1971 Ford 2000 backhoe?

[nickstherepairman]

New to this site.

I'm looking to buy a 1971 Ford 2000 tractor and I want to know if it could support a backhoe. If so what make and model would that backhoe attachment be? So far I only see 1962-1965 Ford 2000s with backhoes.

I posted earlier but cant find my post, glitch?

 

[Sean in PA]

That's not the best tractor for mounting a backhoe. You could probably make a backhoe from a 3400 mount and work, but you would need a lot of ballast up front just to keep the front wheels down to where it would steer reasonably well, but then the front spindle bearings would probably wear quickly and need replacing often. Also, it if has the earlier round profile rear axle trumpets it may not be strong enough to hold up for long to heavy backhoe use. If it has the square profile rear axle trumpets like the 3000 and 3400 then it will probably do better. I'm not sure exactly when they switched the 3 cylinder 2000's from the round to the square profile trumpets.

As with any old tractor, it is usually more cost effective to wait for one that has what you want in terms of attachments like a backhoe already mounted, as buying an old tractor and then trying to find something like a backhoe to fit the tractor, that you may actually never find, is a crap shoot.

 

[nickstherepairman]

Thanks for the help, I found a John Deere 400 industrial tractor with a backhoe already mounted. I'll probably get the Ford 2000 for yard work lol.