Backhoe Design Ideas

[Iplayfarmer]

I've been daydreaming about building a backhoe attachment for years now, and I think I'm almost ready to start the build. I blame Moss Road for getting me started since his backhoe build thread was (is?) so detailed and helpful. I've also watched the whole series so far on YouTube of a guy building a towable backhoe. This is a very helpful set of videos. I just wish I had the shop and tools that he has. He's not bad on the guitar either.

I've looked at the examples from the P.F. Engineering mini backhoe site, the Ubuildit site, and the CADdigger site. Each plan has parts I like, but I'll probably end up doing a modified hybrid plan. Anyone who has opinions on any of these plans, please chime in. I'm hoping to benefit from the collective wisdom of TBN as I complete the design phase of this project. I want first-hand, real-world opinions.

With that long winded introduction, here's the first question... Some plans have a straight boom, some have a 20 degree or so angle in the boom. What's the advangate to one over the other?

 

[john_bud]

Curved have lower transport height for the depth.

There are probably other benefits too, only the OLD stuff (like I own) have straight booms.

 

[MJPetersen]

One of the main advantages of the curved main boom is the ability to dig deeper closer in -- You do not hit the boom on the edge of hte hole.

Mike

 

[Iplayfarmer]

So, for the backhoe owner/officianados... What do you find yourself needing more often, Depth, or reach?

It seems the curved boom is the trade off between reach and depth.

 

[philbuilt]

Whats your use plan? I keep thinking about converting mine to extend. I don't think that you will loose much reach by curving the boom. Trenching and pond clean out reach is good.

Phil

 

[Airic]

I have a strait boom on my BH and I would opt for reach vs. depth. In most cases I don't dig further than 4' deep. Another pro on a BH is that it's frame mounted and not 3 pt. The ability too move yourselft with the BH is a huge advantage in my eyes vs having to move the tractor to repossition.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Whats your use plan?

The big push right now is to dig a foundation for a deck we're putting out in front of our house. I'll have to dig about 5 feet down. After that I will be digging trenches for water lines, electrical, planting trees, etc. Then I'm going to have a special section of the property that is set aside for digging holes and then filling them back in .

 

[JoelD]

I owned a caddigger 628 and then cut off the motor and frame mounted to my Kubota b6000e.

A guy (Al) in VT built mine, I **** and built the frame mount myself.

I ended up selling the machine with the hoe and loader.

Couple of personal experiences (I used as towable for a couple of years prior to converting to framemount).

1) Super strong backhoe, I actually bent the pin between the boom and the dipper, I ran 3000 psi and that thing had approximately 4000 lbs of ripping force, I literally did not find a rock I could not dig up.
2) Super reliable backhoe, never had a single problem.
3) Super simple backhoe, very straight forward to work on, replace pins and bushings, etc.

I miss that backhoe, it was amazingly strong for it's size, feels as though my 7.5 foot hoe on my Kioti has less ripping power than that little machine did.

I recommend the caddigger product big time and I recommend Al's backhoe building in Vermont (not sure if he's still out there).

Sincerely,
Joel

 

[Sherweld]

A bunch of years ago I built a (freestanding) CAD digger. I used it hard for exactly the things you describe. It was a wonderful addition to my stuff. I even used it for some very interesting applications like being lowered down over a very steep embankment to make emergency repairs on a frozen drain field where the earth was frozen to the point that a pick would just bounce much less use a shovel. I could go on.

The point I'm suggesting is that I am a pretty good scrounger, the engine was free, the steel was either scrounged or surplus at somewhere around $0.10 to $0.20 a pound, the cylinders about 1/2 new price, wheels and tires used, etc. The hoses, controls, bucket teeth, welding rod and paint were about the only things I paid full price for. I did add a couple of things like a roll bar, second bucket, and canopy. It still came out to be about $1500.00 in 1970 dollars.

I didn't mention a couple of special tools like reamers, more hole saw sizes, abrasive saw blades, grinder wheels etc.

I also didn't mention a whole lot of labor, in the hundreds of hours. Don't get me wrong, I love creating things and enjoyed the process totally. But I probably could have spent the time better using the backhoe to do the dirtwork. But at the time money was a consideration plus the price for this same or a similar machine was as I recall in the $4000.00 range

Bottom line, if I was to do it again, I would think very seriously about one of the HF hoes (#65162) which will be on sale with a $400 coupon from (Mar 18 - Apr 5) ($2999.00 -$400.00)

I've used my digger in a whole bunch of applications; by itself, hooked to the tractor, hooked to a pickup (the over the bank adventure) dismantled and re-assembled under a house, in a barn, in a lake and so on. I long lusted for a backhoe attachment, but after I built this, I realized I could do more things by keeping the tractor free, like move the spoil with my tractor, or backfill while digging, or bring gravel for curtain drains, or (more or less) safely put the digger into places I wouldn't dream of putting the tractor with an attached backhoe. Plus the other advantage was that the digger was ready to go at a moments notice with no tractor subframe, no hookup other than a trailer ball.

I can't attest to anything about the quality or reliability of HF's hoe, I've never even seen one of theirs for real. I'm only saying I've had some very positive experience with a towable hoe, and speaking strictly for myself, I would do some checking.

Stay well
Sherweld

 

[john_bud]

So, for the backhoe owner/officianados... What do you find yourself needing more often, Depth, or reach?

It seems the curved boom is the trade off between reach and depth.

The 3 things I wish my BH had more of are;

1) reach
2) reach
3) reach

And my bh's both have 17'9" reach from the swing post and are rated to do a 22' 11" trench 4' deep (by digging under the machine).