Thumb Woods BH90-X Hyd Thumb pics

[nickel plate]

A great long weekend with the newly rec'd Woods BX90 backhoe. Out the door price for hoe, subframe for Kubota 5240, 12" bucket, mechanical thumb, Kubota dealer installation of all, and pick up and delivery of tractor was $7500. (No sales tax in Oregon.) Here's my report:

Spent the weekend digging small fir stumps out of the forest. Of what fun it is! Son and I were talking about adding lights to the ROPS so we could continue working way after dark. The 12" bucket will work fine for digging the stumps and digging the ditches I'll need for water and electrical.

Only used the mechanical thumb a few times, but since I have grapple on the FEL don't feel too deprived not getting the hydraulic. It is a bit of an exercise to get off and set in in place, then put it back up when digging. Better than not having one at all. I have a whole new appreciation for those of you who REALLY know how to make the hoe work smoothly and effortlessly. I kept my tractor RPMs around 1800 and felt that was plenty of power (and speed) for a beginner.

It is a luxury birthday gift. I am going to need to investigate how you folks are best storing these beasts in your shop.

Here is the Woods BH90-X this afternoon-first time off the NH TC40 and ON THE DOLLY!

 

[BBull]

Here is the Woods BH90-X this afternoon-first time off the NH TC40 and ON THE DOLLY!

Nickel Plate,

That dolly looks GREAT. Both functional and attractive. I'm studying your pics and have a couple questions for you if you don't mind:

- The two triangular shaped openings of the hourglass shape, is that for convenient step in access? Or did you have triangular pieces of scrap to work with? Or?
- Did you make the basic frame out of a 2x6 lumber?
- Looks like you glued (bolted?) a couple of metal wear pads on the front for the BH frame to sit on, correct?
- You've got a ship steering wheel looking thing under the bucket rest . . . form or function?
- Anything else besides the chain on the stabilizers and the two tie downs to help it hold the position?
- Have you find the heighth about right (I'm guessing about 10 inches off the floor?) for putting the BH both on and off?

Congrats, marvelous job. IF you have any add'l specs I'd love to see them. This will be a winter project for me.

BBULL

 

[IslandTractor]

As for greasing, putting zerks on your cyl cross tubes is fine. I does look like
you should be able to convert this to hyd with your own cyl, and not have
to deal with Woods.

I am just beginning to think this through and I am wondering if I might even be able to use my hydraulic topping lift cylinder on thumb. I haven't measured it yet but as I might as well disconnect it when I mount the BH anyway, maybe I could just use it instead of acquiring a permanent cylinder for the thumb. I suspect however that the pins are only 3/4 inch so while I could probably use a bushing adapter on the 1 inch BH mount it would not be as strong as desired. Probably not worth doing that as a dedicated cylinder is not that expensive and would avoid the hassle of switching over.

I'm really not that concerned about the grease points. My Millonzi grapple has no greasable zerks and after four years of hard work there is barely any evidence of wear at moveable surfaces. My intended use for the BH thumb would be pretty limited so that I might open and close the thumb maybe a hundred times a year max. I use the grapple much more extensively and it seems fine.

I like your electric over hydraulic controls and will need to think that through. I was intending a simple two way spool vavle but your solution was very nice especially as it allows a true coordinated pincher movement of the bucket and thumb. Do they close at the same speed? How did you insure that they would?

 

[nickel plate]

Nickel Plate,

That dolly looks GREAT. Both functional and attractive. I'm studying your pics and have a couple questions for you if you don't mind:

- The two triangular shaped openings of the hourglass shape, is that for convenient step in access? Or did you have triangular pieces of scrap to work with? Or?
- Did you make the basic frame out of a 2x6 lumber?
- Looks like you glued (bolted?) a couple of metal wear pads on the front for the BH frame to sit on, correct?
- You've got a ship steering wheel looking thing under the bucket rest . . . form or function?
- Anything else besides the chain on the stabilizers and the two tie downs to help it hold the position?
- Have you find the heighth about right (I'm guessing about 10 inches off the floor?) for putting the BH both on and off?

Congrats, marvelous job. IF you have any add'l specs I'd love to see them. This will be a winter project for me.

BBULL

The two triangular pieces of 3/4" ac ply:
The width of the front 2x8 cross beam is greater than 48" so I had to lay the ply lengthwise thus only covering 48" of the 2x6 center beam. I did shape the ply for maximum step in access, stabilizer arm clearence and structural shear.
Basic frame:
2x8 laminated fore and aft cross beams/2x6 laminated center beam.
Metal wear pads:
The Woods manual says to tilt the bh using the boom and bucket to realease the lower two pins from the subframe. I inlayed on the edge of the dolly two 3"x3"x1/4" Simpson Strongtie anchor bolt washers bedded with Gorilla glue to keep from chewing up the plywood while tilting the bh.
The dory wheel:
Friends would drop by and comment on the progress of the batmobile, soap box derby racer, stealth craft, etc. so to humor them.......
Hold it in position:
The chain on the two stabilizers is to hold them in the full up position in case of any hydraulic leakage as the whole idea of the dolly is to move the bh into a tight space when not in use. The bh will be four corner chained but probably not really necessary as the unit is three point steady as it is. Just some cheap insurance/California earthquakes, tractor bump, etc. I used one of the wheel bolt holes to anchor the 1/2" forged eye hooks onto the platform.
Platform height:
With 6" wheels, the top of the deck is 11". Depending on your tractor's tire sizes, you may or may not need to run the tractor up on blocks (I had to) to get the dolly under the bh. DO NOT use smaller dolly wheels. What I did not try but probably will the next time is to make better use of the stabilizers in lifting the tractor further up (without the tire blocks) for dolly clearence.

 

[dfkrug]

Do they close at the same speed? How did you insure that they would?

No, either the bkt moves or the thumb moves according to which one is
experiencing the least resistance. If they are hanging down, then they
could be moving at the same speed...it is really not an issue.

If you decid to convert a fixed thumb to hyd, you will want a cyl that
gives you just the right fully open and fully closed positions. This means
that even if you can use the boom bracket as-is (looks possible with
the Woods), you will want a custom cyl with the correct stroke. A difference
of 1" in stroke is huge in terms of thumb movement.

 

[Charles Billings]

Island Tractor, I am very interested in your plans to convert from mechanical thumb to hydraulic because I have the mechancial thumb on a Woods BH 90-X. Could you start a separate thread? It would be easier to follow, and keep abreast of, if it had a new thread subject line.

I am also very interested in Nickel Plate's dolly. I would love to do something similar, but need to think what would be appropriate in a storage area that has no concrete floor.

 

[IslandTractor]

Island Tractor, I am very interested in your plans to convert from mechanical thumb to hydraulic because I have the mechancial thumb on a Woods BH 90-X. Could you start a separate thread? It would be easier to follow, and keep abreast of, if it had a new thread subject line.

I am also very interested in Nickel Plate's dolly. I would love to do something similar, but need to think what would be appropriate in a storage area that has no concrete floor.

I am happy to do that however I am leaving on a trip tomorrow AM so will not actually be able to access my tractor or do anything for another 10 days or so. With that in mind I'll start another thread and see how it goes until I return.