Backhoes: straight vs curved boom

[JDeereman]

I had occasion to visit a case equipment dealership this past week and noticed that all the full size case backhoes still have straight booms. guess i hadn't really thought about it much and had become used to the curved boom look of the deeres and caterpillars working around here. i started to wonder why case hadn't yet changed over with the others. isn't the curved boom a more efficient design? doesn't it make transport easier? don't operators prefer curved over straight? which can dig faster and deeper and more accurately?

please someone educate me here. case is a major player in backhoes if not still the biggest. what are the relatives advantages of straight vs curved booms and which would you prefer?

Theo

 

[DavidVT]

Do the extend-a-hoes have curved booms?

No expert here but I notice a friends old commercial BH which has the extend-a-hoe is a straight boom.

Just a thought?

 

[EddieWalker]

From what I understand, the advantage to the curved boom is that it can be hauled or transported at a lower postion then the straight boom. The advantage to the straight boom is it's cheaper to build since it uses less material. It is lighter and is thinner, which allows better visablitiy when digging. Either way is a tradeoff depending on what your priorities are.

Eddie

 

[JDeereman]

Do the extend-a-hoes have curved booms?

No expert here but I notice a friends old commercial BH which has the extend-a-hoe is a straight boom.

Just a thought?

I thought the extend-a-hoe part is built into the stick rather than the boom... no?

Theo

 

[JDeereman]

From what I understand, the advantage to the curved boom is that it can be hauled or transported at a lower postion then the straight boom. The advantage to the straight boom is it's cheaper to build since it uses less material. It is lighter and is thinner, which allows better visablitiy when digging. Either way is a tradeoff depending on what your priorities are.

Eddie

I believe most large excavators use curved booms but maybe that is just for transport height considerations. i can see the better visibility thing with straight. are case machines much lighter than comparable deeres or caterpillars?

Theo

 

[LarryRB]

case is the only machine with "over the center backhoe".. being as such, they cannot have a curved boom as the over the center is null and void. I have thousands of hours on Deere 710 hoes, big machine, ran both straight and curved booms,, For my taste, curved is easier when loading spoils in a high sided tri axle dump,. other than this, I saw nothing of signifigance, in fact, curved booms throw off the center of gravity making them much harder to transport on bumper pull (actually using "d" rings) trailers, and over all I prefer the straight booms.,., Both straight and curved can have the extending crowd stick.

 

[JDeereman]

case is the only machine with "over the center backhoe".. being as such, they cannot have a curved boom as the over the center is null and void. I have thousands of hours on Deere 710 hoes, big machine, ran both straight and curved booms,, For my taste, curved is easier when loading spoils in a high sided tri axle dump,. other than this, I saw nothing of signifigance, in fact, curved booms throw off the center of gravity making them much harder to transport on bumper pull (actually using "d" rings) trailers, and over all I prefer the straight booms.,., Both straight and curved can have the extending crowd stick.

Sorry to be so ignorant but what is an over the center backhoe? interesting points on loading a high-sided dump truck and center of gravity. makes sense.

Theo

 

[LarryRB]

look at a case hoe as it is parked,, the hoe from connection point at bottom to top, as folded. leans forward almost touching the top of the cab. All other hoe's, the top when folded leans reward away from the cab and machine,

 

[JDeereman]

look at a case hoe as it is parked,, the hoe from connection point at bottom to top, as folded. leans forward almost touching the top of the cab. All other hoe's, the top when folded leans reward away from the cab and machine,

I see what you mean. not sure if this is a help or a hindrance or neither. maybe better for transport i suppose.

Theo

 

[LarryRB]

even though I never cared that much for case,,, they do ride much, much better when tramming from one area to another.. And, it is because of what they call over center..