I need help with a Blue and Green merger

[sandman2234]

As most of you know, I have a JD2555 tractor, 2wd. It has been a good tractor for me, but I need something to dig out a few ditches and remove some stumps. I am not in a hurry to get the jobs completed, so a small backhoe will work just as well as a big one. I prefer not to grind the stumps as most of them are fat-lighter and could actually be used once they are removed.(firewood starter)
I recently had a friend who was selling a NH backhoe for a neighbor, and before he could get me a price, he went into the hospital, so his son in law put it on ebay. I won it and now need to mount it on my jd. The hoe is a subframe model and is usually mounted on a NH tractor between 18 and 29 hp. The JD is a 70 hp, 6800 pound machine. The hoe is a little undersized for it, but hopefully that won't make a difference.
What I need, since none of the dealerships around here that I have visited, is some good pictures of the mounting and connection points of the backhoe to the tractor and some measurements so that I can begin to make my own. Since I have never owned or operated a hoe that would come apart from it's power source, I have no idea what this is going to require. The manual I got with it is very vague and doesn't help much so I am going to have to rely on you guys for enough pictures of backhoe attachments to get me through this. It also doesn't help that my fabrication partner is going through some health problems and probably won't be much help either.
The hoe is a New Holland 756C originally purchased in 2000. The tractor was sold prior to the sale of the hoe, and I have been unable to track it down as of yet. I keep hoping that maybe the brackets might be found from where it attached to that tractor, but I am not holding my breathe, even though they won't completely fix my problem



David from jax

 

[RobS]

Sorry to hear of your friend's misfortune. Looks like you got a nice machine as a result anyway.

Sounds like you already know that subframe hoes are quite specific to the tractor. If I were in your shoes, I'd sell that hoe and use the money towards the right one for your JD. Maybe some sort of trade?

Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

[sandman2234]

Between me and my fab partner, we have modified some pretty interesting attachments. Mostly for his B6000 as it turns backwards and nobody has a surplus of those attachments to fit our budgets. I was hoping to get a few pictures to see just how they do attach so I can take it from there, mainly because I really don't want to wing it completely after hearing some of the horror stories about what backhoes can do to tractor castings.
My fab partner suggested we just strip an old LF-128 mower to the frame and mount it on there, so it wouldn't be as large and be able to get up into some tighter areas, but I don't want to add another vehicle to my list of things to maintain, although the LF does have a nice Kubota engine and a couple of hydraulic pumps already mounted. I thought about mounting it to the front of the "Ugly Dump Trailer" so I could load things on the trailer easily, and just power it from the tractor that is pulling the trailer.
One thing I don't want to do is modify the existing tractor or the backhoe subframe so that means building custom brackets to fit each one. When I am done with the hoe, I want to be able to sell it. Just looking for ideas to get started
David from jax

 

[dqdave1]

Maybe a subframe from a JD and adapt it to the NH bh.

 

[KubotaSam]

Here is what I did to mount the backhoe to my tractor that was not exactly made to fit.
Back the tractor over the sub frame centering it under the tractor.
Check the front to back position to be sure there is enough rear clearance between the rear of the tractor and the back hoe.
When it looks good jack the sub frame up close to the underneath of the tractor. It looks like your back hoe mounts with the two cross braces on the sub frame. Check what they are near and design a bracket with a c channel that they can fit into that faces the rear of the tractor. One c bracket will mount under the rear axle probably to the under of the draw bar. and the forward bracket possibly to the under of the loader. This is how mine worked. With the size of your tractor I see no problem in mounting the back hoe. You tractor is very large and very strong for the size of the back hoe. If you don't have the metal fabrication skills their are many shops and or friends that could help with the brackets.

 

[sandman2234]

I think KubotaSam is on the same track as I am. I only wish he had posted a few pictures of his modifications.
I do have some reasonable metal fab skills, and my fab partner does most of the welding, as my out of position isn't nearly as good as his. With the current job at hand, most of the parts that will need welding can be done in my favorite horizontal position. I have saws, mills, lathes and other assorted tooling at my disposal, so the biggest problem is my imagination. I even have a small assortment of junk and metal to use. I just want to find some good pictures of how the durn things are supposed to mount up to the tractor so I don't try to reinvent the wheel.
Thanks,
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

Well now I have a problem. I told a friend I bought the hoe, and he said he had one out in the back, so I went and looked at it. Kind of rough, been sitting for years and the hoses are pretty far gone. He didn't really want to get rid of it (till his tractor sells) but I made him an offer. Must have been too much cause he loaded it up and brought it to me (or at least brought it part way). So now I have two of them.
The new addition is a couple of centuries old, probably made to hook up to the 3 pt hitch on a mastadon. There are some International stickers on it, but that might have been from when the world was still flat and the world consisted of a dozen or so countries.
Now if the subframe is too much work, I can spend a couple months changing hoses on the older one and just hang it on the 3pt.
David from jax