New Holland’s backhoe loaders are the machines that do most of the small excavation work in Europe: a tractor-style chassis with a loader bucket on the front and an excavator arm on the back, able to dig, load and travel on the road. The 555E and the LB series belong to that line. The sources used for this page describe the company, not the models.
New Holland backhoe loaders at a glance
| Maker | New Holland, construction equipment division |
|---|---|
| Type | backhoe loader |
| Layout | loader bucket at the front, excavator arm at the rear |
| Models covered | 555E and the LB series |
| Typical work | trenches, foundations, road repairs, site clearance |
| Group | CNH Industrial, after the 1999 Case merger |
| Construction side | built up around the 1998 Orenstein & Koppel purchase |
| Company founded | 1895, New Holland, Pennsylvania |
| Technical data | not given in the sources used here |
| Film | the old video for this record is no longer available |
The sources describe the company and its construction business, not the backhoe models; no model data is given because none is in them, and the old video is dead.
History of the New Holland backhoe loaders
The most useful machine on a small site
A backhoe loader is two machines in one: a front loader for carrying and a rear excavator arm for digging, joined on a chassis that can drive itself to the next job at road speed. That combination made it the standard machine for builders, utilities and councils, and almost every construction equipment maker offered one. New Holland’s line ran from the 555E to the LB series, and the same dealers sold the company’s farm tractors.
Construction alongside farming
The backhoe loaders are part of the earthmoving business New Holland built next to its agricultural range. That side of the company expanded sharply in 1998 with the purchase of Orenstein & Koppel, the German construction equipment manufacturer, whose North American operations were sold on to Terex. In 1999 New Holland merged with Case to form CNH, later CNH Industrial, and the two brands kept selling tractors and excavators under their own names, with much shared engineering underneath.
What the record contains
The old video attached to this record is dead, and the encyclopedic sources used here do not describe the 555E or the LB models individually: there is no entry for dig depth, engine or production years, and this page does not invent them. What the sources do establish is where these machines came from — a farm equipment maker that became a full-line supplier of earthmoving machinery as well.
Design and features
- Two machines in one: loader bucket at the front, excavator arm at the rear.
- Road legal: drives between jobs instead of being trailed.
- Model line: from the 555E to the LB series.
- Construction division: part of New Holland’s earthmoving business.
New Holland backhoe loaders versions
- New Holland 555E: an earlier backhoe loader of the line.
- New Holland LB series: the later models, sold with loaders and extendable arms.
- New Holland excavators: the crawler machines for bigger digging jobs.
The rest of the construction range is on the New Holland D series and New Holland W series pages. More machines are in the New Holland section.
Sources
- New Holland Agriculture, English Wikipedia: Orenstein & Koppel purchase, company history
- New Holland, Dutch Wikipedia: construction business, shared engineering
