Backhoe Backhoe broke my thumb!(pic)

[treeboone]

This is a Rankin thumb on a Woods 9000 hoe, powered by a L4610 Kubota. I picked up a boulder that weighed over 500 pounds, swung 180 degrees and stretched out to the full extension of the hoe. The thumb just sorta 'unzipped' along the weld and crumpled up. I thought it looked like it was built out of backyard materials, it sure was no match for the hoe. By the way, I was running at 1700 engine RPM and the hoe was not damaged. Now, if I can find Rowski and get a link to attachment sales, I think I will get a real thumb. Rowski, if you read this, I would like to know what model thumb you bought, it looks like the ticket. Thanks, Regards, treebone

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

treebone,

Thanks for taking the time to post your thumb picture. I have been looking at the Rankin thumb, I think I will stop looking at it. I believe Rowski has the real thing (Hydraulic). In a prior thread I recall he posted a recommendation to go with the hydraulic thumb.

I wonder, if the thumb had been welded across the base in addition to along the sides would it have peeled away? what do you think?

Al

 

[treeboone]

I suppose it would have helped if it had been welded along the bottom also. The weld stayed intact, the plate pulled away from it as if it were very soft steel. This is the first time I really used it hard since I've had it, up to now I used it to pick stumps out after digging them up. I was not overly impressed with it to begin with, but it was already installed and it was too late to turn back. The dealer seemed to be reasonable when I called him this morning, he said to fax him the info on the attachment sales thumb so he could look into it. I told him I would pay the difference, if Rowski's price still holds, I should be able to get it for another 100. bucks or so. Hydraulic would be nice, but I dont think I want to tie up that much more money. Now, if this was a track excavator, a hydraulic thumb would be the order of the day. I can live with a manual thumb, since I have to dismount to move the tractor anyway.

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

treeboone,

What part of north Idaho? I lived in Coeur d' Alene back in the bad old days when North Idaho tried to secede from southern Idaho.

 

[cowboydoc]

Hahaha I remember all that and it still seems like northern and southern Idaho are on opposite ends of the scale. I'm from the buckaroo country in southern Idaho.

 

[GlueGuy]

Where'd the plate the thumb is attached to unzip? Looks like it might be made of too thin material (in addition to the bad weld)?

The GlueGuy

 

[treeboone]

What makes you think we didn't secede??? I live in Priest River, 20 miles west of Sandpoint. We do have our share of characters, Randy Weaver and Mark Fuhrman are probobly the best known. I'm glad to have southern Idaho handy however, narrowly escaped having the Rainbow family gathering up here, I guess they all got stoned down in Lowman and couldn't get out of there. We really don't need 25,000 scatterbrains lost in the woods up here, although the grizzly population could stand to be fattened up some.

 

[treeboone]

It was a combination of shallow weld penetration, mild steel, and poor design. It is more like a project that a high school shop class would put together rather than an engineered attachment. If you go to "Attachments" - "Woods 9000 backhoe" and check the pictures, you will see it on the hoe brand new. farther down the post see reply by Rowski, showing a thumb by Attachment Sales for comparison. That is more like what I wanted originally and will replace with.

 

[Rowski]

Bummer! The thumb did not look that weak in your original post. Hope it didn't hurt the crowd arm on the backhoe. Like I've said I used mine for about 75 hrs moving boulders that the hoe could just barely pick up and have not had any problems yet. Some boulders so big I have to crowd them as close to the hoe as possible to lift them. Hope you found the link to attachment sales in your other post. I have the smallest model they make. Very frustrating to have something new break. Best of luck. Let me know how you make out.

A thought just came to my mind. Do not weld the thumb bracket across the bottom or top. The directions for installing the thumb mentions this. I called the company and they said the weld across the top and/or bottom weakens the crowd arm.

Derek

 

[kubmech]

I think you need to have someone else weld it........After they "give" you a new thumb.