would be scary to do with cheap steel from somewhere else?

[@calholli]

If you do tie it to a tree. Make sure you are testing your weight at a specific distance away from you. I bet you could have lifted that 900 lbs if you kept your bucket much closer to you.. You let your bucket stick out too far away from you and that's what was brining the rear tires up.. So test what it can lift right at the outriggers.. and then test what it can lift with the boom extended all the way out... and maybe another lift half way in between. This way you can make a little chart that shows the gradient of it's power. I would also unhook it from the tree, and stick the boom all the way out, and test how much it can lift at full leverage like that. I don't think it could lift all your weights at full extension.

[@ms.alyce_uh-Lees_keeptryn]

Yep, let's call it, 😂 my guess was 775 lbs

[@OffroadLogger]

Hydraulics would probably last, you are more likely to bend part of the frame than blowing a hose. 😄 You could weld something in the back to hold your heavy rocks for some counterweight 👍

[@toobusy63]

Temu is advertising BACKHOES now

[@marchingmoto]

I’ll buy from harbor freight. I don’t know about temu lol

[@calholli]

@@marchingmoto They are the same company

[@devinmccloud]

They used to cost $1500. Then they went to $2000. Now $3000. You can probably get them out of China for $1000.

[@marchingmoto]

Good chance

[@iwasfloyd]

Harbor Freight needs to sponser you ASAP.

[@marchingmoto]

@@iwasfloyd haha i wish they would!

[@AmosBHaven]

Nah! Should have put some of those rocks behind ya to counter the weight you was lifting! Should be able to handle probable 15-1700 lbs. If not more!

[@robertm1672]

I lifted 1000lbs but it was still attached to the truck hitch.

[@marchingmoto]

@@robertm1672 i believe it

[@casca7649]

if you can pick up a 300 pound rock , why do you even need the damn backhoe ? Just stomp your foot in the ground and make a hole !

[@SirensC3]

Bro! Do not do that to your back! You will be very sorry when you get to my age! I don’t care how good of shape you are in now. You WILL regret it later on.

[@marchingmoto]

@@SirensC3 thanks