Homemade quick attach

[puckgrinder85]

Oh, well I guess you have to lay out your expenses differently.

Drill- $$
Electricity to run drill- $$
Drill bit- $$
Your time- $$ (may not apply heavily if you're retired)

I guess I see it differently.

[joshuabardwell]

I was thinking yesterday as the DOM is a bit expensive for the pin bosses, I think the pin bosses could be made from say 3/8" plate with a 1" hole bored in it and still perform as they should

The trick is still boring a hole of the precise dimension to allow the pin to fit, but not have too much slop so as to wallow out the hole. I don't have the tooling to do that.

[Burtonbr]

Yea, with hand tools it would be difficult, I didn't think about that. I have a 1 HP bench top milling machine and I'm always looking for an excuse to use it. one big reason I am thinking about building this rather than buying it. Having to buy all the materials it's only about $150 savings but seems like its a doable project.

[puckgrinder85]

Forks added! If I had any more attachments I would have gone with the SSQA.

[Steve in MT]

Puckgrinder, I was surprised how much that I use my forks, very handy, and you're about to find out for yourself. So, what did you come up with on the log splitter valve replacement? I'm going to add a rear remote to my Kubota. I couldnt see any real reason for me to have 2 remotes and only need one to power a down force kit for the post hole auger. I have an empty slot where the draft control would have been so Ill hide the valve there. I bought a power beyond valve from Surplus center and just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before I install it.
Steve

[5picker]

The trick is still boring a hole of the precise dimension to allow the pin to fit, but not have too much slop so as to wallow out the hole. I don't have the tooling to do that.

Joshua... not sure where you're at with your build but if you are still looking for some DOM tubing let me know.
I work at a manufacturing plant and have some drop pieces here and I'd be happy to ship you whatever you need.
I'll even cut to length if you want. (you'll have to split)

I just stumbled onto this thread and don't know exactly what size your pins are but I have LOTS of 1-1/4" I.D. stuff here in a couple of different wall thicknesses. (1/4" - 3/8")
I also have some 1-1/2" I.D. with a 1/2" wall.
I have some 1-1/16" I.D. with a 7/32" wall.
And, some 1" I.D. with a wall of 1/8".

These are all sizes we use here so they're the only sizes I have lying around.
We ship UPS daily and I can get it to you no problem.

Thanks everyone for all the great info on this thread. I plan to make one of these for my NH 7308 loader real soon.

[puckgrinder85]

With the valve we have a local hydraulic guy that we work with that is going to come in and take a look at it and we want his opinion on what the problem is (likely the valve!) and have him make some custom hoses and replace the valve for us, he does a lot of business with us so we want to return the favor. We will probably just run the valve work lines out to two quick couplers in the back as we only use it for a grapple and then I'll use it for a hydraulic top link any other time. We are either using the loader or the 3pt, never do any work with both at the same time really.

The forks work great, i loaded 3500lbs of tires from stacks onto a trailer to go to the dump in about 15 minutes, usually takes 45 minutes by hand and you're dead tired afterwards, then you still have to unload them at the dump..

[joshuabardwell]

Joshua... not sure where you're at with your build but if you are still looking for some DOM tubing let me know.
I work at a manufacturing plant and have some drop pieces here and I'd be happy to ship you whatever you need.
I'll even cut to length if you want. (you'll have to split)

That's a really generous offer, and I'm incredibly thankful. I'm not sure if I can take you up on it, though. I need 1" ID, but I think 1/8" is not going to be thick enough. The factory bushings are 1/4", so that's what I'm planning to use everywhere else. The 1-1/16" 7/32" is darn close, but I'm concerned about the amount of slop that would result (1/16") between the pin and the bushing. I have the impression that something like 10 mils clearance is desirable, and 1/16" is a lot more than that.

[5picker]

That's a really generous offer, and I'm incredibly thankful. I'm not sure if I can take you up on it, though. I need 1" ID, but I think 1/8" is not going to be thick enough. The factory bushings are 1/4", so that's what I'm planning to use everywhere else. The 1-1/16" 7/32" is darn close, but I'm concerned about the amount of slop that would result (1/16") between the pin and the bushing. I have the impression that something like 10 mils clearance is desirable, and 1/16" is a lot more than that.

No problem. Yeah... like I said, I wasn't sure of your pin size. I don't have much in the 1" I.D. department. Most of our stuff uses 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" pins so that's why I have a better selection for those sizes.
Let me know should you decide differently.

[joshuabardwell]

I didn't want to pay for shipping, so I had the bushings come in on the bi-monthly stock order to my dealer. That was today! Here are a couple of the bushings.



For the side plates, I'm working with 3/8" thick by 2 1/2" flat stock. I cut the stock to 12" length using a my new Harbor Freight 4x6 bandsaw, which was the tool that I used this job as an excuse to finally buy. The final straw on the chop saw was that it always arced out at the end of the cut, meaning my ends were never straight.

I drilled pilot holes 8" apart, using the first piece as a jig for the subsequent ones. I hand-aligned the blank with the cut piece and drilled the first hole in the blank, then I stuck a 1/4" bolt through the two holes and drilled through the cut piece's second hole into the blank. This guarantees that the spacing between the pieces is the same.

Next, I went at it with a hole saw. I prefer to pre-drill my pilot holes when using a hole saw in metal because it ensures that the hole is exactly where I want it, and also because the pilot bits that come with hole saws aren't stellar drill bits.



My 1.5" hole saw fit the bushings perfectly, but unfortunately, my holes were not precisely positioned enough to exactly match the pin spacing on the bucket. So I ran to the hardware store and got a 1 5/8" hole saw. This should give just enough slop to allow positioning the bushings, while not leaving so much gap that it ends up being hard to weld the bushings in. I had to go back and enlarge the 1" holes that I drilled, which took some figuring out, since there was nothing to hold the pilot bit in place and keep the hole saw from skipping all over. I ended up putting a second piece of metal underneath and aligning the two so that the pilot hole on the bottom piece caused the hole saw to line up correctly on the top piece.

I've moved my bucket over to my welding station and removed it from the tractor. The next task is to tack the bushings into the side plates. I plan to use the existing pins in the bucket as a jig to ensure perfect spacing. I'm tempted to try to go at it tonight, but I never do a very good job working off a halogen work lamp, and I couldn't take pictures for y'all either.