montelatici
Platinum Member
Ok, as promised.
The thumb arrived in box full of shredded paper see pix.
I saw that a nut was missing on one of the bolts (the unit comes assembled with the bolts and nuts loosely screwed together) and thought "oh no". Threw the box away in the trash and was going to the hardware store to get a nut. Then I thought to look in the box and sure enough it had fallen off the bolt.
No instructions and I thought, oh ****! After looking at the thing a bit it was quite easy to figure it out and the width of the boom and the pivot on the boom (see pic) makes it easy to fit the thumb at the right height on the boom. It is quite heavy this thumb, and it is a little difficult to hold it up and insert a bolt but after a few tries holding it up with my thigh as I inserted one bolt to hold the thing in place. I then inserted the top plate (nice touch as it protects the boom from the bolts) and inserted the other bolt through with the top plate, removed the first bolt that I used to hold the thumb on and I then lowered the other end of the top plate to insert the second top bolt. There is a bottom bolt that is already on the thumb on the bottom.
I centered the thumb using the round pivot cutaway on the the thumb as a guide but you only have an inch or so of play, so it probably doesn't matter, it just looks better. I had it on in about 15-20 minutes.
To work:
Went to pick up a tree I have wanted to move over a fence into a wooded area. Drove up to the tree (with branches) about 8 inches in diameter and picked it up with outriggers. It is a little hairy to use the BH without the outriggers but, it worked. I easily picked up the tree and lifted it over the fence and dropped it.
I then decided to clear some brush with the thumb. Does a good job, but slow. I think a grapple on the loader is better for this.
Went to an area where I am removing 20 year old wild rose and other deep root bushes along a fence line. Using the outriggers I used the thumb to pick up brush (roots and all) I had removed and other wood, branches, trunks etc. I was also able to pull out smaller llive brush roots and all with the thumb. I crushed the bucket pretty hard against the thumb and the thumb suffered no consequences.
I retracted the thumb to remove a large ornery root with the BH. The retracted thumb proved useful as it provides a serrated edge on the boom which will hold and allows you to pull things when you close the bucket around them . As someone else said, it also protects the boom.
I recommend it as a very inexpensive enhancement to the BH.
The thumb arrived in box full of shredded paper see pix.
I saw that a nut was missing on one of the bolts (the unit comes assembled with the bolts and nuts loosely screwed together) and thought "oh no". Threw the box away in the trash and was going to the hardware store to get a nut. Then I thought to look in the box and sure enough it had fallen off the bolt.
No instructions and I thought, oh ****! After looking at the thing a bit it was quite easy to figure it out and the width of the boom and the pivot on the boom (see pic) makes it easy to fit the thumb at the right height on the boom. It is quite heavy this thumb, and it is a little difficult to hold it up and insert a bolt but after a few tries holding it up with my thigh as I inserted one bolt to hold the thing in place. I then inserted the top plate (nice touch as it protects the boom from the bolts) and inserted the other bolt through with the top plate, removed the first bolt that I used to hold the thumb on and I then lowered the other end of the top plate to insert the second top bolt. There is a bottom bolt that is already on the thumb on the bottom.
I centered the thumb using the round pivot cutaway on the the thumb as a guide but you only have an inch or so of play, so it probably doesn't matter, it just looks better. I had it on in about 15-20 minutes.
To work:
Went to pick up a tree I have wanted to move over a fence into a wooded area. Drove up to the tree (with branches) about 8 inches in diameter and picked it up with outriggers. It is a little hairy to use the BH without the outriggers but, it worked. I easily picked up the tree and lifted it over the fence and dropped it.
I then decided to clear some brush with the thumb. Does a good job, but slow. I think a grapple on the loader is better for this.
Went to an area where I am removing 20 year old wild rose and other deep root bushes along a fence line. Using the outriggers I used the thumb to pick up brush (roots and all) I had removed and other wood, branches, trunks etc. I was also able to pull out smaller llive brush roots and all with the thumb. I crushed the bucket pretty hard against the thumb and the thumb suffered no consequences.
I retracted the thumb to remove a large ornery root with the BH. The retracted thumb proved useful as it provides a serrated edge on the boom which will hold and allows you to pull things when you close the bucket around them . As someone else said, it also protects the boom.
I recommend it as a very inexpensive enhancement to the BH.