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Backhoe loader — loader at the front, excavator at the rear

Your first-day checklist

Print it and keep it with the machine.

Your manufacturer's manual prevails. This sheet gives the order of the steps; every figure must be read in your own manual, as it changes from one model to the next.

  1. On delivery

    • Walk around it BEFORE you sign
    • BOTH ends: loader and backhoe
    • Stabilisers: rams, pads, locks
    • Glass, mirrors, wiper

  2. Before the first start

    • Levels: engine, hydraulics, coolant, fuel
    • Tyre condition
    • Guards, hatches and caps ALL in place
    • Lighting: work, reversing, indicators, brake

  3. The move that defines the machine

    • NEVER dig without the stabilisers down
    • AND without the loader bucket set on the ground
    • Not even for five minutes
    • Levelled area: the pads must bear

  4. The two stations

    • Digging: seat in the backhoe position
    • Transmission locked in neutral
    • Any travel: RETURN to the loader station
    • Raising the stabilisers: in neutral

  5. On slopes and near excavations

    • Stabilisers set so the FRAME is level
    • Not parallel to the slope
    • Clear of edges: they collapse under the weight
    • Equipment pointed downhill while working

  6. Before the road

    • Raise the stabilisers AND lock them
    • Retract the dipper, lower the boom
    • Lock the boom with its device
    • Travel with the bucket closed, equipment low

Never do this

  • Never dig without stabilisers and the loader bucket on the ground
  • Never travel with the seat in the backhoe position
  • Never put stabilisers right on the edge of an excavation
  • Never work across a slope
  • Never use it as a demolition machine