Build it yourself towable backhoe opinions

[ferrari99]

Do you people that own or operated tow able backhoes wish that they were self propelled?

 

[RBA50]

They are self propelled! Once you get it too the jobsite and move the wheels into "digging" position, you move it around by using the bucket/booms. To move forward you reach out as far as you can with the bucket, lower it to the ground, then push down, which will raise the outriggers off the ground. Then you retract the boom which pulls you forward (also raises the front, so you have to kind of keep lowering as you retract). To move back is the reverse, start with the bucket as close to the machine as you can get. To turn you just raise the outriggers and swing the boom. It only takes a couple minutes to get the hang of it. I'm told you can also remove the wheels and the outriggers and it will drag itself through a narrow gate that self propelled models would never be able to get through. I didn't have any need to try that, so can't verify if it works, but can't see any reason it wouldn't.

 

[notme]

Do you people that own or operated tow able backhoes wish that they were self propelled?

the only one I'm aware of that's build it yourself and self propelled is the caddigger 841. I know some of the commercially bought ones are self propelled as well, as too wether its needed I don't know as I don't have one yet ;-)

https://www.cadplans.com/caddigger-model-841.html

 

[BHD]

I built my hoe, and when said and done, (if I could have found one in good shape or close enough to go after, I could have bought one at a lower cost), and I used 90% used iron,

but by the time I bought valves and cylinders and hoses, and I ended up tractor mounting mine,

I think one needs to guessamate at least $250 per cylinder, and that is the lower cost cylinders and valves

on mine, (I think 7 cylinders) the boom, dipper, bucket, two stabilizers, and two swing cylinders (one valve operates those two cylinders),
and what I remember the original bill come to about $1400 for hydraulics, then I (since tractor mounted), bent two of the original cylinders, so I installed cushion relief valves and two new heaver cylinders,
no problems since, but that was an additional $450.

(if I would have bought one most likely I would not have had a under designed cylinders, and that $1800 would have gone a long way to a good used unit, I got mine done and a few months later there was n auction down the road, about 4 miles and I think the tractor attach back hoe on that sale went for $1200 it has been stored under cover and was all most new in use. and was about the same as mine in capacity,

 

[R W]

BHD
Did you use purchased plans (egCadplans).

 

[BHD]

YES I did buy plans, from cad plans, I down loaded free plans and scowered over drawings of commercial back hoes, and most did not have the reach or size I was wanting,

so I got cardboard, and started to cut out parts, and used 1/4" bolts, to make pivot points and made or used the actual cylinders to check clearances and actions,
what happened is when I put a tractor in the mix, the tractor being a little larger than what the back hoe is, under a few actions the of the bucket and weight of the tractor could over load a cylinder, that was not being used, at that moment, the cylinder diameter was not the problem but the rod/shaft size,

so what I did was blend a number of plans in to my unit, ( the only thing I wish is now that I would have gone a little more and made it bigger yet, and more sized to the tractor, (old JD 4020) it would be great on a mid size tractor, about 40 to 60 hp. but the 90 hp tractor is a little small,

my depth of reach is some times not as deep as I would like, it is about 7 feet, be nice to have 10 foot,

not a good picture of it, but the only one I have pre loaded here,

 

[Verticaltrx]

I have a CAD digger 628 (the smallest one) that I built a few years ago. For my intended purposes it has worked very well. It is a bit slow, but it will dig through clay just fine as long as it's not terribly dry. It won't dig through shale and if the surface is very hard, like a compacted gravel driveway, sometimes it's hard to get that first bite out. It doesn't have the weight to force the bucket 'down' into hard ground, but has plenty of force to curl and draw the bucket back. Once you get a hole started you can tear through some pretty hard soil.

I've used it around the farm to trench in many water and electrical lines, do some ditching, dig out for culverts and other sundry tasks. I think I had about $1500 in the whole unit.




Here is a link to the build thread: CadDigger 628 build