88 industrial hydrotrencher

tom upton

Member
Looking for advice on 88 industrial backhoe. I bought this thing running ( few years ago) but needing a pile of work to make it usefull. Gas engine is in bad need of an overhaul as smokes blue, but I have a decent 88 diesel motor I could drop in. Needs all new hoses, cylinders repacked, at least one needs to have rod rechromed, Needs all new rubber, and there are duals on the back so that is going to be close to 4000 right there. To be honest I am trying to talk myself into restoring it just because you dont see too many of these things around here, plus it would be handy to have around. I know I would end up with way more in it than it is worth, but anyone have any idea what one of these is worth to an Oliver guy with a half decent restoration? I havent seen anything quite like it sell at auction or anything, but maybe more common than I am thinking? I am thinking it would have to be worth at least 10k restored to justify diving into it? As you can see by the pics I either have to get this thing into the shop soon or I may as well scrap it. ( looks like it could wiegh up pretty good)
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I have a hard time seeing how that would be worth $10k restored unless it was a nut-and-bolt show correct restoration, and only then it would probably take the right collector auction and the one in a million buyer.

It sure would be fun to play with, but if I was in your shoes, I'd probably be pillaging it for parts and scrapping the rest. Now if I had money to burn, sure, anything's possible....
 
Tom what is story on the White tractor in picture. What model is it also what size
rear tires. Looking for set of 38 inch rear castings. Where are you located?
 
As much as Id hate to see it separated since Ive only ever seen 1 other one in person, the best thing to do is probably to scrap the trencher and just restore the tractor as a regular industrial. The duals alone make it unique.
 
To me this would be a waste of your time and money to restore this backhoe attachment. Of course it is no worse than these people that spend several thousand dollars on one of those so called backhoes for their oversized lawn tractors.
 
I agree about the restored value not being as high as repair cost. That being said, I like to resurrect some of the old stuff, knowing full well that it's for a hobby not for money. Otherwise I wouldn't have $3k in my 1/2 finished Allis B.

If you were by SE MI I'd love to have it, could use a hoe and love Olivers. But trucking that would be a killer... sure couldn't do it with my 7k trailer and 1/2 ton truck lol.
 
That's one of those tractors that I'd put inside just to preserve it as is. Somebody else might want to save it some day.
 
Restoring your own a tractor for profit, doesn't work. You have to do it for yourself, or pick a tractor that doesn't have limited appeal. If done right it is a very impressive tractor. I have attached a couple of pictures of a tractor in Missouri.

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This post was edited by John Schoenauer on 03/30/2023 at 11:06 am.
 
Seeing pics of a restored unit somehow has put me in the tractor restoration euphoria I have said before I will not let myself slip into
again!! At this point in my life (retirement age) I have to face the brutal truth that I have way too many projects that are not going to get
done, so I need to pick them carefully. I used this unit to do some digging before it got parked a couple years ago, and it actually worked
pretty well, so unlike some of the other Olivers that pretty much just collect dust I think it would actually get used a fair bit. Plus maybe
it would help attract some Oliver guys to the auction I am sure my wife will be planning the day after my funeral. There I go again trying to
talk myself into something that really makes no logical sense. Anybody know the paint code for the industrial yellow Oliver used in that
Era?:)
 
I have been rooting for this choice, especially if you are going to swap a diesel in there! Thanks to Mr. Schoenauer for posting that restoration pic, it is a very neat machine
 

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