Woodmaxx 3 pt hitch Backhoe WM-8600 comments

[Herkypilot]

I recently purchased this backhoe and received it about 3 weeks ago. The price included free liftgate delivery to my home address and it was delivered quickly and in good shape. I ordered it with the optional hydraulic thumb. It was well packed on a pallet and wrapped in cellophane. All parts where there, but the assembly manual didn't include an inventory. I only knew all the nuts and bolts were there after assembly was complete.


The first step is to attach both stabilizers. The bottom connections were straight forward, but hooking up the ends of the hydraulic cylinders was impossible without extending them slightly. I tried pulling on them with no hoses attached just to see if I could extend them even a 1/2, but they didn't budge. You have to hook up the hoses, fill the hydraulic tank and connect the PTO driven pump to get this accomplished.

I had to tie up the left side. These hydro hoses were the right length, but for some reason, the right side was about twice as long. They would be too long and get in the way. I just ended up stuffing the slack back up into the console.


Filling the Hydro tank took a little while since the fill hole is about 1 inch. All my funnels except one didn't fit the hole. I had one of those funnels with a long tube on it which is removable. This one was small enough to fit, but it took me about 30 minutes to pour about 4+ gallons in.

You must add 12 oz. of gear oil to the pump before attaching. With the PTO pump attached, I could finally raise the hoe to attach it to the tractor. It took a good 10 minutes with the tractor running at idle and refilling the hydro tank to get things working fully.

 

[Herkypilot]

As I was assembling hoses, I noticed the paint on the hydro tank was not adhering properly. In certain areas it was flaking off in big pieces. This is the only part that I found this on. Improper metal prep before painting I suppose. I cleaned up those parts with a little sand paper, tape and a rattle can. Unfortunate, but I can't exactly send it back. I will contact the company to let them know about it though.

I was able to get the lower 3 PT arms connected without issue, then I worked on the solid top link I think the solid piece is a little short for my tractor, but I was able to make it work. I'd prefer one that is about 5" or 6" longer. I'll have to ask Woodmaxx if they have what I need.

One other thing - when attaching the top link pieces to the hoe side, make sure the bolt is passed from right to left so the hydro tank cap clears the bolt head.

It took a little jockeying as you must have at least two bolts holding this together and get the two vertical supports put on. The directions just show you one picture and says "every tractor is different, so you'll have to figure it out for yours". Thankfully, I have hydro tilt which made it easier to line up the holes.

It also directs you to have the lower 3pt arms level with the ground. This is where there's a problem with solid piece being too short. Here you can see that the hoe would be leaning back (toward the tractor) which raises the two supports too high and it doesn't make proper contact with the ground.

My compromise, for now was to lower the 3pt which allowed the hoe to rotate back (away from the tractor) to make it more level.

 

[Herkypilot]

Now it was time to put the seat on. The base bracket went on and then the seat, but what I discovered is that while the factor bent the base bracket properly, they didn't grind off both ends of the bend which caused it to be too wide for the seat to fully "seat" onto the bracket.

I was able to mount it in the aft most hole without interference which ended up being okay for me anyway. The seat is on tracts too which are adjustable.
Now it was time to grease all the zerks which was pretty easy and worked as advertised. While doing this I notice two things. I couldn't find any way to grease the main pivot pin. It looks like it's suppose to have a zerk on the end, but wasn't completed. I'll ask Woodmaxx about that too.
After thinking about this one, I probably have to lower the dipper to look inside for the zerk.

The other thing I spotted was the lower main rotating point "pin" didn't have a nut and bolt holding it in place. Easily fixed with nut and bolt on hand, but I envision that could have been a major problem it that one slipped out!!!

The upper one had the nut and bolt.

 

[Herkypilot]

I was finally ready to test it out . Everything worked as advertised except I couldn't figure out how to get the hydro thumb to move. Nothing in the manual about it. I did have the extra lever, but when I moved it, nothing happened. I figured it out by accident.
the lever is just a diverter so that the right stabilizer lever activates the thumb. I was able to get some seat time with it to dig out an old pine stump that had been in my way for years. The hoe did a fine job and was very strong. One thing I saw was that downward pressure with the hoe raised the 3pt a bit. It's suppose to have no play in it. I think what I'm going to try is a turn buckle hooked from the hoe side of the top link bar to my draw bar clevis to remove all play and take some of the strain out of the tractor side of the top link. We'll see.

After a post-inspection of the hoe, I notice the top hydro piston was contacting metal when it's fully curled. I grinded out a pocket for it so it wouldn't touch. No noticeable marks on the piston. Caught early I suppose.


Overall, I suppose it was worth it for the price. I'm not disappointed with the performance. It digs like a champ.

 

[Luremaker]

Looks good... thanks for posting.

 

[pwright]

Thanks for the photos and review!

 

[Herkypilot]

No problem. I was glad to post. Sort of my way to pay back the community for all the information I've gathered on this site. I tried to do research on this site about this piece of equipment, but couldn't find anything so I was taking a bit of a leap of faith. I also have the Woodmaxx WM-8H hydraulic wood chipper. I bought both at the same time. I really like the chipper too. The company has been receptive to my comments. I'm still waiting on an answer about the longer solid top link piece. They may have to order it.

HP

 

[Jack Yuan]

Hi, how about your WM-8H working? I'm quite curious it work well or bad.
can it chip the wood diameter up to 8 inch or 10 inch? how its hydraulic roller work? any remark about it will be helpful for me.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Herkypilot]

Hi, how about your WM-8H working? I'm quite curious it work well or bad.
can it chip the wood diameter up to 8 inch or 10 inch? how its hydraulic roller work? any remark about it will be helpful for me.

Thank you in advance.

I only had an opportunity to use it for about 30 minutes on some pine branches which were as big as 6 inches diameter. My 50 hp tractor gave no indication of strain with that branch. I think the heavy flywheel helps with that quite a bit. I believe the reason people get the 8 inch chipper is that it doesn't require as much trimming off smaller branches before you feed them in. The comments I've read is that most would use 8 inch material to burn rather than chip. The hydraulic feed works great so far. Just start to feed a branch and walk away; the chipper does the rest.

HP

 

[Jack Yuan]

Enjoy it, it's a good product. If you meet any problem with it, I'm interesting in what's the problem is.

I only had an opportunity to use it for about 30 minutes on some pine branches which were as big as 6 inches diameter. My 50 hp tractor gave no indication of strain with that branch. I think the heavy flywheel helps with that quite a bit. I believe the reason people get the 8 inch chipper is that it doesn't require as much trimming off smaller branches before you feed them in. The comments I've read is that most would use 8 inch material to burn rather than chip. The hydraulic feed works great so far. Just start to feed a branch and walk away; the chipper does the rest.

HP