Backhoe and Loader Rental in Amarillo, TX
A backhoe loader digs with the arm on its back and loads with the bucket on its front, so one machine can open an Amarillo utility trench, backfill it and clean up; a wheel loader skips the digging and moves material in bigger buckets. CASE's 580 Super N lists a maximum dig depth of 17 ft 11 in and its 590 Super N a dig depth of 19 ft 6 in, while Volvo's L60H wheel loader takes buckets of 2.1 - 6.5 yd3. What decides the rental here is the split between digging and loading on your job, the depth of the trench, and the rules that come with it: the Texas 811 call, OSHA's trench and rollover rules, and town codes such as Hereford's permit for trenches deeper than five feet. Below are the classes, the national rates (including the only wheel loader figure we found), the rules and what a written quote needs.
$200 to $450 a day, $800 to $1,100 a week for a backhoe, national (HomeGuide, January 2026) · full pricing guide
The machine itself is a rubber-tired tractor with a loader bucket in front and a digging arm behind; a wheel loader keeps only the front bucket and scales it up. Caterpillar describes the class as built for digging, trenching, back-filling and material handling. CASE's 580 Super N Construction King lists 17 ft 11 in (5.47 m) of dig depth and 14,452 pounds of bucket breakout; the 590 Super N weighs 20,532 lb, reaches 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) and lists nearly 16,000 lb of bucket force. Volvo's three wheel loader examples run from the compact L30 at 12,125 lbs through the L60H, 24,251 - 29,983 lbs, to the L120H, 45,635 - 47,620 lbs with buckets of 3.4 - 12.4 yd3. The first group fits water and sewer services, culverts and footings; the second fits stockpiles, hoppers and trucks.
These rates are national. A national rental marketplace's guide to the class, last updated March 2026, averages $582 a day, $1,434 a week and $3,103 a month, and sorts machines by horsepower: 70-90 HP at $350-$500 a day, 90-100 HP at $500-$700 and 100+ HP at $700-$1,000+. Its delivery tiers run $200-$350 roundtrip under 25 miles, $350-$500 for 25-50 miles and $500+ past that. HomeGuide (January 2026) lists one at $200 to $450 a day and $800 to $1,100 a week. Wheel loaders have one figure in our sources: a marketplace listing page's national average of $725 per day, $2,200 per week or $6,100 per month. It is the only wheel loader price we found and is not a dated cost guide, so read it as one data point. Our Amarillo cost page has the side-by-side.
Three sets of rules ride along with a trench job. Texas Utilities Code section 251.151 wants your locate request in no later than the 48th hour before digging, weekends and legal holidays not counted. OSHA's Subpart P sets the trench itself: spoil 2 feet back, a way out at 4 feet, a protective system at 5 feet, all laid out paragraph by paragraph on our excavator rental page. OSHA's rollover subpart at 29 CFR 1926.1000 names rubber-tired front-end loaders among the machines it covers, and 29 CFR 1926.602 requires seat belts on the loaders and other earthmoving equipment it lists; the skid steer and track loader page quotes both rules. Town codes add a layer: Hereford requires a City permit, with sealed engineering plans, for any trench deeper than five feet, and our Hereford page covers the rest of its street rules.
Trenching in Pullman soil meets lime and clay. In the USDA's Pullman description the calcic horizon, the layer where calcium carbonate collects, begins between 76 and 150 cm below the surface, and the Handbook of Texas says that under the plains calcium carbonate "formed a hard caprock of impervious material, commonly called caliche." The Handbook's Amarillo entry counts agriculture and cattle among the city's principal sources of income. The City of Hereford says Deaf Smith County "is annually at the top of the list in agricultural receipts for Texas," and the Handbook lists cattle feedlots and feed and meat processing plants at Dalhart, where U.S. highways 87, 385 and 54 converge; our Dalhart page covers jobs up that way. Farm digging has its own line in the 811 law, set out in the 811 section below.
For a quote we need the work (trench length and depth, the material and where it goes, or the stockpile and the trucks), the ground and access, the address and how long you need the machine. The quote is written and free, and it names the machine, bare or with an operator, the rate period, delivery and pickup by mileage, the damage waiver (10-15% in that marketplace guide) and every tax line. The locate call goes in two business days before digging, placed by us or by you. Operating information from the maker comes with each unit. Clearing and grading a large area is usually a dozer rental instead.
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CASE 580 and 590 Super N, Volvo L30 to L120H
Two CASE Super N models and three Volvo wheel loaders show the spread in depth, weight and bucket size. Volvo prints weight and bucket capacity as ranges, and the table keeps them that way.
| Example model | Machine type | Operating weight | Dig depth or bucket size | Force or tipping load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CASE 580 Super N | Backhoe loader | not recorded | 17 ft 11 in dig depth (5.47 m) | 14,452 lb bucket breakout |
| CASE 590 Super N | Same class, larger | 20,532 lb | 19 ft 6 in dig depth (5.94 m) | nearly 16,000 lb bucket force |
| Volvo L30 | Compact wheel loader | 12,125 lbs | not recorded | not recorded |
| Volvo L60H | Wheel loader, mid-size | 24,251 - 29,983 lbs | 2.1 - 6.5 yd3 bucket | 17,196 lbs static tipping load, full turn |
| Volvo L120H | Wheel loader, large | 45,635 - 47,620 lbs | 3.4 - 12.4 yd3 bucket | 38,218 lbf breakout |
CASE's and Volvo's published figures for each model; Volvo's figures are ranges as Volvo prints them, and depth and capacity on a job depend on the setup. The models stand for their classes and are not an inventory of ours; "not recorded" marks a figure we did not copy from the maker.
Signs a Dig-and-Load Machine or a Wheel Loader Fits the Job
A digging-and-loading machine earns its rent when one unit must dig and load on the same job; a wheel loader earns it when the work is all loading and carrying. These site conditions tell you which, and a couple of them bring a permit or a rule with them.
- A service line or culvert trench has to be dug and then backfilled, with the spoil pushed back in by the front bucket.
- The trench will go deeper than five feet inside Hereford city limits, where the City's code requires a trench permit with sealed engineering plans.
- A stockpile has to go into trucks or hoppers by the bucketful, a job sized by bucket capacity, which Volvo lists at 2.1 - 6.5 yd3 for its L60H.
- The dig runs close to marked utilities, where OSHA wants their exact location confirmed as the bucket approaches.
- The machine will work on a construction site, where OSHA's rollover subpart covers rubber-tired front-end loaders and the seat belt rule applies.
CASE 580 and 590 Super N: Dig Depth, Breakout and the Five-Foot Line
Two CASE models give example dig depths for the class. The 580 Super N Construction King lists a maximum dig depth of 17 ft 11 in (5.47 m) and 14,452 pounds of bucket breakout; the 590 Super N Construction King reaches 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m), weighs 20,532 lb and lists nearly 16,000 lb of bucket force on CASE's 590 Super N page. Reach on paper and depth in practice part ways at the trench wall. OSHA requires a protective system once an excavation reaches 5 feet unless it is cut entirely in stable rock, and its Appendix B adds that "Sloping or benching for excavations greater than 20 feet deep shall be designed by a registered professional engineer," so a trench dug anywhere near the 590's reach needs a shield, shoring or a cut-back slope well before that depth unless it is in stable rock.
Hereford draws its own line at five feet. Its code requires a permit from "Any person who excavates a trench within the city which exceeds a depth of five feet," with two copies of engineering plans and specifications, core samples at least every 700 linear feet of trench, and daily inspections of excavations by a competent person, and section 3.11.001 adopts OSHA's Subpart P tables P-1 and P-2; read the City of Hereford's trench rules before a bid. Weight matters on the way in: Hereford's section 12.06.001 lets the City bar vehicles with a gross weight in excess of 15,000 pounds from certain streets; trucks larger than a one-ton pickup may not run on Main Street between First and Sixth streets without the police chief's special permission, and the same size limit covers Lee Street between First Street and 25 Mile Avenue.
Volvo Wheel Loaders: Bucket Size, Tipping Load and Rollover Rules
Volvo's three examples cover compact to large. The L30 lists 12,125 lbs. The mid-size L60H, per Volvo's L60H specifications, runs 24,251 - 29,983 lbs, takes buckets of 2.1 - 6.5 yd3, makes 166 hp (ISO 9249, SAE J1349 net) and lists a static tipping load at full turn of 17,196 lbs. The L120H runs 45,635 - 47,620 lbs with 3.4 - 12.4 yd3 buckets, 272 hp and 38,218 lbf of breakout force.
Bucket size is only part of the match, so tell us what you are loading (dirt, gravel, rock or snow) and the trucks or hoppers it goes into. A wheel loader falls squarely under OSHA's rollover rule: 29 CFR 1926.1000(a) lists "rubber-tired front-end loaders" among the machines it covers in construction work, and paragraph (e) wants a permanent label on every rollover protective structure that identifies who built it and which machine it was designed for. Section 1926.602 classes loaders as earthmoving equipment, seat belts must meet SAE J386-1969, and a loader with an obstructed rear view may reverse only with an audible alarm or a signaler. On pricing, wheel loaders are the thinnest data in our files: one marketplace listing gives a national average of $725 a day, and no second source was found, so the written quote is the number to rely on.
Texas 811 Law for Trenching: Exemptions, Damage and Penalties
A trench crew should know five parts of Texas Utilities Code chapter 251. Notice comes first: section 251.151 sets a window that opens on the 14th day before digging and closes at the 48th hour before, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays excluded, and Texas811 asks you to renotify if work is delayed beyond fourteen days of the original notice. Marking follows: under section 251.157 a Class A operator marks its line within 48 hours of your notice, weekends and holidays aside, following the American Public Works Association color codes. Exemptions are listed in section 251.156, among them "activities performed on private property in connection with agricultural operations," "routine maintenance by a county employee on a county road right-of-way to a depth of ...
not more than 24 inches," and "routine railroad maintenance within 15 feet of either side of the midline of the track if the ... maintenance will not disturb the ground at a depth of more than 18 inches." Damage has a procedure: under section 251.159 the excavator immediately contacts the line's operator, and section 251.159 also says to delay backfilling at the damage until it is reported and a repair schedule is agreed; Texas811 adds that a hit gas line also means a call to 911. Penalties close it out: section 251.201 sets a civil penalty of $500 to $1,000 for violating sections 251.151, 251.152 or 251.159, $1,000 to $2,000 for a repeat within a year, and $2,000 to $5,000 for a third, though that section does not apply to a homeowner digging on their own residential lot. The digging section of our permit guide puts the 811 steps next to OSHA's.
Dig and Load, or Load Only, Operated or Bare
Two choices settle this rental: which machine, and whether it comes with an operator. The first follows from how much digging the job holds. The second changes the hourly cost and, under the Comptroller's Rule 3.294, how Texas sales tax applies.
Dig-and-load machine
CASE's 580 Super N digs 17 ft 11 in with 14,452 lb of breakout; the 590 Super N digs 19 ft 6 in at 20,532 lb. The marketplace guide prices by horsepower, not by model, from $350-$500 a day at 70-90 HP to $700-$1,000+ at 100+ HP. It suits jobs where a trench and loading share one site: water and sewer services, culverts, footings.
Wheel loader
Volvo's L60H runs 24,251 - 29,983 lbs with a static tipping load of 17,196 lbs at full turn and 166 hp; the L120H takes 3.4 - 12.4 yd3 buckets with 272 hp and 38,218 lbf of breakout. The only average we found, $725 a day, $2,200 a week or $6,100 a month, comes from one marketplace listing. It suits stockpiles, hoppers and truck loading.
With an operator or bare
The marketplace's operator-and-machine package runs $150-$250 an hour ($1,200-$2,000 a day); HomeGuide's February 2026 figure for an operator who comes with the machine is $100 to $300 per hour. Rule 3.294 presumes one charge for machine and operator to be a nontaxable service unless the work itself is taxable; separately stated charges are presumed a lease, the machine charge is taxed, and so is a bare rental.
Whatever you choose goes in the written quote: the machine, operator or not, the period, delivery by mileage, and each charge and any tax line, so two quotes can be compared item by item and the tax treatment of an operated job is visible before work starts.
Backhoe and Loader Rental FAQs
How deep can a backhoe dig?
It depends on the model. CASE lists a maximum dig depth of 17 ft 11 in for its 580 Super N and 19 ft 6 in for its 590 Super N. The rules usually stop you sooner than the arm does: OSHA requires a protective system in any excavation 5 feet or deeper that is not cut entirely in stable rock, and Hereford requires a City permit with sealed engineering plans once a trench goes deeper than five feet.
What does it cost to rent a backhoe by the day or week near Amarillo?
HomeGuide (January 2026) puts the national rate at $200 to $450 a day and $800 to $1,100 a week. A rental marketplace's March 2026 guide averages $582 a day and $1,434 a week, and an older marketplace guide (published May 9, 2022, modified January 28, 2026) ranges from $280 to $1,000 per day and $800 to $3,500 per week. None is an Amarillo price; the written quote lists delivery, the waiver and tax separately.
How much is a wheel loader rental?
One published figure exists in our sources: a national rental marketplace's listing page gives an average of $725 per day, $2,200 per week or $6,100 per month. It is not a dated cost guide and we found no second source, so treat it as a rough marker. Sizes span a wide range, from Volvo's L30 at 12,125 lbs to its L120H at 45,635 - 47,620 lbs, so name the machine class when you ask for a quote.
Should I rent a backhoe or a mini excavator for a water line?
Rent the dig-and-load machine if it must also load and backfill, and the mini if the work is all digging in tight space. Caterpillar's 303 CR mini reaches 104.3 in with the standard stick, and CASE's 580 Super N lists 17 ft 11 in. Angi (July 2026) lists minis from $150 to $350 per day, and HomeGuide (January 2026) prices the larger machine at $200 to $450 a day. Either way, the 811 call comes first.
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