Building a Small Backhoe

[demigodofa]

I've been building a small backhoe for my tractor that I thought people might be interested in. People have certainly built this backhoe before. But I just wanted to say that the CAD plans that I purchased from P.F. Engineering are amazing. And the gentleman that made the plans who's name is Paul has been extremely helpful with suggestions and tips for building it. All of the previous build is in my thread "New (to me) 7264 Owner". I'm not sure how to move the portion of the build from that thread to a new one in the Build-It Yourself section. I think I'm going to post the remainder of the build pictures as I go here though. I just made a place for myself to sit. I am going to be using the spot where the top link for the 3 pt would normally be mounted. If I pull the top pin the seat tilts forward so I can drive the tractor like normal.

 

[Carol in CA]

Cool! I just bought those plans myself for my JD400. Glad to see how it worked out for you. Wish I was that far along. LOL! And Paul has also been very helpful to me as well.

 

[demigodofa]

Yes, he really spends time in his e-mails. No one word responses from him. I work on it an hour or two most nights. I only wish I had bought the cylinders to have while I was building, so I could test fit or mock them up s I went. Not a huge deal I just have to alter some brackets. Didi you order your bushing stock yet?

 

[Carol in CA]

No. First I want to mount my pump under the tractor as I don't have a rear PTO. I need to get that done so I can start on the front end loader. The backhoe will take a while before I get to it. Unfortunately I don't have that much time to work on it. Too many other things also need my attention.

Is there something about the bushing stock I should know from your experience?

 

[demigodofa]

Paul mentions it right in the plans, but I could only find size on size bushing stock for the 1" pins. I figured I would just use a reamer and take the .010" or so off of the bushing in a pipe stand. Yeah, that's a lot harder than it sounded, I should have just ordered the right stuff online. All of the bushing stock for the 3/4" pins i ordered was over sized properly and it was such a breeze. I would also order all cylinders ahead of time if I had to do it again because I had to make some adjustments. Plus you can't make a mistake if you have it right there for the mock up, your bushing spacing for the cylinders will be perfect.

 

[jaotguy]

bushing stock is usually exact size ... pins are a bit over or under ... there are "reamers" to get almost exact fits ... ( overkill for most FEL and backhoe applications as the grit quickly reams them over sized anyway ... )

so if you can , measure up your pins and buy a cheap drill bit about 1 /32 or 1/16 larger than the pins .... use it to open up the bushings ....

after welding everything up, install grease fittings and re-grease frequently .... to flush out any grit and extend the life of the bushings ...

 

[demigodofa]

10-4. I have a grease fitting on every bushing so hopefully everything lasts once I get 'er going. I'm just waiting on 1 cylinder and then I'm ready to mock up the hoses and valves. So far all of the geometry looks good.

 

[BHD]

In my experience, when I built my loader and back hoe and repaired other items,

I ended up buying a set of adjustable hand reamers, even it all works when dry fitted and before welding the welding usually will change things or a light warp or not keep perfectly in line, and most were welded with a pin in place so keep alignment, I found the reamer a much need item to adjust the bushings for the pins and so the pins would not bind,

on some arm and pin arrangements, they will not bind at one angle and as the unit moves a different angle the pin would start to tighten up some, the hand reamers are usually long enough to reach clear through the two bushings, and keep the alignment,

they work better if one is just trying to take a thousand or two at once , if you try to take a big bite I run out of Horse power,

I felt they were a very worth wile investment

even in the repair of large equipment many times the bushings that are replaced are line boarded to keep alignment correct,

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in most manufactured machinery, the pin is held solid in one segment of the machine and the moving bushing is greased and some times sleeved, with a wear bushing such as a bronze bushing some times steel, , depending on the load it is carrying,

 

[jaotguy]

reamers ... if ya got 'em , use 'em ... if you don't , they can be expensive and hard to track down .... same thing with big drill bits, but easier to find ...

my first BH build lacked the zerk ( grease fittings ), I was in a hurry to get a job done ... oiled it each day of use , but after over 150 hrs of hard use, things were getting sloppy..... so over the winter , it got taken apart and the bushings replaced .... lots of unseen wear on both the bushings and pins without daily greasing ....

 

[swick1]

I've had a lot of luck buying reamers on ebay fir 1/3 the price of new