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

[chad22]

Here's a few pics of the trailer I'm gonna use the axle from. It's the trailer I only gave $10.00 for. I did have to put new tires on it but still $10.00 was a steal.

The trailer is just sitting around and not really road worthy anymore and I don't want to put anymore money into it. So figure why not transplant the axle and use it for a backhoe.

I got the other new rim for it but have to get a new tire and mount it. I pulled that trailer from Cove Arkansas to Turon Kansas with the pickup it's hitched to in the photo. And I had that trailer overloaded too. It was loaded to at least the top of the cab of the truck.

When the weather clears up, I'm gonna go out there and cut the welds holding the bed to the frame and axle and lift the bed off using my dads tow truck.

Chad

 

[Gary Sweat]

When you get the repairs done, post some pics. Like to see how it's coming along:thumbsup:

 

[chad22]

When you get the repairs done, post some pics. Like to see how it's coming along:thumbsup:

I'll be sure to do that. Hopefully I'll have the new welder by June. Then I can start repairing the broken welds.

I kept trying with the welder I currently have and it was only half working as for a second it was penetrating and then the next second not.

So I gave up trying until I get the new welder. This is the welder I'm gonna pick up at homedepot. --->> Lincoln Electric AC225S Arc Welder - K1170 at The Home Depot

Chad

 

[chad22]

Here are some photos I took today of the backhoe with valve and hoses hooked up. I was able to dig by dragging the bucket, but unable to curl it at the moment until I get the hoses for the bucket cylinders.

I broke some of my temporary teeth off. I'm gonna add some stronger teeth anyway so that's not a big deal.

I thought I would add, a city about 12 miles from here gave us an old fire hydrant with some scrap metal we picked up from them. We were gonna sell it for scrap, but I thought of another idea. We have a puppy who will turn 2 July 5th. I thought I would bury that in his fence for a Birthday Present. :laughing:



Chad

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I admire your get 'r done attitude and perserverance. You are definately learning things that you will not easily forget.

 

[chad22]

I admire your get 'r done attitude and perserverance. You are definately learning things that you will not easily forget.

Thanks. That's true this sure is a learning experience. I was able to fix my welder to get some welding done today. I didn't notice but one of my wires on my jerry rigged switches had come loose. And that was causing erratic voltage and not allowing me to keep the arc going.

I reattached that wire and it worked. I'm still gonna get that new welder though.

If the wind isn't too bad tomorrow I'll video it digging a bit by dragging the bucket.

I disassembled the boom, stick, and swing mechanism to completely re weld the parts easier. I also had forgot to weld the dipper stick bushing in. No wonder I noticed a lot of play in that part. :ashamed:

Chad

 

[chad22]

I thought I would update you a bit again. The welder crapped out again and once again not putting out enough heat to penetrate. I thought it was penetrating but it fooled me everytime. Every time I would go to use the backhoe, the thing started falling apart at the welds.

One other thing, when I went to swing it to clean up some sheetrock from the old house were tearing down, it twisted part of it when the boom leaned over and dropped to the ground due to the weld. Once again -->

I've given up. Nah I didn't really give up, but I have given up on making it on the riding mower. One reason is it twisted and tore apart "part" of the mower body.

I think it would have worked, if I could have gotten strong welds.

Also the transaxel is just about gone on that mower. It never did back up when it was purchased for $25.00. But now it's slipping on forward in all gears so I'm sure forward is gonna go out soon too.

And it's not the belt slipping I checked it and it was fine.

So what I'm gonna do is take the motor and use it on my newly designed hydraulically driven backhoe.

I'll have to wait until I get the new welder purchased and then start building the new "stronger" designed backhoe. "Technically will be a front hoe".

So it may be awhile before I can post a digging video, as it may take awhile for me to get the new one built.

It may take awhile, but I WILL get that backhoe I wanted. I WILL NOT give up. "Insert evil laugh here". lol :laughing:

Chad

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I thought I would update you a bit again. The welder crapped out again and once again not putting out enough heat to penetrate. I thought it was penetrating but it fooled me everytime. Every time I would go to use the backhoe, the thing started falling apart at the welds.

One other thing, when I went to swing it to clean up some sheetrock from the old house were tearing down, it twisted part of it when the boom leaned over and dropped to the ground due to the weld. Once again -->

I've given up. Nah I didn't really give up, but I have given up on making it on the riding mower. One reason is it twisted and tore apart "part" of the mower body.

I think it would have worked, if I could have gotten strong welds.

Also the transaxel is just about gone on that mower. It never did back up when it was purchased for $25.00. But now it's slipping on forward in all gears so I'm sure forward is gonna go out soon too.

And it's not the belt slipping I checked it and it was fine.

So what I'm gonna do is take the motor and use it on my newly designed hydraulically driven backhoe.

I'll have to wait until I get the new welder purchased and then start building the new "stronger" designed backhoe. "Technically will be a front hoe".

So it may be awhile before I can post a digging video, as it may take awhile for me to get the new one built.

It may take awhile, but I WILL get that backhoe I wanted. I WILL NOT give up. "Insert evil laugh here". lol :laughing:

Chad

Definately keep going on this project. You've seen how not to do it, and it seems like you know the right way now. All you have to do is get the right tools and you've got it made.

 

[chad22]

I got to looking on ebay and calculating the cost to build another excavator and with the cost of the parts and shipping everything in. As well as an engine in the $6,000.00 dollar range to give me enough weight.

The cost to build the other one is gonna be in the range of 8 to $9,000.00

On ebay peoples got good used mini excavators for around that price and a bit more. I think I may just go that route. Even if I have to make the drive to go pick it up with my dads trailer.

The mower hasn't got much damage done to it when it twisted and I think I can repair that once I get my new welder. I think I'll brace it really good and get it going and still keep it to use.

And then save the money and maybe in a few years or so go shell out on a used mini excavator. I always wanted one of those anyway.

But I'll still keep my current home made backhoe and get it fixed and welded up. (After all I got already $1,000.00 invested in it.) The thing broke due to the welds. I also might be able to spot another transaxel for the home made backhoe sometime.

Chad

 

[NormL]

I just discovered this thread while looking for ideas to help me build a BH for my garden tractor. Chad, your experiences will be a big help for me when I get started. I'm glad to note you plan to keep your hoe mounted on the tractor. Hopefully I will get to see what you do with it in future.

One thing I noticed in your pictures; you don't seem to have stabilizers on your machine. Would having them not have prevented the twisting of the tractor frame you wrote about? I plan to build mine with stabilizers in the back and a dozer blade up front to anchor my machine when in operation

 

[Speedfreak]

I just read through the whole thread for the first time. And I only have one suggestion. The welds won't hold with 1/8 inch steel. It'll just rip apart. Use some beefy stuff and keep going. You'll have it diging long before you get to $8000 or so for a mini excavator.

 

[NormL]

The welds won't hold with 1/8 inch steel. It'll just rip apart. Use some beefy stuff and keep going.

Good point, I will keep that in mind for my build.

 

[chad22]

I just read through the whole thread for the first time. And I only have one suggestion. The welds won't hold with 1/8 inch steel. It'll just rip apart. Use some beefy stuff and keep going. You'll have it diging long before you get to $8000 or so for a mini excavator.

I'm confused. Why won't welds hold with 1/8 inch steel? So far the welds I did yesterday with my new lincoln "well new to me. Found on craigslist" set at 115 amps have held on the 1/8 inch steel.

The reason my welds didn't hold, was because of my other welder was only putting out 50 amps when it was supposed to be putting out 70 amps.

Sometimes it was putting out the 70 amps and other times it wasn't. It fused the metal together in some parts but other parts it didn't.


Oh well, this lincoln welder does a lot better Job. It makes me look like a pro welder.

Easy to strike an arc and keep the arc going. On my other welder it would take me at least a minute to get the arc started.

Then after all that trouble getting the arc started. I couldn't keep the arc going.

On the lincoln, the arc starts on the first strike, and doesn't go out until I want it to. Hadn't had a stuck rod either.

Anyway. I'm gonna keep working on my backhoe and will hopefully by June post a video of it digging up the old water line.

I just hope the old galvanized pipe holds up until then. Last summer I had to cap off a piece of the broken water line with a water hose. So far it's holding.

Chad

 

[chad22]

I took some pics of my lincoln welder I got off a guy from craigslist for $100.00

I even attached a picture of a couple welds I did with it today.

I used 6013 rods at 115 amps.

And that's the helmet that he included with the welder.

What do ya think of the weld? You think it'll hold? :laughing:


Chad

 

[chad22]

Well I was driving to a spot with the backhoe to clean up some debris from the old house were tearing down. And was gonna video it in action. And what do ya know? All forward gears went out in the Trans axle.

I had a feeling it was gonna happen sometime in the future.

First I changed motors because the Twin Briggs was sucking gas. I mean it started going through 1 gallon in 4 minutes.

The other engine "single cylinder doesn't use as much gas.

After changing motors everything went well. Well that is until I lost the forward gears. The welds all held up and everything. I was able to use the boom and stick to crawl my way back to the house.

It was a bit slow and a challenge at first. But I manged.
I'm not even gonna hunt another trans axle down for it.

It's just not worth putting the money into the old mower.

I'm just gonna use my axle from my broken trailer and make a tow able backhoe. I'm not gonna make it drivable right now. I'll just use the boom and stick to move around for the time being. "Costs savings"

Heck I might just decide to leave it that way.

But don't worry. I'm not giving up.

Chad

 

[Iplayfarmer]

You now have a towable backhoe.

 

[chad22]

You now have a towable backhoe.

Yep. It's now a towable backhoe. Well almost. I transplanted the battery cables and solenoid to the towable backhoe. I took the engine mount off the old dixon ztr frame and welded it to the back of the towable unit. I then mounted the engine that I had put on the lawn tractor backhoe.

I got the pump mounted, and the hoses almost hooked up.

Bout all I will have to do to get her going is mount the gas tank, throttle cable, mount the boom get all those hoses hooked up and then weld some pipes for stabilizers.

I did almost all this work today. I started around 9:00 AM CT.

This does seem like it's gonna work a lot better. And another good thing, if I need to move it somewhere I won't have to put it on a trailer. I can just hitch up to the truck and go.

Oh and I also redid the pivot for the boom. I used some big pipe and another pipe inside of it. Looks like it's gonna be stronger.

Anyway if it's not raining tomorrow, I'm gonna try to get her done.

Then we can fire her up and go digging.

Chad

 

[evo803]

I like your towable design alot better ,with the addition of some hydraulic stabilizers you will have a nice solid base to work off.

One thing I noticed is the connection point of the boom pivot to the frame could use alot more reinforcement. That entire length of tube should be welded to the frame with gusset plates and the frame in that area should be built up as well. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

 

[chad22]

I'm liking my new design already as well. I think it's gonna work out much better.


I was trying to mount the boom, and stick back on using the hydraulics and the hydraulic pump blew a seal at the bottom.

It was a used pump, and I only gave $25.00 for it with shipping on ebay. so I didn't expect it to last to long.

I'm gonna see if I can find a seal kit for it, but if not I'll just get a new pump.

Chad

 

[chad22]

Well it's been awhile since my last update. I ordered a new pump for it and got it back on. I got my stabilizers mounted but still need to do some bracing.

The other day when I tried moving it back towards the welder with the tow truck. "The belt that was powering the pump broke" I got the boom and stick in a bind and bent 2 cylinder mounts.

Both bottom ones. One for the stick and one for the boom. I had some other pieces of metal that were perfect replacements for the stick cylinder mount. That's those triangle like pieces in the video. I burned a hole in both of those and welded them up.

Those pieces were given to us in some junk metal.

Here's the video. I was only able to operate the stick at the moment until I fix boom cylinder mount.

YouTube - ‪My home made towable backhoe. With engine running and hydraulics moving.‬‏

Hopefully I can get a video of it digging soon. Should be picking up the bucket cylinder hoses by August.

I used an old chain sprocket from a Junk Bicycle for the ignition switch mount. I burned a hole through it with the welder.

Chad