Backhoe Another lesson learned

Rice Rider · Mar 6, 2012

After making a rolling platform to put my BX76 backhoe on, I went to take the pins out securing it to the subframe. They were not rusted on, but were a pain to rotate out. My dead fall hammer helped break them free and when I went to put hem back on, I gave them a coat of red sticky grease. This worked all to well when about a month later (last week), I was digging up some tree stumps and I felt the backhoe lift up but not the tractor. A quick inspection confirmed that one of the pins had managed to wiggle out. After an extensive search on my ATV of the 13 acres and the 3/4 mile of road I maintain, no pin showed up so I'll be purchasing one and a spare just in case. Has anyone else had this problem and if so, what have you done to keep the pins in place? Thanks

nspec · Mar 6, 2012

Those pins have a small rod through the end. The pin gets rotated until the rod can drop through the keeper, preventing the pin from sliding out. Unless your tractor is upside down, there is no way for the pin to come out.

MoKelly · Mar 6, 2012

Rice Rider said:
After making a rolling platform to put my BX76 backhoe on, I went to take the pins out securing it to the subframe. They were not rusted on, but were a pain to rotate out. My dead fall hammer helped break them free and when I went to put hem back on, I gave them a coat of red sticky grease. This worked all to well when about a month later (last week), I was digging up some tree stumps and I felt the backhoe lift up but not the tractor. A quick inspection confirmed that one of the pins had managed to wiggle out. After an extensive search on my ATV of the 13 acres and the 3/4 mile of road I maintain, no pin showed up so I'll be purchasing one and a spare just in case. Has anyone else had this problem and if so, what have you done to keep the pins in place? Thanks

I have no advice but sure admire that you even tried to find the pin. I'd never of had the patience.

MoKelly

Dutch61 · Mar 6, 2012

Im confused, can we get a pic? I was told that the steps to attach BH started with connecting the hydro lines then, using the pads, position the unit. Likewise on remove. Get it unpinned using pads (taking up pressure) move tractor then disconnect lines. I guess you could rip the lines out.

tractchores · Mar 6, 2012

As the other poster stated there should be rods on the ends that can be placed through a hole in the BH frame to make it so the pins cannot come out. Glad you caught it before it became a much more dangerous situation. I'll have to try greasing mine because they're a real pain to get out (I think kubota painted the pin holes and reduced the clearance so its a tight fit until it wears a bit).

Stradbash · Mar 6, 2012

I had one such pin come out on my loader but assumed that I forgot to put the previously mentioned small sliding rod into it's proper place. I agree, unless you are doing summersaults with your tractor, which must be particularly difficult with a backhoe on, the pin couldn't come out on it's own. Seems very unlikely a branch was the culprit but I suppose possible.

powerpace · Mar 7, 2012

On my BH the pin area has two holes close together. Only the bottom hole is the correct one for the pin rod.

rambler · Mar 7, 2012

Anybody got a picture of these 'rods in holes that cant fall out', I've probalby used that 100's of times on the farm, bu just can't picture it.....

--->PAul

tractchores · Mar 7, 2012

rambler said:
Anybody got a picture of these 'rods in holes that cant fall out', I've probalby used that 100's of times on the farm, bu just can't picture it.....

--->PAul

Here's a picture of the ones on my BH65, it's not attached to the tractor, but I threw in the pin so you can see.

ccsial · Mar 7, 2012

If you ever mow back there you will find the pin.

Deano · Mar 7, 2012

ccsial said:
If you ever mow back there you will find the pin.

Soooo true!!!:confused2:

powerpace · Mar 8, 2012

tractchores said:
Here's a picture of the ones on my BH65, it's not attached to the tractor, but I threw in the pin so you can see.
View attachment 254751

The bottom one is correct. The sliding rod is held in place by gravity. My BH75 has the same setup. If you use the top hole there is nothing to hold it in place.

radair · Mar 8, 2012

tractchores said:
.... they're a real pain to get out (I think kubota painted the pin holes and reduced the clearance so its a tight fit until it wears a bit).

When I bought my tractor with BH77 hoe the delivery guy said if the pins feel too tight to adjust the stabilizers or bucket to get weight off them. When I took the hoe off for the winter they slid right out once I played with it a little. I think it's a fine line where they're easy/hard to pull. Maybe yours is the same?

I was happy to find the B3000 had longer hoses than my BX23, which did not allow you to move the tractor very far from the backhoe.

tractchores · Mar 8, 2012

radair said:
When I bought my tractor with BH77 hoe the delivery guy said if the pins feel too tight to adjust the stabilizers or bucket to get weight off them. When I took the hoe off for the winter they slid right out once I played with it a little. I think it's a fine line where they're easy/hard to pull. Maybe yours is the same?

I was happy to find the B3000 had longer hoses than my BX23, which did not allow you to move the tractor very far from the backhoe.

There's definitely a sweet spot for taking the pins out. In my case when I'm in that spot they get through two parts of the pin hole and bind slightly on the outer part of the hoe frame. I tap it in and out, which works well. I think its just the paint in that outer hole that binds it, the other two holes have the paint worn down a bit and slide freely. The tractor's still almost brand new and the previous owner had never had the hoe off. They probably could use a good coat of grease as well, the thumb pin has the same issue, but is much better now that I've used it a few times.

lakeside · Mar 10, 2012

I have a B26 with the same setup. The first time I took the BH off the tractor (purchased used) had about 320 hours on it. One pin (the left one) was really hard to get out even when wiggling the BH up and down anf hotting the pin with a ball peen hammer. Not really seized in, but very tight.

I finally got it out and really lube both pins and holes. The next spring I had a hard time getting the holes to line up. Although there is a slight tapered end on the pin it still wouldn't go in without a lot of work. I took the pins off one at a time and turned the ends on a lathe so there was more of a taper. The part I turned down sticks out when installed so there wasn't any loss of strength.

Rice Rider · Mar 13, 2012

My BH76 has only one such hole to place the rod that connects to the pin. I don't know about the design of any other model, but I put this rod through the hole thinking it would stay in place and it managed to fall out of the hole and then the pin begins to work its way back out.
So, I bought a replacement pin and a spare at $22.00 each (ouch). I reinstalled it, put the little rod through the keeper hole and dug 4 tree stumps before I took a break and noticed the darn pin was getting ready to fall out again. I took it back over on level ground and removed the pin. I then drilled a hole through the end of the keeper rod, reinstalled the pin and the rod, then I safety wired the rod so it cannot back out any more. I repeated this process on the other pin and no more problems. Now I have a new spare that I will never use and of course, right before I left, I found the old one in the mud.

Alpha Dog · Jun 4, 2012

I had my BH76 in for service last week (another story), and when I picked it up, the mechanic at the shop was trying to figure out the "why" of having what appeared to be a "retaining hole" for that sliding rod that was "above" the center of the pin. If you put the rod through that hole, the rod will vibrate out almost as soon as you start the tractor. Does anyone know what that hole is really for? Even the mechanic at the Kubota place had no idea.