Backhoe 

 A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment or digger consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. They are typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader. The section of the arm closest to the vehicle is known as the boom, and the section which carries the bucket is known as the dipper or dipper stick (the terms "boom" and "dipper" having been used previously on steam shovels). The boom is attached to the vehicle through a pivot known as the kingpost, which allows the arm to slew left and right, usually through a total of around 200 degrees. Modern backhoes are powered by hydraulics.

Characteristics

Most backhoes are at their strongest curling the bucket, with the dipper arm next most powerful, and boom movements the least powerful.

A backhoe loader is a tractor-like vehicle with an arm and bucket mounted on the back and a front loader mounted on the front.

Backhoes can be designed and manufactured from the start as such, or can be the result of a farm tractor equipped with a Front End Loader (FEL) and rear hoe. Though similar looking, the designed backhoes are much stronger, with the farm variation more suitable for light work. The farm variation also requires that the operator switch seats from sitting in front of the backhoe controls to the tractor seat in order to reposition the equipment while digging, and this often slows down the digging process.

With the advent of hydraulic powered attachments such as a tilt rotator, breaker, a grapple or an auger, the backhoe is frequently used in many applications other than excavation and with the tilt rotator attachment, serves as an effective tool carrier. Many backhoes feature quick coupler (quick-attach) mounting systems for simplified attachment mounting, dramatically increasing the machine's utilization on the job site. Backhoes are usually employed together with loaders and bulldozers. Excavators that use a backhoe are sometimes called "trackhoes" by people who do not realize the name is due to the action of the bucket, not its location on a backhoe loader.

Backhoes are general purpose tools, and are being displaced to some extent by multiple specialist tools like the excavator and the speciality Front End Loader, especially with the rise of the mini-excavator. On many jobsites which would have previously seen a backhoe used, a skidsteer and a mini excavator will be used in conjunction to fill the backhoes role. However, backhoes still are in general use.