Backhoe update. I'm making progress (Video included)

[Gale Hawkins]

How does it swing?

 

[chaffe]

Looking good mate, the perserverance always pays off! In my opinion a good welder will help you out vastly from what i can see, but im no expert. The good thing about steel is it grinds and welds easy, so things can always be changed!
I made something similar, but it has no been used for its components in another project!

 

[chad22]

How does it swing?

I made a swing hinge out of 2 different sized pipes. Smaller one slid inside a bigger one. It's not smooth operating but it does work.

And it creaks when swinging it back and forth. Some grease may help that though.

And if the grease doesn't help it much. That's okay as long as it works.

I'm gonna brace it some more and add concrete weights on each side on the front to help keep it from pulling itself up while digging.

Funny thing happened the other day. While I was moving the backhoe around. I barely touched the side of my truck with the hitch and it broke in half.

Must have been a crack in the pipe and it just finally gave away. I was shocked and dumbfounded. Never seen that happen before.

So now I'm gonna have to make another hitch for it. lol

Chad

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Use a lot of grease. It will help the squeaks and make it move smoother.

 

[chad22]

Use a lot of grease. It will help the squeaks and make it move smoother.

I'll definitely add some grease. I got to disassemble the stick, and boom again anyway to fix a cylinder mount that I twisted with the tow truck.

So while it's all disassembled, I'll pack that thing with grease. I don't know why I didn't think to do that in the first place. :confused2: lol

Chad

 

[chaffe]

would you not be better making nice thick bushes on the lathe to fit some pins?

 

[chad22]

would you not be better making nice thick bushes on the lathe to fit some pins?

I would of if I had a lathe. That's something I need to get.

I tore it all back down yesterday and greased that pipe up real good and the grease helped tons. I didn't hear anymore squeaking or creaking after that and it moved a lot smoother. :thumbsup:

I need to find my dads tap and die set so I can add some grease zerks. Because that would help a lot and make it easy to grease.

Also while I had it down I welded the cylinder mounts some more. Originally I just had welds on the sides of the mounts. But this time I welded all for corners for extra strength.

I also removed the bolts that were holding the cylinder mounts because they were getting in the way of my hoses. And actually were trying to tear them up.

One of them the wire is exposed a bit, but so far holding. I'll get another one to have on hand. But use that one for awhile or at least until it bursts.

Because those hoses aren't cheap. lol

Chad

 

[chad22]

Well today, I moved the backhoe over to where some concrete was to put one of the concrete blocks on the front for weight to keep it on the ground.

And the swing pipe I had welded to the frame and the stabilizer pipe broke off. What it did was peeled the metal on the pipe apart, the welds held fine. So I had to use the tow truck to tow it back to the welder.

I'm thinking the pipe might be bad and too week or something. Because it wasn't the welds that broke. It was the pipe. All the welds held. I'm gonna see if I can get it fixed enough to get the new water line and phone line trenched in, in a few months.

But I was thinking, that if I need some new metal to fix it, then the cost is just gonna go up. I already got $1,000.00 into the project, with some new steel "Square tubing", 4 cylinders, hoses, fittings, hydraulic filter/assembly, pump and the valve. So I'm thinking of disassembling the backhoe (Probably next summer), and use the parts for a loader on a better lawn tractor. Plus I really need a better bucket as the metal is too flimsy.

I am probably just gonna buy one of these backhoes on ebay. If I have too, I can always hook it to the lawn tractor to keep it from moving around.

MINI BACKHOE, MINI EXCAVATOR, TRENCH DIGGER, NEW !!!!! | eBay

The loader project will probably start next summer.

Chad

 

[evo803]

I already got $1,000.00 into the project

I am probably just gonna buy one of these backhoes on ebay.
Chad

For alot less than 2500.00 you can buy the proper material,welder and redesign your backhoe. You already have figured out where the weak points are, so fixing them should be easy.With the money you save you could start buying the hydraulics for the loader.

 

[chad22]

For alot less than 2500.00 you can buy the proper material,welder and redesign your backhoe. You already have figured out where the weak points are, so fixing them should be easy.With the money you save you could start buying the hydraulics for the loader.

Your right, the money saved is quite a bit. The hunk of money saved, could be put toward the loader, and still have some money for gasoline to play with my new toys.

I got it fixed today and did a little test digging tonight. After bracing it even more, the pipe seems to be holding. I dug a foot deep hole with it, by dragging the bucket.

Though the pump seems to scream a bit and doesn't really have much force. I wasn't quite sure how many gpms the pump is when I bought it.

But I'll probably buy a different pump with more gpms for the backhoe and use the current pump on the loader.

Once I get the bucket cylinder hoses and am able to curl it, I think I should be digging trenches with it soon.

It dug faster and easier than I could with a shovel. I'm gonna wait a bit longer and see if it holds up.

But I'm pretty sure it's now a keeper. I would have took a video of it digging, but it was getting too dark out.

I'll try to get a video of it digging tomorrow. :thumbsup:

Chad