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Originally Posted by dfkrug To ans your ?, my longest link is prob over 2 ft, I don't recall. |
Your thumb is similar to what I put on the front bucket of my loader. Same principle and the linkage looks more like what I did than Robs. One thing that I didn't expect was how much preasure is on the linkage that closes the thumb. I used half inch by 4 inch steel and assumed it could handle it.
I was wrong and learned that almost the first time I used it. The first picture shows how it bent. Looking back, it was obvious that I vastly under-estimated how much force is aplied when closing the thumbs. Once the thumb locked the logs in place, the hydraulics were able to just bend and twist the metal like it was nothing.
In the second picture, you can see how I put 3/8 by 2 inch steel on top and bottom of the 4 inch steel to create an I-Beam of sorts. Lots of welding, but after using it for about 100 hours, it's holding strong.
The last picture shows me carrying the top part of a pine tree with it. I can pick up more weight, but balancing it is just about impossible. Most big trees I
cut in half, or if they are realy big, I
cut off the root ball, then
cut the rest in half before moving them. It's turned out to be more sueful than I'd hoped and I'm really using it allot lately clearing up my land and burning.
Thanks for sharing your progress and the great pictures!!!!
Eddie