Traction New L47 owner questions: widening tires, thumb, brush hog

[DanHen]

Can’t help with the wheel spacing as I’m on flat land but will throw in my 2 cents on the thumb and bush hog. I have an L-47 too, my first tractor, and have the Kubota thumb. Although the thumb is useful, it has its downside too. The main one being the big expense. I’ve seen guys using a fixed thumb for the same duties. Since you have to curl the bucket to use the thumb either way, IMO the fixed might be the better value. Additionally my thumb bleeds off very fast (dealer says it’s normal...) which is more of an annoyance than a problem.
As for the bush hog, I bought EA’s 72” Extreme and it does a great job. Cut down 7 acres of crazy 5’ tall brush and scrub in about 12 hours with no issues. Got mine in less time than expected and they even painted it orange for me

The L-47 is a great machine , wish I had more land to get out and play on more often!

 

[JWR]

Don't spend a dime on front spacers. Fallon explained it. They will do you no good whatsoever. Especially not $500 worth of good. The rear ones are well worth it.

 

[crmorse]

I'll second DanHen on the hydraulic thumb. It's absolutely great for quick grabbing a root or something but do any heavy lifting you actually have to curl the bucket against it. Mine leaks like crazy too and I think I've discovered the cause. The bucket curl cylinder is more than strong enough to "override" the thumb cylinder. In other words, force it to close without operating the valve. My theory is that is damaging the internal seals. So when I use mine I'm very careful to not curl too hard.

In that respect, a mechanical thumb would be more useful because you could use full curl force for gripping instead of just whatever strength is left in the hyd thumb cylinder. The downside of course is mechanical is slow to open/close.

 

[Jchonline]

I'll second DanHen on the hydraulic thumb. It's absolutely great for quick grabbing a root or something but do any heavy lifting you actually have to curl the bucket against it. Mine leaks like crazy too and I think I've discovered the cause. The bucket curl cylinder is more than strong enough to "override" the thumb cylinder. In other words, force it to close without operating the valve. My theory is that is damaging the internal seals. So when I use mine I'm very careful to not curl too hard.

In that respect, a mechanical thumb would be more useful because you could use full curl force for gripping instead of just whatever strength is left in the hyd thumb cylinder. The downside of course is mechanical is slow to open/close.

I looked in the L47/M62 User Manual and it doesnt mention backhoe operation at all. That seems strange. Anyway I wondered if there are any recommendations for picking things up with the hyd thumb...for example should your curl the thumb to the bucket or vise versa?

 

[HighlandFarm]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I just ordered 6" spacers from BORA for the rear, nothing for the front.

@Jchonline, I have the same problem. Nothing at all about the backhoe in the owners' manual. We need to find the separate owner's manual for the BT1000 backhoe. Anybody know where to find it? Doesn't seem to be easily available online.

I found these two excerpts about installing/removing the BT1000 backhoe in another thread on TBN, but nothing else. Any ideas?

View attachment BT1000 Install.pdfView attachment BT1000 Remove.pdf


Thanks!

 

[rScotty]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I just ordered 6" spacers from BORA for the rear, nothing for the front.

@Jchonline, I have the same problem. Nothing at all about the backhoe in the owners' manual. We need to find the separate owner's manual for the BT1000 backhoe. Anybody know where to find it? Doesn't seem to be easily available online.

I found these two excerpts about installing/removing the BT1000 backhoe in another thread on TBN, but nothing else. Any ideas?
View attachment 560024View attachment 560025
Thanks!

The M59 Manuals and my own 10 years of experience might help with some of the thumb questions. Unfortunately there isn't anything in the BH Manual about using the thumb.

You're on the right track with the manuals; when I bought the M59 it came with an operator's manual for the M59 tractor&loader and a separate Operator's Manual for the BT1200 Backhoe. The Parts Manuals are separate too.

In the Backhoe Manual there is a good section with detailed illustrations for mounting and dismounting the hoe, but only this one single sentence that applies to using the thumb at all....and it is really on the aux. hydraulics, not the thumb per se. On page 13 there is a warning NOT to hold the aux. cylinder valve open once the aux cylinder (that's the thumb cylinder) has reached the end of its stroke because forcing oil through the relief valve for "extended periods" will overheat the oil.

I'm not sure what "extended periods" means, but it must mean a longer time than I do that because what is says not to do is exactly what I do. I keep pressure on the thumb constantly by using my foot to hold the thumb valve open in just the way that they say not to when I'm building stone walls. I think nothing of holding pressure on the thumb for about 10 to 15 seconds while I rotate the bucket out to place a stone accurately. Doing that keeps the rock clamped while the bucket rotates out. During this time I assume that the thumb circuit relief valve is in full operation. So far, no problems. I usually run about 1500 RPM when doing rock walls with the BH & thumb.

Yes, the bucket rotation is more powerful than the thumb, and that makes it possible to curl the bucket against the thumb until the bucket is completely rotated and has overpowered the thumb to force it from full open all the way back to the fully closed position. I rarely curl the bucket against the thumb for that distance, but I'm sure I have done it. Normally there's just no need to do so. When picking something up I normally curl the bucket and extend the thumb simultaneously and the typical result is that as I grasp the object the thumb is forced back about six inches or so by the bucket. That gives me a good strong grab. The clamping motion is strong enough at idle to shear some 4 to 6" pine saplings.

BTW, the thumb will pinch down hard enough to hold a rock out just about indefinitely. See the attached photo. So if yours doesn't, you can probably make it do so. I guess it would slacken its grip eventually, but if I'm holding a rock out with the thumb I expect it to hold that rock firmly clamped while I get off and measure, or take pictures, or consider a rock....or do something else for fifteen minutes or so. I'd never, ever say to trust any hydraulic system completely - my assumption is always that it is going to fail right now in the worst way possible - but so far it has held longer than we needed it to and no signs of letting go.
rScotty

 

[HighlandFarm]

Thanks everyone for the advice on spacing out the wheels. I finally received the 6" spacers from BORA and got them on my L47. Couldn't be happier - they definitely add confidence on the side slopes. Photo attached.



As for the BT1000 backhoe manual, does anyone know where it's available online? Or could you send as an attachment? I found the manual for the L47 itself but not the backhoe.

Thanks!