$1000 TNT (dual tilt) for BX22

[jnjpream]

When I searched for a TNT system for my BX22, I was pretty shocked by the cost of them. So I did some homework to find out what it really costs, and built one myself for just under $1000.. Some people will shy away when I say I built it myself, but stick with me here because it really isn't that bad!! And the welding is included in the cost.

Here are the details for those who may be interested. I'll break it apart into a few different posts.. This first post has a break down of the cost and some information I used in deciding what to use. (See the attached file.)

In the following posts, I've cover the details I used to select the parts and put them together.

I hope somebody out there finds this stuff useful.

Jeff

PS. Can somebody tell me how to inline pictures instead of attaching them?

 

[jnjpream]

The first thing I needed to do was determine what the specs were for the cylinders that I would need.. Let the fun begin.

I wanted to keep the link stroke, min, and max lengths the same as or better than OEM. So I measured distances from pin center to pin center for the top and the adjustable side links in both the retracted and extended positions. And since the cylinders would only be replacing the bodies of the links and not the ends, I measured the lengths of the ends from pin center to where the body started. Subtracting the length of the ends from the retracted measurements gave me the retracted length I needed for each cylinder. Simple enough.. Well I thought so.

Determining the cylinder diameter was pretty straight forward. The tractor manual gave me an idea of the 3pt capacity (have to tweak it a bit to find the load at the link points, there is a formula somewhere). With that info I looked at the pull and push specs for 1.5" and 2" and determined that the pull of the 1.5 was just too weak to handle a full load on the 3pt.

Most cylinders come with ends already on them. So I had to find specs for each cylinder that included measurements of the ends. Good cylinder specs (for my purposes anyway) also include distance from the ends to the cylinder body. And all of the cylinders I looked at varied in end lengths and rod lengths. So this turned out to be the most difficult task of the whole project..

In the end what mattered the most was finding a 2" cylinder with the stroke I needed to meet or beat the OEM specs and since the oem length was really short it had to have the shortest body length possible.

Although for the top link, I did have to vary from Kubota OEM measurements because the OEM stroke was 7" The only cylinders available w/o special ordering had 6 or 8 stroke. So you either had a retracted length 1 shorter with a short stroke, or 1 longer with a long stroke. Since I had added 3+ inches by using quick attach lower link ends, I chose the longer cylinder.

I found that Bailey had the cylinders with the shortest bodies, and their specs gave info for most all measurements with a clear diagram of what each measurement was measuring. Some simple math and I decided on the 2"x8" WP for the top link and a couple 2"x4" WT for the side links.

 

[jnjpream]

The next item needed was a valve..

It just happened that Bailey also had the least expensive 3 spool valve too! At the time I ordered it, I thought I needed a power beyond sleeve from reading about remotes other people added to BX's. But the BX22 backhoe uses an open center valve w/o power beyond, so nothing changed from stock by leaving the power beyond out of the circuit. The output ports take a bit of a load from the 3pt, but the valve is designed for this anyway. (So I've got an extra sleeve if anybody needs one.)

The picture is of the Bailey valve & cylinders.. You'll notice that the ends aren't quite right for a 3pt setup. This is why I was measuring body length of the cylinders when shopping for them, because I new they would be modified. (Sorry, I used a cell phone for this one because the real camera was dead.)

If you decide to order multiple pieces from Bailey, it is cheaper to break the parts into several shipments because you can keep the package weight down. They allow you to specify what parts to include in what shipment, which is kinda nice..

 

[jnjpream]

Time to make something..

The clevis ends for the side cylinders were pretty simple. Since I had the original side links, I already had a pattern. I bent my own clevis ends out of 1.25" x .25" flat bar stock I had laying around (if you don't have bar stock, ask the welding shop if they have scraps). I just marked the length of one of the clevis sides on the bar stock, added an inch, clamped it in the vise, and beat it to 90 degrees with a BFH. This left me with one side and the back of the new clevis. To get the other side, I took a piece of steel a bit smaller than the distance between the sides of the OEM clevis and clamped it and the new clevis in the vise. The extra steel helps keep the end of the clevis from colapsing and looking rounded. Then I beat the second side as close to a 90 as my vise would allow. To get the full 90 I needed to pinch the clevis end in the vice by the side and beat it the rest of the way. Now, since I left the sides a bit long, I trimmed them up using a saws-all so they were the right length and both sides were even.

Once all the clevis ends were made, I clamped them in the vice one by one, marked the hole centers using the OEM clevis ends as a template, center punched them and drilled the holes. It's easier to drill both sides of each clevis in one shot, than it is to drill one side, flip it, and try to line the second hole up with the first. Note that the OEM top clevis and bottom clevis have different size holes.

I would imagine that it wouldn't be too hard for a welding shop to make these ends for you. They probably have a press to make the bends nice and pretty. Just have them make the bends, you can trim them up and drill the holes yourself later even after they've been welded if need be.

The only pictures I have of the finished clevis ends are in pictures after they have been welded to the cylinders, but you just have to look at the OEM clevis ends to know what they should look like. Don't worry about the angles at this point, the clevis ends just have 90 degree bends.

 

[Bassicfun]

Definitely interested... keep going! and definitely would love to see pictures of them on the BX!

[Anxiously subscribed]

 

[jnjpream]

Preview of the finished product..

 

[Mustangous]

very cool!

 

[actionaj]

Really nice set up.

 

[jnjpream]

Modify the cylinders to fix the BX 3pt part 1..

Nothing like taking a saw and grinder to $400 in brand new cylinders.. Note: This will void the cylinder warranty .

An important note about hacking on cylinders.. Be very careful when clamping a cylinder in a vise or anything that can excerpt pressure on the cylinder wall. If you clamp down on the cylinder body, you can warp the cylinder body/wall and ruin the cylinder. Also, do not do anything that can mar the chrome on the cylinder rod. If you mar the rod it will tear up the seal and develop a leak. It is also a good idea to extend the cylinders so that the seals (piston, and gland) are as far away from heat as possible when grinding, cutting, or welding.

When I worked on the cylinders, I turned my vise so that I could clamp on the part I was cutting off and allowed the other end of the cylinder to rest on the bench. That way only the cross tube (the part on the end that I was cutting off) was taking any pressure from the vise.

The non-rod end of the cylinders was a no brainer. I just cut the cross tube off as close to the cylinder end as I could, then smoothed the surface off with a grinder.

The rod end of the cylinders took a bit of planning. You need to leave some rod exposed between the clevis (or swivel end) and the cylinder body so that when fully retracted it is less likely to pinch rocks and stuff between the body and the clevis (or swivel end) and damage the gland seal. And you need to leave some room for the weld bead. But don't hack off the rod ends just yet..

Details of the rod end surgery in the next post. But here are pictures of the ends that were cut off.

 

[jnjpream]

Modify the cylinders part 2: Top Link cylinder gets cut..

When sizing the top link cylinder there are a couple things you need to worry about. Clearance, and clearance..

The non-rod end of the cylinder needs enough distance between the swivel and the end of the cylinder so that it won't touch the part of the tractor that the pin goes through (See the 1st and 2nd pictures). You need to consider all angles that cylinder can be in, top to bottom, AND left to right. The way I figured it out was to pin the swivel onto the tractor, as if it was attached to the top link, and used a ruler and moved the swivel all around to find the spot of greatest interference. That told me the how much filler I needed between the swivel and the cylinder when it came time to weld. Mine ended up being 1/4 inch between the cylinder and the swivel, see the last picture.

The rod end of the top link was measured much the same way, only instead of pinning the swivel to the tractor you need to pin it to the implements. I screwed this one up a bit.. I didn't consider the girth of the cylinder and how close it would be to the 3pt frame on the implement when fully raised. You almost need to attach the implement to the tractor using the OEM top link in its fully retracted position, lift it all the way up, and measure the angle. Then hold the cylinder up at that angle and see what kind of clearance you need. Take a look at picture 3 and 4 and you can see where my cylinder hits my box blade frame. It's not bad and actually clears when the cylinder is perfectly centered, but how often is it perfectly centered in real life.. I cut it at 1 1/8 inches, but should have cut it at 1 1/2 inches. The only bummer about adding the extra length is, well, it adds extra length. But in reality an extra 3/8 inch wouldn't do any harm.

If you look at picture 5, you'll see a drawing of my cut points on the cylinder. You'll notice that the end of the rod has been angled a bit (~1/4 inch down the side). This is to allow room for the welder to get in as far as possible to ensure good penetration. The welder will fill that gap in with several passes of weld bead. I made the straight cut with a saws-all, then used the grinder to cut the sides down a bit. You'll also notice the small piece of filler on the non-rod end of the cylinder. I kept it small for the same reason as the angles on the rod.

To cut the cylinder rod with a hack saw, band saw, saws-all, or just about anything other toothed cutter, you will need to remove the chrome from the rod where you are going to cut. Any toothed cutter will just bounce off the chrome and do nothing but scratch it. I used a piece of tape and drew a line around the rod with magic marker then removed the tape. Then I used my grinder to chew off the chrome where the line was. Once through the chrome it will cut like any mild steel.

Next post is the side links..