Shinnlinger, the tractor is a gear drive. There is actually a loader that fits on the front (its not in any of the pictures so far) so turning the controls on the tractor round would hinder the operation of that. I took the loader off while working on the backhoe.
I'll be able to use the backhoe to push the tractor around when digging trenches etc, but for repositioning it will be a pain to turn around yes, but I cant really see a solution.
Up till now I have always rented an excavator, I don't have nearly enough work to justify buying one, and like you, all the big stuff is done. This backhoe is really just because I hate digging by hand
Thanks
I'm not a farmer, but from what I gather John Deere is expensive, and MF are a cheaper option, they have also been around for a long time. Deere seems to be a relatively new brand to the UK market, very very few older JD machine about, whereas there are hundreds of older MF machines.
Nice country around the Portland area