Stealing a $69,750 backhoe isn't for fainthearted crooks.
Every cop car ever made can catch you. And even when you have permission, driving one of these rigs can be unnerving.
First, haul yourself over those four-foot tires and into the little glass cabin with its single bucket seat and small steering wheel. Then slot the universal key into the toggle-switch-heavy dash on your right side. Turn the key, light up that big diesel and you're ready.
Engage the gear lever (there's no manual clutch), flip off the brake switch, select "forward" on the steering column stalk and you're off.
Not very comfortably. And not very fast.
Every little road undulation feels like you've been launched in a space shuttle. And don't get too confident with that steering. Seems like about 19.5 turns lock-to-lock.
Your head is about 11 feet off the ground. And under you is 18,600 pounds of John Deere.
Backhoe owners have tricks to outsmart crooks. The rig I drove - a PennDOT-owned backhoe at the Media maintenance office - has two padlocks on the hood and other gadgets that equipment manager Steve Pachuta and operators Bob Loder and Joe Zielke would rather keep secret.
