Buying the Nortrac 35xtd with Backhoe Soon

Welcome to CTOA flyons.
I have some thoughts, but I’m not a wheeled tractor guy. I’ll let the more knowledgeable chime in first.

I would ask if you can up grade the size of the rear wheel weights and the front suitcase weights and go up and down not across 45 degrees and not wet either. but I do think ag tires would be best.  If you can I would go up at least one step up in h.p. to do what you describe. I have some land that is a little less angle and run a 50 h.p. and it goes under load in some conditions.

Oops, sorry, I didn’t catch that. :scratch:
The dozer will be fine on that grade, however it should only be backed uphill when it’s that steep, especially if there is an implement attached to the rear, and limit side hill work to about 12 degrees. I have a grade indicator mounted on mine to keep me safe.
The dozer should handle the rotary just fine. You have about 30 PTO HP. I’m using a 68″ flail mower behind mine with no problems at all (I like the flail mower because it doesn’t throw the cuttings all over the place, it’s less of a load on the hitch, it’s much shorter, and not to mention quieter).
When working steep slopes it’s wise to check your oil level first and keep an eye on the oil pressure gauge (these don’t have oil pressure alarms, but I installed them on mine).

Thanks. I have made quite a few improvements/mods to mine, some of which you probably wont want to undertake. I also have the optional front end loader attachment which swaps out with the dozer blade and wishbone.

One of the shortcomings of this dozer is the location of the air cleaner. Since these don’t have pusher fans, when you’re operating in dusty conditions the fan blows dust right into the air cleaner and can plug it in short order. In this video you can see where I installed a self-cleaning Donaldson under the left ROPS sweep.

I sold the backhoe. Didn’t use it once I got the excavator. I originally ordered the backhoe with the dozer (a Chinese LW-06) but it proved to be very problematic so I sold it and bought a LiTW BH7600 Korean backhoe with Swiss hydraulic controls. It proved to be a very good unit. But to answer your question, it took me about 30-45 seconds to mount the backhoe using a quick hitch. It would take me slightly over a minute to switch between attachments if they were lined up on flat ground. The nice thing about the LiTW hoe is that it came with a rigid top link, which I would strongly recommend for ANY three-point mounted backhoe. I think the NorTrack dozer has rear hydraulic remotes, so the hook-up would be even easier, and run off the tractor’s hydraulic system.

There is no commercially available backhoe frame mountings for these dozers. That being said, there is no problem with the three-point mounting system on the dozer. The sub frame mounts are for the wheeled tractors which have a weaker mid section (imo). The main issue, as I see it, with the three-point backhoe is that when digging down and pulling back it will cause the backhoe to rise and push the operator back into the tractor. I attribute this to an inexperienced operator, but a rigid top link alleviates that condition. Some say digging perpendicular to the tractor causes extra strain on the mounting system, but I have not seen that as long as the outriggers are firmly planted. I doubt you will find a mini-ex in reasonable condition with a hydraulic thumb and dozer blade for $7,500. My mini-ex has four different buckets with quick attach, a dozer blade, and hydraulic thumb. Figure a minimum of $15,000 in good condition.
Here is a video of my Litw hoe. It has compound controls with float function (not found on Chinese models).

flyons wrote:

Bob Rooks wrote:

I sold the backhoe. Didn’t use it once I got the excavator. I originally ordered the backhoe with the dozer (a Chinese LW-06) but it proved to be very problematic so I sold it and bought a LiTW BH7600 Korean backhoe with Swiss hydraulic controls. It proved to be a very good unit. But to answer your question, it took me about 30-45 seconds to mount the backhoe using a quick hitch. It would take me slightly over a minute to switch between attachments if they were lined up on flat ground. The nice thing about the LiTW hoe is that it came with a rigid top link, which I would strongly recommend for ANY three-point mounted backhoe. I think the NorTrack dozer has rear hydraulic remotes, so the hook-up would be even easier, and run off the tractor’s hydraulic system.

Quote

Thanks for the info, Bob. Did the LW-06 backhoe that came with the dozer mount to the subframe of the dozer or did it mount entirely to the hitch? I ask because on the tractor side of the house you’re supposed to stay away from any backhoes that don’t mount to the frame. But dang, now you’re giving me ideas about just skipping the backhoe attachment and buying a used excavator with the $7500 I would have spent on the attachment.

Hello flyons,

it looks like some very good points have been made on this thread, i did notice that you said a backhoe attachment will cost you $7500? I highly recommend that if you decide to go the backhoe route instead of the excavator to check our our 3-point backhoes, we have the LW-6 and a LW-7, which has the hydraulic thumb, available that will fit the Nortrac 35XTD and are much cheaper than the above mentioned price. We also have these backhoes available in a crate if you would like to save even a little more and build a project yourself!

you can view our backhoes here: https://www.kenotractors.com/product-category/equipments/backhoes/

You may also want to check out some of our youtube videos, we have some information on our channel that may prove to be useful for you. here is a video on how to install a frame mount backhoe, just so you can see a little bit of these backhoes. We dont have a 3-point install video as of yet.