Earle Water Dept. donates backhoe

Earle Water Dept. donates backhoe

City will use implement to replace broken older model

news@theeveningtimes.com

Earle Water Department has donated its old backhoe to the city to replace one that is broken and not worth fixing.

The department was going to auction the backhoe off back in April, but held off until the city could get an estimate to fix the one in the road department.

Water Department Manager Danny Clark said the backhoe is a 2000 Ford and is in great shape.

“The backhoe is in fairly decent shape — other than it needs a new set of tires on it and one valve that needs to be cleaned or replaced. It would be a perfect backhoe and save y’all money.”

The city has a smaller Case backhoe but the machine is not in good working condition and will probably take $10,000 to fix.

“The other backhoe we have is in really bad shape,” said Mayor Sherman Smith. “This will help us spend $1,000 versus spending money on the old one. Right now we can’t even move a load of gravel.”

Clark said he had the backhoe serviced and replaced all of the fluids so they could auction it off.

The backhoe is too big for his department’s needs.

“We had all of the fluids changed and it’s been cleaned and totally serviced,” Clark said. “I had somebody come out and for three days they cleared out all the hydraulic fluid, the diesel — everything. It has a new battery in it and should start right up.” Smith had mechanic Lee Johnson inspect it and offer his opinion on its condition and how much it will take to fix.

Johnson confirmed that the water department’s Ford backhoe is in good shape and said he wouldn’t recommend the city spending any money on the Case.

The city’s backhoe ran low on oil and transmission fluid which damaged the engine and also has a leaky water pump which wasn’t fixed in a timely manner he said.

“It’s (Ford) checking out pretty good so far,” Johnson said. “The city backhoe would cost way too much to fix. It would be a waste of time and money.”

Clark said the only maintenance that would need to be performed is to re-pack the remaining cylinder. The cylinder is filled with fluid and is under pressure. The seal forms a barrier to block leaks.

“They did all the cylinders except that big one,” Clark said. “It hasn’t got a lot of hours on it. It can be a good machine for you.”

“I saw that,” Johnson added. “The rest of it is pretty clean.”

By Mark Randall