BX 24 / Wallenstein Thumb - Caution!

[RayCo]

Mine only hits when I have the thumb folded out of the way, since the thumb would otherwise prevent it from curling all the way in. Although, curled all the way out would do the same thing, you'd think. But, I just took the thumb off and decided to investigate further later, since my current project is all digging. I'm very disappointed though.

 

[Volfandt]

Went out and snapped a pick of the Bro Tek thumb mounted on my BX23's dipperstick and when compareing it against the pic by Rayco, one visably huge difference between the BX23 & BX24's dipperstick is in the position of where the fittings mount on the dipperstick's ram.
On the BX23 the fitting appears to protrude out from the ram at a 90 degree angle to the dipperstick whereas on the BX24 the fittings appear to be closer to a 45 to 60 degree angle which puts the fittings dangerouely closer to the thumbs mounting brackets. On the BX23 theres a couple inches of clearance.
A lesser appearant difference is how the Bro Tek thumb mounts to the dipperstick. The taper on both dipperstick's is such that it will not allow the Bro Tek thumb to slide any further back once it's fastened down. When the upper and lower bolts are fastened securely there will be no further movement of the thumb bracket due to their spacing.
There may be more differences but it's hard to tell. But from the pic's it seems the main difference is in the rams and at what angle the fittings fasten to them.

 

[acohen100]

So has anyone figured out a fix for this? I just torqued up my bolts as hard as I could but I'm not entirely reassured by that. I was thinking about drilling a hole through the dipper and putting a lynch pin through just above the trailing edge of the bolt-on portion of the thumb to definitively prevent it from migrating up. Anyone think that's a bad idea? Are there any hydraulic lines hidden in there that I might hit while drilling?

 

[hill]

Guess you can't invert the ram to put the fitting higher, eh? If not then here's a second vote for weld tacking the bracket in place.

 

[Kevin Beitz]

I wonder if a split collar would stop it from sliding ???

 

[DKnocking]

Prior to having the dealer pick it up for repair, I cranked the thumb bolts as tight as I could get them and it still slid back up. I had marked the safe spot on the boom, checked it, went to move 1 rock (probably a couple hundred pounds) and it slid up and I snapped another connector.

This was the dealers' fix for the sliding thumb. By putting the stops on it, both sides (as oppossed to welding the thumb itself) I can still remove the thumb but it doesn't slide up.

Worked it hard today and didn't have to worry!

So definitely weld.

I think if you drill a hole you would need to reinforce it or it would elongate with hard work. You may be able to see the wear spot in my boom about 1-1/2 inch above the thumb it is abot 1/4" deep from the thumb movement prior to the stops being added.

BTW- Dealer picked it up Wednesday, brought it back on Thursday. No charge!

 

[acohen100]

Thanks for the update. I am not the welding type so drilling holes and shoving in a lynch pin is definitely more my speed. I'm nervous about using my thumb until I do something about this.

 

[Roadkill95]

DKKNOCKING
Good thing no charge. Is that the best looking job that they could do, functional yes, a mess yes.
IF you need anymore welding or fabricating I think I would find another dealer. JMO

 

[DKnocking]

It is a BACKHOE, It was bought to WORK. FUNCTION is what it is all about!

 

[Roadkill95]

Like I said JMO. I just would have to wonder if the work that shows looks like that, what does the work that doesen't show look like.
It just looks like something that old farmer Brown pulled out of the pile to plate a crack with.
Would have taken 20-30 min to fab a plate that would fit the cotour of the thumb, run some nice beads and it would look like its suppose to be there. Again JMO

Just a BH? Just has to function? why spend all the smoke for a Kubota?
Sorry for the rant in my line of work there are alot of hackers out there that shouldn't be.

Now 1 question? Should a good quaility Kubota dealer compete for the same amount of dollars as a guy that does this kind of work?