Rebuilding John Deere 7 Backhoe and need measurements

[bankston]

One other suggestion... if you stay with the #7 take the valve stack apart and rearrange the valve order to convert it from the retarded ISO pattern to the SAE pattern.

Is this a personal preference based on backhoe operating experience, or just common sense? I have never ran a backhoe, so I wont know the difference either way. And if is just personal, I will probably leave it match the decals under the the levers, as they will be new. Im gonna look into the difference in between the two configurations and if it seems like the obvious choice, im gonna look for a newer JD decal that matches the SAE.

 

[bankston]

Wow, people get heated on the ISO vs SAE control topic! Im gonna leave it alone, especially when ISO is referred to as "the John Deere pattern". Thanks for the info, Mechanos.

 

[Mechanos]

Wow, people get heated on the ISO vs SAE control topic! Im gonna leave it alone, especially when ISO is referred to as "the John Deere pattern". Thanks for the info, Mechanos.

I had never run one before I got my #7. I played on it for several hours and no matter how much I practiced, it was like I had palsy. I was about to give up on it altogether. I switched the controls to SAE and within minutes I was digging perfect flat bottom trenches. It's just a more intuitive, natural feeling pattern. I talked to about 25 different operators that run excavators and backhoe every day for a living and not one of them had anything good to say about the ISO pattern and all preferred the SAE pattern. Many of them even referred to it as the "industry standard" for excavator controls.

Forget the decals... they're just there to let you know whether the machine is ISO or SAE when first sit on the machine. When you operate it, you're looking at the bucket while moving the controls by muscle memory based on what you need the bucket to do. When you're running your loader, do look at the decal to figure out how move the controls? No, your hand just knows what to do. When you're running the hoe, you're moving the boom, dipper, bucket and swing all the same time to make graceful, fluid motions. There is no way you can do that if you're looking at the decals... you can't look at four different things at once.

I still have ISO decals on my machine even though it is plumbed for SAE. It's not a problem because I'm never looking at the decals. My eyes are on the bucket.

 

[robpm]

Hello all, I finally pick up a #7 backhoe for my 855. But the attachment is in very poor shape , and is missing a bucket. Online parts guides do not list prices for a bucket so I am planning on building a few different sized buckets if the price is too far out, or buy one size and make a few more from its mounting specs. I am also in need of a few measurements on the main frame to square up some shotty repairs, so I am hoping to find a like minded JD 7 hoe owner within a few hours drive of NW Pa that would let me take some measurements and pics for decal placement. If anyone can help, please PM. Thanks.

See my PM to you.

 

[brown40]

Have you checked with JD about old inventory/do they have the dealer network to pull up information?

Each fall one of the JD dealers posts "dusty old stock"; random bits of everything (JD & other lines) they have had in their warehouse(s) for years in some cases... seems like there were a lot of #7's made to have no support or old parts about.

When I bought, ongoing support & availability of parts--even old parts--were discussed as being one of JD's strongest selling points... seems like that's not entirely accurate.

 

[techwrtr2]

I'll say this... should I ever get a hoe on my 855, it WILL remain ISO pattern. But... that's due to the fact that I've only operated hoes in that pattern from the Blackhawk on my Beaver to the old 455 crawler/loader to the excavators I've used. Whether one pattern is better than the other is moot if you try to switch off between them and get confused.

 

[dfkrug]

Whether one pattern is better than the other is moot if you try to switch off
between them and get confused.

Yes, indeed. Kinda like switching between a 2-pedal HST, and a rocker-pedal.

 

[techwrtr2]

In that case, you only need remember what's up for one limb. For the hoe, it's two.

 

[Mechanos]

Just for information... when I checked this morning, there were 69 9" buckets in the warehouse available for order. Part number is BM19557. I was quoted the low low price of $422.

 

[bankston]

Just for information... when I checked this morning, there were 69 9" buckets in the warehouse available for order. Part number is BM19557. I was quoted the low low price of $422.

That number lists as a 9" bucket, but isn't the number listed for a 7. The 9" for a 7 is bm17636. Thats the number my local JD parts counter said NLA. I was able to conform this number with pics from a eBay auction I missed. The good thing is that there were two part numbers painted on the bucket, the JD and the Amerequip. That, along with the hydraulic cylinder specs helped me id the 7 as a Amerequip 80. The bushing arrangement confirmed it as a late serial numbered build 80A. Amerequip still has all the bucket sizes available around the $400 mark. With a new bucket, and a mechanical only restoration, and repairing an ovaled out stabilizer housing mounting hole, I am still around $2k.